The founding of Bentley, an ultra-high-end car manufacturer in the United Kingdom, was 1919, just 100 years ago. The race has been eager to enter the race since its inception, but in 1924 in its fifth year, it has achieved the feat of winning in 24 hours of that man.

Since then, he won 5 wins in Le Mans by 1930, but was soon acquired by Rolls-Royce, and this relationship continued until 1998. During this time, although Rolls-Royce and Bentley basically had the same design, Rolls-Royce aimed at creating a luxurious and elegant car, while Bentley expresses the strength and sportiness even in luxury. There was a clear difference.

The tradition of those days is still alive, and the Bentley’s interior and exterior is gorgeous and brilliant enough to be on par with Rolls-Royce, but it’s really sporty to try. In addition, as you can see from winning the mansman, it is equipped with stamina that can not be overwhelmed even in high-speed continuous driving, and once worked as a grand tourer that runs from England to southern Europe at a stretch.

The first SUV released by Bentley in 2015 is “Bentiga.” Now Rolls-Royce and Lamborghini have also launched SUVs, but the SUVs created by ultra-high-end automakers are the first ever in the history of the Bentiga.

Furthermore, the combination of Bentley’s luxury and good running makes it a top seller in a short time, and now boasts 52% of Bentley’s total production.

The newly added “speed” of the Bentayga is the traditional naming given to Bentley’s high-performance models, and the W12 6-liter giant twin turbo engine demonstrates 635ps, which is +27 ps of the standard specification. It boasts the power to reach a maximum speed of 306 km / h with a body of approximately 2.5 tons. By the way, this seems to be the fastest in the world as a commercial SUV.

Show amazing stability even at marginal driving
The Bentiga Speed ​​test ride was held at the Anglesey circuit in North Wales, England, but it is not essentially a car that runs on the circuit. This circuit test ride was realized because the circuit was considered to be safer and preferable to determine its power because it was so high-performance.

When I run the circuit on a mass-produced car that was created to drive on a public road, the course width is wide and the straight length is long enough to make me feel that I lack power more than necessary, but at the Ventaiga speed I did not have it at all. In addition, the feel transmitted from the undercarriage is also extremely refined, and no unpleasant vibration or noise is felt.

What was even more surprising was that the car’s maneuverability did not change nervously or disturb its behavior, even when running at a marginal pace where the tires began to slip.

Many of the recent mass-produced models are equipped with a function called stability control that automatically reduces the unstable behavior of the car, but in this test ride, the instructor sitting on the passenger seat did not know this without me I was told after the test drive that the switch was off.

Still, I felt that the Ventaiga Speed, which maintained its stable position without breaking the behavior, was an amazing high-performance SUV.