The Bentley Bentayga Is Soul-Stirring, But Get This One While You Can

The magic of the Bentley Bentayga, a full-size, full-luxe SUV with a starting price of about $336,000 is that it’s like wearing your diamonds on the inside—where they glitter just for you. Even though the exterior glows in silvery paints, a diamond mesh grille and crystal cut headlights, the Bentley Bentayga’s silhouette is demure; its shape doesn’t stand apart from the crowd—too much.

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Inside, though, a different story awaits. The front cabin of our test model was fitted with gleaming wood called Liquid Amber, a rich contrast to the creamy color of the Portland hide, which in any other luxury car might be called oyster or creamy beige. A contrasting darker brown called Burnt Oak covers the dashboard, door panels, seat backs and other surfaces.

The Bentley Bentayga‘s dashboard is an undulating swath of leather, wood, gloss black and technology panels, wedging the multimedia screen into the space between the driver’s display and the passenger’s side of the cabin. The overall effect adds to the yacht-like feel of the cabin, though that’s just my test model. Buyers can customize however they like, so the front cabin could feel like a posh club or a satin-lined boutique.

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A dashing chrome badge on the exterior of the Bentley Bentayga is the first sign that the interior of this SUV is truly special; it dubs this edition a Mulliner, the top of the line and most bespoke the four Bentley Bentayga trims; the others are Azure, Atelier and the standard Bentayga.

Inside, the Mulliner icon is embedded in the wooden dash on the passenger’s side and is seen on the backs of the picnic tables on the seat backs in the rear seat. 

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Mulliner is another “if you know, you know” detail, a trim line defined not by designated trim features but rather, the personal assemblage of premium finishes, from leather to woods to paint colors. The Mulliner line amplifies a buyer’s choices of paint colors, main and accent leathers, woods, metals and other finishes with literally hundreds of options. 

Add to that custom stitching, piping, even embroidering, such as your name or crest on the seats, and the possibilities are nearly endless. Leathers, metals, paints and woods alone comprise more than four million possible combinations, so many that a designer with a full scope of knowledge is needed to help all but the most experienced Bentley buyers configure their dream car. 

The added attention to detail and wide swath of choices necessitates Mulliner’s own price chart, too, often adding 10% or more to the price of the car. And still, more than 70% of buyers choose Mulliner finishes in their designs. 

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If you make the mistake, like I did, of climbing into the rear seat before slipping into the driver’s seat, you’ll know: this is where you want to be. Just be sure to order your Bentayga with the champagne chiller; you’ll want that, too. 

Then, push a button to recline the rear seat and watch the foot rest extend from the rear of the front seat to cradle your heels; touch a button next to you to extend the window shade over the side windows. Buttons on the center control screen will open or close the shade over the panoramic sunroof. 

Then let your head sink back into the microsuede pillow attached to the headrest and sip your Champagne (or chilled mineral water). And allow the feel of the Bentayga’s V8 whisk you away.

As lovely as the rear seat is, slide into the driver’s seat and you’ll see why Bentley fans love this SUV so much. And it’s an accomplishment; the two-door Continental and four-door Flying Spur are quintessential Bentley: elegant, powerful cars that have long set the highest standards in the luxury sector. An SUV was thought to be too pedestrian, a subservient form of transportation that could never deliver both a thrill to the driver and   a posh rear seat to the passenger. Back in the day purists were not fans of SUVs. Oh, how times have changed. 

With the introduction of the Bentayga in 2015, Bentley took a studied approach in both exterior and interior design as well as engineering the drive experience and all together, it’s a win. Bentayga is now Bentley’s best selling model, representing more than 40% of sales. 

Once in the driver’s seat you’ll feel immediately at home and delighted. Bentley, smartly, didn’t reinvent every detail and tech feature here, but rather, adapted systems from parent company Volkswagen, which builds the Audi Q7, Porsche Cayenne and Lamborghini Urus on the same platform. This means that key functions such as driver assist features, tech interfaces and engine performance can easily be adapted and customized for the Bentayga. 

Behind the elegantly leather-wrapped steering wheel you’ll see a head up display and driver’s display, a customizable screen with a distinctly Bentley touch: Customization options include a display that frames the gauges with an animation of Bentayga’s crystal cut headlights. It’s a small detail but was one of my absolute favorites. You can also opt to have driver assist features display in the center of the screen, another that I found helpful as I navigated busy roads all week long. 

Like a captain on the bridge, all you have to do is ask for what you want and the crew is there to perform the task. In this instance, it’s “Hey Bentley” voice activated assistance that will change the cabin temperature, set the radio station or navigate to your destination. Those functions are also found on the touchscreen, which also holds vehicle and system settings as well as radio, phone, navigation and the lot. 

Adding to the yacht-like feel is the gleaming amber wood that spans the dashboard on either side of the touchscreen, which is set into the center of the dash. Below the screen is a climate panel with buttons for optimal control, and below that a command center with the gear shifter lever, drive mode selector and drive control buttons, all set on black backgrounds. All the control buttons give a solid analog feel to the cabin; the gear lever, topped with a Bentley winged B icon, feels good in your hand.

At night the Bentley takes on a whole new character with ambient lighting that accents each of its spaces and surfaces, including the door panels with light cutouts in the leather.

Powered by a twin turbo V8 engine that produces 542 HP, the Bentley Bentayga is surprisingly stealth on the road, too. You won’t hear the engine roar, even in sport mode it delivers a demure rumble. The the idea is to allow you to soar in relative silence so as not to take away from the experience or allow the engine to dominate it. 

The Bentayga, as with all Bentleys, starts off in B mode, the default setting, which is a half-step between sport and comfort. In B mode you have a bit more power but not the unbridled excitement that sport mode delivers. In traffic, or when using adaptive cruise control on the highway, I found comfort mode to deliver a more pleasant experience. 

Out on my favorite curvy roads, however, sport mode was the way to go. Even though the Bentayga is a full-size SUV, it feels nimble and perfectly controlled in your hands, taking each roll of the road with precision and comfort. I never felt like I was driving a large SUV, something that most drivers appreciate when they come upon, or seek out, a fun road. 

One of the design principles of Bentley is ‘jewelry,’ in that every touchpoint for your fingers or your eyes is one that is crafted to delight. 

From the winged B badges that combine enamel and polished metal for a textured spread of feathers across the steering wheel, the front of the car and the rear lift gate, to the textured metal bezels surfaces that surround every button and dial to chrome surrounds that set gloss apart from wood. 

Even the keyfob, swathed in leather, is presented in a leather jewelry case.

Probably the most glorious jeweled detail, though, are the headlights and secondarily, the tail lights. The oval headlight housings are fitted with cut crystal that surrounds the light and creates a gleaming, sparkling glow. Just to the side of the main headlight are smaller lights that also glow with cut crystal. Together they create the most unique and distinct—and exclusive—light signature. No other car on the road has a light game like Bentley’s. The tail lights take a cue from the headlights, adding cut crystal under the red tail light glass; the crystal glows as the car stops but not with the glory of the headlights. 

There’s even a jewelry-like approach to the wheels; not just in the many designs but in the “B” wheel caps that remain upright no matter the position of the wheels. It’s a small thing but such a delightful greeting each time you walk to your car.

The current Bentley Bentayga offers five standard wheel base models that start at about $203,000; the four EWB models start at about $237,000. Mulliner is priced from $336,000; ours topped out at $367,835 after adding Mulliner paint, leather and wood.

After seeing redesigns of the Continental and Flying Spur for 2025, adding new crystal cut headlights on the Continental and plug-in hybrid engines that enhance the performance of each model, the expectation is that Bentayga will add a new PHEV power train, too. A few years ago Bentley introduced a PHEV to the Bentayga lineup, a V6 with a power boost, but the combination of the smaller engine and plug proved uninteresting to the Bentayga buyer; it’s quietly gone silent (though, I really liked it).

It remains to be seen what direction Bentley will go regarding a plug-powered Bentayga, though my own studied guess is they’ll boost the power, and the price, with a plug and add the new headlights and tail lights; both are moves I would applaud. If you’re not with me, then the current model is the one to get. All nine trims are available for configuration on the Bentley site and soon, you, too, will be in the know, stealthily soaring along and reveling in one of the most beautiful cars on the road.