2023 Bentley Bentayga EWB stretches the bounds of luxurious

Stretched out within the again seat of a 2023 Bentley Bentayga EWB with the Airline Specification rear seat package deal, I’m fairly presumably in the most effective seat within the automotive world. My toes are up on a footrest, my head is nestled in a delicate headrest pillow, and I’m being handled to the Wave therapeutic massage operate on Max depth.

Zzzzzzz…

To make sure I stay relaxed, the seat is monitoring my physique temperature and using the seat heating and/or air flow as wanted. Additional, a Postural Adjustment operate makes use of six thigh, shoulder, and lumbar therapeutic massage pockets to regulate the seat form as much as 177 instances each three hours to ease stress factors and keep away from fatigue. It’s all working fairly nicely throughout my roughly half-hour snooze.

The Airline Specification doesn’t come customary on the brand new Bentayga EWB (Prolonged Wheelbase), however it might virtually be a disgrace not to decide on it. The extended-wheelbase physique type provides 7.1 inches to the Bentayga, and all of it goes to again seat area, which opens up a beneficiant 40.9 inches of rear seat leg room. Nonetheless, within the stretched out Calm down mode, which reclines the seatback 40 levels and pushes the entrance passenger seat ahead, my 5-foot-9 body doesn’t give me fairly sufficient room to straighten my legs with out butting up towards the entrance seatback.

Bentley gives the Airline Specification with the Bentayga EWB’s 4+1 or four-seat configurations. The 4+1 model has a rear heart console that may flip as much as convert to an occasional rear center seat. A five-passenger model can be out there with a rear bench seat. Bentley hasn’t shared a value for the package deal, however it would seemingly run about as a lot as a compact automobile. Then once more, a Bentley rep stated the EWB will already value about 15% greater than the roughly $190,000 Bentayga, so why not throw a Corolla on high of it?

A supremely comfy again seat isn’t the one inside improve of the EWB. Each Bentayga EWB sports activities a entrance heart console that extends again for rear seat entry and features a wi-fi charging cradle. It’s additionally house to the detachable Contact Display Distant that rear seat passengers can use to regulate their 16- or 22-way power-adjustable seats, in addition to the local weather controls, radio and media choices, blinds, and inside lighting. The console can be house to buttons that activate power-closing rear doorways, a primary for Bentley.

As well as, the design of the diamond-stitched leather-based upholstery now makes use of thinner thread with a smaller, nearer sew arrayed in a brand new sample that stretches the diamonds as they transfer farther off heart. Newly out there Bentley Diamond Illumination sends gentle by way of perforations within the door trim. It makes use of 12 LEDs within the entrance doorways, and 22 in rears, and the depth of the lighting may also be managed by way of the distant. New heated rear-door and heart armrests add a little bit extra consolation on chilly days. Bentley even gives a brand new trim that embeds photo-etched steel badges below polished lacquer.

Bentley gives the Bentayga EWB in a brand new Azure specification that may sit alongside S/Pace and Mulliner variations for the model. Whereas S and Pace are for sporty variants and Mulliner is the last word in personalization, Azure goals for quiet luxurious. What higher technique to go Azure than with the Airline Specification?

Within the Bentley custom, the EWB’s inside modifications are all fairly breathtaking. For my cash (would that I had a lot), Bentley crafts the best interiors available on the market. They sport a mixture of enticing design and high-quality supplies which may be matched individually however not collectively. Extra room simply means extra Bentley inside goodness.

Longer however simply as dynamic

It could merely be an extended Bentayga, however Bentley views the EWB as a fifth mannequin line. The leviathan sports activities 2,500 new components in comparison with the car it’s based mostly on and that features a fully new underbody pan. All of the size is within the rear doorways and rear seat. Different exterior modifications embody a brand new grille impressed by the Flying Spur sedan with chrome vertical vanes in entrance of black mesh. The EWB additionally has a brand new 22-inch wheel design and a repositioned panoramic sunroof to supply extra gentle for the set-back rear seat occupants.

Nonetheless, Bentley goals to make the EWB drive like different Bentaygas by including rear-axle steering that truly makes its turning radius barely shorter than the usual wheelbase mannequin at 38.7 toes. The rear wheels flip as much as 2.5 levels reverse the fronts at decrease speeds to just about shorten the wheelbase and make the EWB extra maneuverable in tight spots.

On the street, I can’t inform the distinction between the EWB and former Bentaygas I’ve pushed. It has the identical stable, planted, substantial really feel that skirts the border between luxurious and sportiness. The steering is direct and weighty, if maybe a tad sluggish. Regardless of 5,542 lb of mass, the massive beast doesn’t lean noticeably in corners and even responds nicely to attacking the activates just a few twisty Vancouver roads Bentley has chosen for the media drive. That’s thanks to straightforward lively anti-roll bars that agency up in corners to fight lean and disconnect on the straights for greatest consolation.

Bentley additionally outfits the Bentayga EWB with a normal three-chamber air suspension and adaptive dampers. With these 22s, the journey is agency however forgiving, even in Sport mode.

A twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8 turns the Bentayga EWB’s appreciable weight into pressing ahead momentum. The engine, shared with the likes of Porsche and Audi, makes 542 hp and 568 lb-ft of torque, pushing the Bentayga EWB from 0-60 mph in simply 4.5 seconds on the way in which to a high velocity of 180 mph. To date no hybrid or W-12 are supplied, and the W-12 is not anticipated to make it into the Bentayga EWB besides maybe in a limited-run mannequin.

The V-8 can rumble and bellow in different purposes, however right here it’s reserved, solely elevating its voice when pushed onerous. It in any other case fades into the background, as do the sleek shifts from the 8-speed dual-clutch automated. A mode selector has Consolation, Bentley, Sport, and Customized drive modes for the road. Throughout my drive, I stick largely to Sport to get the most effective engine response with out paying too huge a penalty in journey high quality.

Bentley payments the Bentayga because the all-around luxurious SUV with the most effective breadth of functionality. It definitely has the ability, consolation, and luxurious coated, and the air suspension and drive modes contribute to off-road functionality, too. The air suspension offers the Bentayga EWB a normal floor clearance of seven.9 inches, however the off-road modes can increase that as much as 9.7 inches to clear off-road obstacles.

The off-road modes include Snow & Grass, Dust & Gravel, Mud & Path, and Sand Dunes, and every adjusts the usual all-wheel-drive system, throttle, and traction and stability management to work greatest in that kind of terrain.

A drive across the ski bounce space at Whistler Olympic Park confirmed the Bentayga EWB can deal with going up and down steep gravel trails, however the usual Pirelli Scorpion tires received’t have sufficient grip for difficult mud and the longer wheelbase will stop entry to tighter tree-lined trails. That’s definitely as a lot functionality as this car wants, although. Depart the more durable stuff for off-roaders costing 1 / 4 of the worth or much less.

The 2023 Bentley Bentayga EWB makes a giant, luxurious car even greater and extra luxurious. It really does broaden the Bentayga’s already spectacular all-around functionality for anybody who will get behind the wheel. Nonetheless, the most effective place to be on this car will typically be the again seat. It’s a very good place to get some Zs.

Bentley paid for airfare and lodge for Motor Authority to go to sleep on the job.