Bentley Bentayga Gains V8 Gasoline Engine With 542 Horsepower

Developing 542 horsepower (404 kilowatts) and 568 pound-feet (770 Newton-meters) of torque like in the Porsche Panamera and Cayenne Turbo, the new Bentayga model runs to 62 mph (100 kph) in 4.5 seconds and tops out at 180 mph (290 kph). For the sake of comparison, the flagship W12 variant is four tenths of a second quicker in the sprint and has a 7 mph (11 kph) higher maximum velocity.

All that power is channeled to both front and rear wheels through an eight-speed automatic transmission from ZF sending 60 percent of the torque to the rear axle. Not that people in the market for a Bentayga really care about, but the V8 gasoline version is relatively frugal as it only drinks 11.4 liters / 100 km in the combined cycle, so it returns 20.6 mpg US (24.8 mpg UK). Obviously, it’s more economical than the W12 and with a full tank of gasoline it will cover 464 miles (746 km). Start/stop technology comes as standard equipment, as does the cylinder deactivation system able to turn off half of the cylinders in only 20 milliseconds without the driver noticing it.

There’s not much to report in terms of the design as the new Bentayga V8 looks almost the same as its W12 and TDI brothers. It gets the latter’s quad exhaust setup and can be specified with optional carbon ceramic brakes representing a first for the SUV. These are in fact the largest brakes ever to be installed in a Bentley and at the same time the biggest front brakes available on a production car. Red brake calipers for the regular iron brakes are being introduced with the new V8 flavor, which also gets new 22-inch alloys with a five-spoke design and a polished finish in black.