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2021 Bentley Bentayga V8 First Drive | Not messing with success

The 2021 Bentley Bentayga V8 marks the first refresh for Bentley’s first and rather successful SUV. The company has sold more than 20,000 of them worldwide since its introduction just a few years ago. As such, Bentley didnÂ’t need to do much to keep it updated, nor did it. The refresh boils down to exterior and interior updates, and after spending some time with the updated Bentayga, it continues to be a brilliantly luxurious machine with impressive capability. The most obvious and significant changes are to the exterior styling, which has hardly been the Bentayga's strong point. There are new round headlights with a cut crystal design like on other recent Bentleys. The grille has been enlarged, and the front bumper has a sportier design with an integrated spoiler. On the side, the fender vent has been lengthened and mounted higher, while the rear now has slim oval taillights and oval exhaust outlets. Those taillights have the same kind of cut crystal design as the headlights. The changes are subtle but effective at sprucing up the Bentayga, but they also donÂ’t make existing Bentaygas look out of date. ItÂ’s a similar situation inside. The biggest changes are in the center of the dashboard. The upper air vents are thin and horizontal instead of circles, and they've been relocated with the dash clock to sit mostly on top of the dash instead of nestled into it. Below them is a larger, 10.9-inch infotainment system that spans the whole width of the center stack and looks better integrated than the old version. The back seats can be configured to have nearly 4 inches more legroom, and thereÂ’s a larger touchscreen remote and available rear air vents for the bench seat configuration. Beyond that, the interior is mostly the same, which is hardly a complaint. This is a Bentley, after all. Essentially every surface is wrapped in soft leather, adorned with rich wood trim or made of weighty knurled metal. And customers have access to a vast variety of colors and combinations to create a genuinely custom cabin. There are a few low-ish points. The infotainment system isnÂ’t the most responsive, and it can be a little tricky to find the menu you want. Also, and this is a bit of a car journalist nitpick, you can spot some bits pilfered from the Audi parts bin: the turn signal and washer stalks, the headlight knob, and the underlying menus and layout of the instrument panel.

Bentley Mulsanne EWB China Edition ironically celebrates London

Bentley's versed in special editions for China, although it's been a while since we last saw one. In 2010, the English automaker released the Continental GT Design Series China and Flying Spur Speed China, following that up a year later with the Linley Continental Flying Spur that was limited to a mere 10 units. This time around, 15 Chinese buyers get the chance to order the Bentley Mulsanne Extended Wheelbase China Edition in any color they want so long as it's black. This being a product of Bentley's Mulliner bespoke division, though, buyers do get a choice of two special blacks. Onyx black imbues the abyssal shade with "a hint of dark blue" as well as darker tones, resulting in the "deepest black finish offered by Bentley." Mulsanne shoppers who like their blacks a bit more uplifting should opt for Black Velvet, said to be "a richer black-based finish" shot through with red pigments, creating a color recalling black cherries. Both hues are hand-applied, as is the gold fine line running along the Mulsanne's shoulder. Further exterior highlights comprise the chrome Serenity grille with a double-diamond quilt pattern, a Union Jack on the C-pillar, 21-inch and 14-spoke polished Radiance wheels, exclusive welcome lamps, and polished, stainless steel Mulliner sill plates.  Three vogue, two-tone interiors will be available, in either Fireglow with Imperial Blue, Newmarket Tan with Burnt Oak, or Shortbread with Redwood. Crewe artists embroidered the hide covering each seat with "an expressive interpretation" of London's skyline that includes widely recognizable sights: Tower Bridge, the London Eye Ferris wheel, the Shard and Gherkin towers, and The O2 arena. The same design is inlaid into the chosen veneer on the passenger's side.   The 6.75-liter turbocharged V8 with 506 hp and 752 pound-feet of torque goes untouched. Bentley will share pricing only with the 15 souls ready to purchase, but the standard sedan starts at more than 5 million yuan, or almost $750,000 American. Buyers would be advised to have a Bentayga on hand to convey the funds to the dealership.

Xcar asks why the W in the Bentley Continental GT

There aren't a lot of automakers producing V12 engines these days: There's BMW and Mercedes, of course, and the Rolls-Royces and Paganis they power. There's Ferrari, Lamborghini and Aston Martin. But the largest producer of twelve-cylinder engines doesn't make them in a V. That'd be Bentley, and it produces more dozen-piston engines than anyone else, but arranges them in a W configuration. It's a compelling story of innovation, one as interesting as the history of the marque itself. And Xcar tells the tale in its latest video installment, tracing it back to the development of the compact VR6 engine and the autocratic mastermind at the helm of the Volkswagen Group who made the W12 a reality. By this point it would be all too easy to consign the W12 to the dustbin of history as the smaller, more efficient and nearly as powerful V8 has slotted in below to push the W12 to the margins of relevance. But it's still the more refined option, and the more innovative one. Little wonder it's the only type of twelve-cylinder engine (the Aventador's notwithstanding) that the Volkswagen Group still makes.