Bentley Bentayga Hybrid Review

Performance

It’s not the fastest Bentayga - that honour goes to the genuinely surprising W12 - but 0-60 in 5.2 isn’t bad at all for such a big car. Using EV-only mode means you only have 126bhp to play with, which is more the sort of output you expect from a hatchback. In fact, the Renault Zoe has more power. 

But actually it’s plenty for when you are driving in town, when you’re likely to be cruising between necessary stops in traffic rather than charging around. Put you foot down when the road clears and the petrol engine will chip in to help. It’s all perfectly acceptable though - drive it with some vigour and it’ll boing away with much more vim than you expect. Just don’t expect petrol-powered levels of excitement or the effortless waft you get from a big engine. 

Drive

The Hybrid gets air suspension with adaptive damping, but has to make do without the ingenious 48v-ride control system that makes the top-of-the-range W12 so supremely serene and downright spooky. You can mess with various drive modes, but to be honest, this isn’t the car you want if you like spirited driving. 

This is more a car to waft along in, trying very hard not to exhaust your electric reserves and thinking of all the money you’ll be saving in fuel and taxes. It’s probably the closest thing to an ev-limo as we’re going to get for a while.