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2024 Bentley Bentayga EWB Mulliner is a private jet for the road

The high-riding Bentayga has stood proud as Bentley's range-topping model since the Mulsanne retired in 2020. The brand is cementing its first SUV's flagship positioning by launching an even more luxurious evolution of the extended-wheelbase version called EWB Mulliner. Developed, as its name implies, by the in-house Mulliner division, the long-wheelbase SUV rides on 22-inch wheels fitted with self-leveling center caps and wears a model-specific Double Diamond grille. Designers also added a chromed lower front grille, a Mulliner-branded badge on each fender, and two-tone door mirror caps. The list of options includes an appearance package called Mulliner Blackline Specification that replaces most of the bright trim pieces with gloss black parts and adds gloss black-finished 21-inch wheels for a more subtle look. We doubt anyone will yell "shotgun!" before taking a long trip in the Bentayga EWB Mulliner, as the best seats in the house are in the back. Offered with four or five seats, the SUV comes standard with the Bentley Airline Seat option that brings 22-way power-adjustable rear seats, an automatic climate-sensing system that detects whether the occupants are hot or cold and adjusts the heating or the ventilation accordingly, and postural adjustment technology that continuously changes the shape of the seat to ease pressure points. Two seating modes are available: Relax reclines the seat to nearly 40 degrees and deploys a footrest while Business moves it to its most upright position. Mulliner also added diamond-quilted leather upholstery, wood interior trim, wool floor mats and a three-dimensional diamond-milled finish on the center console, and it lets buyers choose one of eight three-color upholstery combinations created specifically for the flagship Bentayga. Alternatively, customers can work with the brand to design a one-of-a-kind interior. The finishing touch is an analog clock on the dashboard. If you have something to celebrate, Bentley can help: there's space for a bottle and two champagne flutes on the rear center console. Power comes from a 4.0-liter V8 that's twin-turbocharged to 542 horsepower and 568 pound-feet of torque. It spins the four wheels via an eight-speed automatic transmission, and it sends this living room on wheels from 0-60 mph in 4.5 seconds and on to a top speed of 180 mph. The list of standard features includes rear-wheel steering, a 48-volt anti-roll control system and an air suspension system.

2016 Bentley Bentayga First Drive [w/video]

There was once a barrier that separated our Arcadian, four-dimensional space from an uncanny cosmos where a $229,100 SUV makes irrefutable business sense. That wall is gone, and the Bentley Bentayga broke it. We're accustomed to powerful SUVs. The Mercedes-Benz G65 AMG makes the Earth weep on account of its 621 horsepower and 738 pound-feet of torque. The Bentayga is shy of those figures, with 21 fewer horses and 74 fewer pound-feet. We're also accustomed to quick SUVs; the Porsche Cayenne Turbo S hits 60 miles per hour in just 3.8 seconds. The Bentayga runs that race 0.2 seconds slower. And of course, we are accustomed to luxurious SUVs that fear no obstacle or load. The Range Rover Autobiography can swim its leathers and veneers through 35.4 inches of water, surmount nearly 12 inches when toiling off-road, and tow 7,716 pounds. The Bentayga can 'only' manage 19.6 inches of water, 'only' gets to 9.64 inches on its tippy toes, and is 'only' rated to tow 7,714 pounds. None of these facts are listed to harp on the Bentayga. It isn't Bentley's way to make rank by being the best in every category. Instead, the Crewe brand brings all the boys to the yard by merely being excellent across the board. The Continental GT isn't superlative at any one thing, but no other vehicle that can carry four people is as fast and as capable and as dynamic, and only Phantom-level Rolls-Royces can touch it for luxury. The Bentayga is not the Continental GT of SUVs, it is "the Bentley of SUVs." But here's an important clarification: The Bentayga is not the Continental GT of SUVs, it is "the Bentley of SUVs." The automaker describes the mission as, "driving, luxury, performance." The interior advances the current design language with a two-piece instrument panel – an upper portion that slides through the center console in a "U" shape, and a lower portion that connects the console to the center tunnel. Bentley poses this as a riff on its flying wing badge, but it actually comes from interior designer Darren Day's wish to fit an IP with a steeper rake. The size of an instrument panel is limited by the width of the door openings because the dashboard doesn't go in until after the body is welded together. Day wanted passengers to be able to rest their legs on the buttresses tying the IP to the center tunnel, but his one-piece design was too large to fit through the doors.

Bentley Mulsanne 6.75 Edition is the sedan's sendoff into retirement

Bentley is closing the latest Mulsanne chapter with 30 examples the Mulsanne 6.75 Edition by Mulliner, celebrating the 61-year-old V8 that first appeared in the 1959 Bentley S2. Once those 30 cars have been built, the name retires for the second time — after being used on a flagship sedan from 1980 to 1992 — and the Flying Spur takes over as the carmaker's top-tier offering. Starting with the 530-horsepower Mulsanne Speed, the 6.75 Edition adds gloss black and bright chrome jewelry, including a dark tint for the Flying B hood ornament, Mulliner radiator, and exhaust finishers. There are also chrome badges, bright machined faces with black pockets for the 21-inch, five-spoke wheels, and welcome lighting that flashes the special edition name. Under the hood, the normally silver intake cover gets dressed in black, and the engine number plaque bears the signature of brand CEO Adrian Hallmark instead of the engine builder. The interior can be specced in four single-color hides, either Beluga, Fireglow, Imperial Blue, or Newmarket Tan. All are automatically contrasted with silver — silver-painted veneer, silver seat piping and silver sheen that shows through the ventilated thrones, an instrument panel in high-gloss Grand Black, and door trim in Dark Engine Spin Aluminum. Other touches to mark the occasion are ventilation controls designed to look like the engine oil cap, cutaway drawings of the engine on the gauges and clock face, and more 6.75 Edition stitching and badging. The carmaker pointed to the end of the 6.75-liter V8 four years ago, but that was when there were plans for a successor to be powered by a new V12. Times having changed, the Flying Spur will lead the way with its 6.0-liter W12 and 4.0-liter V8 engines sourced from Volkswagen, and a hybrid model coming for 2023.  Bentley didn't mention a price for the Mulsanne 6.75 Edition, because of course. But the 2020 Mulsanne Speed starts at $342,300. Start there and add money.