Tested: 2023 Bentley Bentayga Hybrid Misses the Marque

Tell your significant other you’re bringing home a quarter-million-dollar Bentley Bentayga Azure, and certain expectations come to the fore. Before it arrives, the very idea of gliding around in a stately and sumptuous ultra-luxe machine sets plans into motion. Where shall we dine? Would it be presumptuous to invite the couple down the street? Shall we make a day of it?

When the chariot rolls into the drive, the fact that the Bentayga is an SUV may or may not trigger the merest whiff of disappointment. If it does, such trifles are easily brushed aside by the rational realization that SUVs are saving the grand old marques because they’re popular and practical, two automotive characteristics that are, it would seem, just as important to the upper crust as they are to the hoi polloi. But the arriving machine’s dark Tungsten paint, 22-inch black-painted wheels, and blacked-out trim robs it of further allure.

“So, it’s a murdered-out Bentley truck. Ah. Perhaps we should drive thru In-N-Out instead. And then we can visit 7-Eleven for one of those ghastly hashtag photographs.”

Inside, the sumptuous and aromatic leather interior claws back some of the deficit. Well-padded seats face a leather dashboard that features pipe-organ air vent controls and inserts trimmed with Fiddleback Eucalyptus veneer. Press the engine start button and then . . . a rather ordinary (but properly muted) mechanical note seeps into the cabin. That’s because this is not the throaty 542-hp twin-turbo V-8 powerplant of the Bentayga S, but is instead a 335-hp turbocharged V-6 that gets boosted to 456 polo ponies by a rear-axle-mounted electric motor.

This powertrain gets good fuel economy, you point out. It’s good for an EPA-rated 20 mpg combined instead of the 2023 V-8’s 17 mpg. In fact, even though Bentley calls it the Bentayga Hybrid, it’s actually a plug-in hybrid with a 14.3-kWh plug-in battery that gives it 23 miles of estimated all-electric range.

The Reality

The thing is, we wouldn’t call 23 miles of range sufficient to get through a weekday on electricity alone. It does readily achieve this rating, however. In seven full charge and discharge cycles of random mixed driving, we averaged 28 miles. Not bad, but talk to us again when the rated range is something like 40 miles. That may come to pass if and when Bentley gets the 2024 Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid’s larger 22.0-kWh battery. For now, the Bentayga uses the old Cayenne’s hand-me-down 14.3-kWh setup.

On gasoline alone, however, the Bentayga also impressed. We couldn’t run a formal 75-mph test, but we averaged 23 mpg on gasoline alone over a 1454-mile span of mixed driving that included a freeway run from LA to Sonoma wine country to drive the Lucid Air Sapphire. That it could make that run and still stand a chance of getting through the week under electric power alone says much about the practical benefits of a PHEV. Bentley should lean into that more.

For all that, the Bentayga Hybrid is no slug. It gets to 60 mph in 4.5 seconds and finishes the quarter-mile in 13.0 seconds at 107 mph. Bentley says top speed is 83 mph on electricity alone, but we coaxed it to 87 mph. But the EV mode isn’t steadfastly persistent below this point, because the engine comes to life whenever you mash the gas, which results in the full 456-hp wallop of urgency shoving you down the road.

As for the thirstier V-8-powered Bentayga S, it has 86 more horsepower and weighs 229 pounds less, so it’s no surprise it’s a full second quicker off the line, achieving 60 mph in 3.5 seconds and polishing off the quarter-mile in 12.0 seconds. But its passing time advantage isn’t nearly as stark. Sure, its 2.6 seconds from 30 to 50 mph and 3.2 seconds from 50 to 70 mph is quicker, but only by a couple of tenths, because the hybrid’s rear-mounted electric motor doesn’t have to wait for a transmission to kick down.

Ordinary Driving

Perhaps the biggest letdown is the Bentayga Hybrid’s ride comfort, which is not the butter-smooth Bentley experience you’re imagining. We’re not asking for a complete isolation chamber, but our Bentayga’s bordering-on-harsh ride was far less polished than it should be. We couldn’t help noticing that the track-tuned Lucid Air Sapphire rode far more smoothly than the Bentayga had on the trip up.

The Bentayga corners well enough. Active anti-roll bars help it to generate 0.86 g of grip on the skidpad, which understandably trails the lighter Bentayga S’s 0.88 g on the same 22-inch 285/40R-22 Pirelli P Zero summer tires. The same physics-induced difference carries over to braking, where the lighter Bentayga S stops from 70 mph in 165 feet versus the hybrid’s 168 feet. Likewise, the S stops from 100 mph in 331 feet, while the hybrid trails a wee bit at 339 feet. Both utilize the same iron-rotor brake system, but the heavier hybrid was stinking, smoking, and exhibiting excessive pedal travel at the end of our test regimen.

Thing is, the hybrid doesn’t rely on these friction brakes near as much in daily driving, as the regenerative braking afforded by its electric motor contributes a fair bit in the name of recapturing energy around town. The system is largely triggered by the brake pedal and is blended by software, but the programming lacks polish, resulting in somewhat vague and inconsistent brake feel.

It’s all in the Naim

One of the Bentley extravagances that really works is the optional Naim premium audio system, which delivers exquisite sound through no less than 20 speakers that are backed up by 1780 watts of amplification. Turn the music down while cruising blithely at 70 mph and you’ll enjoy 62 decibels of background hush whether you’re running on gasoline or electrons. Stereo on or off, the audio environment absolutely lives up to Bentley expectations.

In the end, the Bentley name brings with it a set of wide-ranging expectations that the Bentayga Hybrid doesn’t quite live up to. The implied ride smoothness and poise isn’t quite there, and the drive experience doesn’t feel exceptional when rolling down the road. The hybrid’s powertrain certainly feels quick enough and is comparatively thrifty in practice, but we find it odd that its plug-in part-time EV nature is largely hidden behind a plain hybrid badge. In more ways than one, the Bentley Bentayga Hybrid misses the marque. But the Double-Doubles were delicious.

Source: Reviews - aranddriver.com