Bentley introduced their very first SUV, the Bentayga, is 2015.

This move was no accident because the carmaker recognised two trends: The slow decline of the luxury limousine market, and the rise of the SUV market. The latter is arguably the more important one.

Indeed, Bentley itself announced last June that the flagship Mulsanne would be retired — for good. Taking the Mulsanne’s place is the Bentley Bentayga Extended Wheelbase (EWB).

Going long

What you can’t see, though, is the inclusion of rear-wheel-steering, which helps the lengthy behemoth get around tight spots easier than the standard Bentayga. The Bentayga EWB has a turning circle of 11.8m, or 600mm shorter. But more on this later.

Now, with an extra 180mm to play with, Bentley is able to offer a new party trick called the Airline Seat Specification, which is available only if the four-seat or 4+1 seat configuration is selected.

For safety reasons, Airline Seat Specification can only be specified for the seat diagonally opposite the driver’s seat. When deployed, the front seat is pushed all the way forwards while the rear seat itself is reclined.

At cruising speed and with the air suspension working its magic, putting up one’s legs and pushing back into the reclined rear seat will lull you to sleep.

Generous propulsion

Given the Bentayga EWB’s sizeable dimensions, I was expecting the famed W12 engine to be available. However, it appears that this 12-cylinder powerplant has reached the end of the road.

Powering the Bentayga EWB in its stead is the twin-turbocharged four-litre V8 producing 542hp (550PS) and 770Nm of torque.

It’s mated to an eight-speed ZF automatic gearbox that sends the outputs to a permanent all-wheel-drive system that employs a central Torsen differential and rear e-differential.

Weighing in at 2514kg, the EWB is 98kg heavier than the standard Bentayga. However, this large barge can still sprint from rest to 100km/h in a surprisingly quick 4.6 seconds, just 0.1 of a second slower than the regular model.

The drive out of Vancouver in Canada started with a well-paved highway towards Whistler Mountain. On such smooth stretches, there is no discernible difference between the Comfort and Bentley modes. But I preferred the latter because it wrought enough chassis control to the make the drive interesting.

Bentley Bentayga Extended Wheelbase 4.0 (A)

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This article was first published in Torque. Permission required for reproduction.