You certainly can’t accuse Bentley of smashing out one of those blink-and-you’ll-miss-it facelifts with the updated Bentayga. From the front, the more elliptical, Continental GT-style headlights are immediately obvious, as is the new “more upright” matrix grille.
The rear gets the most dramatic changes, though. The shape of the Bentayga’s previously rather bland bum has completely changed, with the most conspicuous changes coming in the form of a concave boot lid and lights clusters which – again – seem to be taking inspiration from the Conti.
This is a Bentley, of course, so the stuff inside is arguably more important. Happily, there are plenty of tweaks here too. The central fascia, steering wheel, door cards and seats are all new. On the tech front, there’s a new 10.9-inch infotainment display which – before you ask – doesn’t rotate as it does on the Continental and Flying Spur. Sorry.
Despite being no bigger before, rethought packaging means there’s more space for occupants. On four-seater versions of the Bentayga, rear-seat passengers can enjoy 30mm more knee room when seated upright, and 100mm more when fully reclined. Mulliner Driving Specification cars also get a new quilted leather design, with all Bentaygas available with eight different fancy veneers to choose from.
Once again, a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 is used to punt along the entry-level version of this vast, leather-line capsule. And quickly, too. It provides 542bhp and 568lb ft of torque, making for a 0-62mph time of 4.5 seconds and a top speed of 180mph. There will eventually be a Bentayga Speed with a twin-turbo W12 (which will be the only way to get the unusual 6.0-litre unit), along with a plug-in hybrid variant.
The chassis setup doesn’t deviate much from the outgoing version, with air suspension paired with electronic roll stabilisation. The rear track is, however, 20mm wider than before.
The refreshed Bentayga is expected to go on sale soon. Pricing hasn’t been announced yet, but we’d anticipate a slight rise in the existing starting price of £141,790.
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