• Multiple seating layouts available
• Five-seater gives the most boot space
• Powered tailgate standard

How much space is there?

The Bentayga is available in four-seat, five-seat and seven-seat configurations. There’s enough room for four adults to travel in outright luxury whichever you pick; you’ll squeeze a fifth smaller person in too if you’ve selected that number of pews. In seven-up variants, the rearmost row is best left for children (assuming they don’t still need car seats); if you need a sumptuous seven-seater, we’d point you towards the BMW X7 or Range Rover.

Meanwhile, if you really want to maximise the main rear passengers’ comfort take a look at the longer Bentayga EWB, which is available with a high-tech Airline Seat arrangement. All variants come with a powered tailgate as standard, and the air suspension offers four height settings, including the ability to lower the car to make getting in and out easier.

Boot space and storage

The boot measures 431 litres in the most luxurious four-seat models, but because of the configuration of the rear bench this extends to 484 litres if you go for the five-seater. Removing the hinged, leather-bound parcel shelf unlocks 590 litres of load area, while folding the rear bench means 1,774 litres is on offer.

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Opt for the plug-in hybrid and it shrinks to 479 litres. Plus (as seen above) there’s nowhere for the cables to live.

Some customers will be pleased to note that Bentley has patented what it’s calling an Event Seat. This is a board that extends out of the boot floor for you to use as a picnic perch, and comes with downlighters for the bootlid as part of the Event Specification package.

There are four cup-holders and multiple cubbies around the cabin, including usefully large door bins and spaces for smartphones and sunglasses – all neatly integrated and finely finished.

Is it easy to park?

No car this size is that easy to park. But visibility is pretty good and it comes with parking sensors and 360 degree cameras. However, the rear camera isn’t covered, meaning it easily gets grimy and the image it relays into the infotainment screen gets worse and worse until you clean it.

There’s also an autonomous parking system on offer. We found it works fine most of the time, but is confused sometimes by where kerbs start.

View dimensions in the Bentley Bentayga specs pages

Safety

• No Euro NCAP score
• Platform shared with five-star model
• Array of optional kit on offer

While the Bentley Bentayga hasn’t been crash-tested by Euro NCAP (which isn’t unusual – none of the firm’s cars have as the organisation doesn’t usually test high-end luxury vehicles), it shares its basic platform with the Audi Q7 and that scored a maximum five stars for safety in 2019.

Standard safety fare on the Bentayga includes driver and passenger front and rear side curtain, and front and rear seat thorax airbags. Crash detection and mitigation systems are installed too.

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There are a number of extra-cost features you can specify to make your car safer still. The Touring Specification features radar-guided adaptive cruise control, a lane-keeping assist function, self-driving in traffic jams and a night vision system along with a head-up display to project vital details such as sat-nav instructions onto the windscreen.

It is a little disappointing to see so much of the safety equipment is only optional. That’s normal for a premium car like this, however.