Bentley Bentayga Extended Wheelbase Gets A 7-Inch Stretch And Climate Controlled Back Seats

Bentley has added a fifth model to its luxury lineup by introducing the new Bentayga Extended Wheelbase alongside the standard Bentayga SUV.

The stretched Bentayga helps fill the void left by the demise of the old Mulsanne, with a combination of extra interior space and the kind of focus on passenger wellbeing that would put a fancy hotel spa to shame.

As the name suggests, the most obvious change to the Bentayga Extended Wheelbase (EWB) is the addition of 7.1 in (180 mm) of metal between the front and rear axles that stretches the wheelbase from 117.9 in (2,995 mm) to 125 in (3,175 mm). All of that extra length goes to the rear cabin area, and gives the EWB more interior space than any luxury rival, according to Bentley.

But there’s more to the EWB than the kind of legroom that would make an NBA star feel comfortable on a cross-country road trip. The company also claims its new Bentley Airline Seat is the most advanced chair ever fitted to a car thanks to its almost endless adjustment options that can be controlled through a hand-held touchscreen, including 40-degree recline capability allowing passengers to sleep, and the introduction of climate sensing technology.

That’s right. We’ve all come across heated seats, and more recently, cooling seats. Well Bentley is pioneering climate controlled seats that can sense occupant temperature and surface humidity and then decide whether to apply heat, ventilation, or a combination of both. The chairs also use sensors to measure pressure across the seat surface and make tiny adjustments to the seating position across six pressure zones to reduce fatigue on long journeys.

Naturally, plenty of money and man hours has been expended to improve the quality of materials in the EWB, which offers an optional Metal Overlay in Veneer finish for the interior trim, which comprises a strip of metal just 0.0028 in (0.07 mm) thick bonded by hand to the surface of the veneer before being lacquered and polished.

Other luxury features include power closing doors for the first time on a Bentley, heated rear door- and center armrests, a new design of diamond quilting, and the Bentley Diamond Illumination option. Tick that box and light from LEDs hidden in the door panels shines through tiny perforations in the leather, passengers getting to choose the color and intensity of that lighting. Four-plus-one seating is standard, which gives you two sculpted rear seats with a small jump seat between them for taking a third passenger in the rear for short journeys, though true luxury lovers can choose to ditch the middle seat for a console.

That extra long rear door should be easy to spot, but to help differentiate the EWB from lesser Bentaygas Bentley has added a vertical vane grille from the the Flying Spur sedan and also offers the existing 22-inch wheels with a mirror-finish option.

Under the skin there’s no sign of Bentley’s mighty W12, or the six-cylinder PHEV powertrain available in lesser Bentaygas. But the 4.0-liter V8’s 542 hp (550 PS) and 568 lb-ft (770 Nm) is enough to get the luxo-SUV to 60 mph (97 km/h) in 4.6 seconds, and on to a top speed of 180 mph (290 km/h).

The Bentayga is already the most important cog in Bentley’s model range gear-set, accounting for more than one third of the 14,659 cars it sold in 2021, and the company expects the new EWB to make up to 45 percent of its future SUV sales. Prices will be announced in the coming months and first EWB deliveries will commence later in 2022.