Bentley has added a fifth model to its luxury lineup by introducing the new Bentayga Extended Wheelbase alongside the standard Bentayga SUV. The stretched Bentayga helps fill the void left by the demise of the old Mulsanne, with a combination of extra interior space and the kind of focus on passenger wellbeing that would put a fancy hotel spa to shame. As the name suggests, the most obvious change to the Bentayga Extended Wheelbase (EWB) is the addition of 180 mm of metal between the front and rear axles that stretches the wheelbase from 2,995 mm to 3,175 mm. All of that extra length goes to the rear cabin area, and gives the EWB more interior space than any luxury rival, according to Bentley.
But there’s more to the EWB than the kind
of legroom that would make an NBA star feel comfortable on a cross-country road
trip. The company also claims its new Bentley Airline Seat is the most advanced
chair ever fitted to a car thanks to its almost endless adjustment options that
can be controlled through a hand-held touchscreen, including 40-degree recline
capability allowing passengers to sleep, and the introduction of climate
sensing technology.
We’ve all come across heated seats, and
more recently, cooling seats. Well Bentley is pioneering climate controlled
seats that can sense occupant temperature and surface humidity and then decide
whether to apply heat, ventilation, or a combination of both. The chairs also
use sensors to measure pressure across the seat surface and make tiny
adjustments to the seating position across six pressure zones to reduce fatigue
on long journeys. Naturally, plenty of money and man hours has been expended to
improve the quality of materials in the EWB, which offers an optional Metal
Overlay in Veneer finish for the interior trim, which comprises a strip of
metal just 0.07 mm)thick bonded by hand to the surface of the
veneer before being lacquered and polished.
Other luxury features include power
closing doors for the first time on a Bentley, heated rear door- and center
armrests, a new design of diamond quilting, and the Bentley Diamond
Illumination option. Tick that box and light from LEDs hidden in the door
panels shines through tiny perforations in the leather, passengers getting to
choose the color and intensity of that lighting. Four-plus-one seating is
standard, which gives you two sculpted rear seats with a small jump seat
between them for taking a third passenger in the rear for short journeys,
though true luxury lovers can choose to ditch the middle seat for a console.
That extra long rear door should be easy
to spot, but to help differentiate the EWB from lesser Bentaygas Bentley has
added a vertical vane grille from the the Flying Spur sedan and also offers the
existing 22-inch wheels with a mirror-finish option. Under the skin there’s no
sign of Bentley’s mighty W12, or the six-cylinder PHEV powertrain available in
lesser Bentaygas. But the 4.0-liter V8’s 542 hp and 770 Nm is enough to get the luxo-SUV to 97 km/h in 4.6 seconds, and on to a
top speed of 290 km/h.
Prices will be announced in the coming
months and first EWB deliveries will commence later in 2022.
