New Car: Bentley Bentayga V8 2018 review

New Car: Bentley Bentayga V8 2018 review

This twin-turbo V8 is throaty but civil, well-mannered but, deep down, pretty raucous. It’s versatile, too, and will fade into the background at a cruise but still fires the Bentayga along at just as alarming a rate as the W12 can, except on those rare occasions you’ve got your right foot resolutely pinned to the floor.

A redline set at 7000rpm means this is the highest-revving Bentley road car ever, and that’s reflected in the way the V8 goes about its business. The torque curve is a table-top job, with peak delivered between 1960rpm and 4500rpm, though maximum power arrives satsifying high up, at 6000rpm. This engine possesses a levity that’ll have you running it right up to that redline.

The delivery is magnificently wrinkle-free, too, because this eight-speed ZF transmission is, as we’re increasingly finding, almost impossible to find fault with. In fact, if there’s one criticism of this powertrain, it’s that despite the placement of the turbos, there’s just as much lag as with the W12. No, it’s not a yawning delay between action and reaction, but it’s just a little longer than is desirable in a more sporting model, which is how Bentley will market the V8 Bentayga.

Another small criticism. Bentley has spoken about developing the V8 exhaust note to achieve a characterful offbeat muscle car tone but, in truth, the noise this engine makes is a bit vanilla by the standards of the genre. It’s still considerably more distinctive than the W12, mind, which has a tendency to sound like a big-boned V6, and an Akrapovic-developed sports exhaust is in the works too. We’d expect that to deliver the goods aurally, though whether that is what a car like this really needs is another matter.