Bentley Bentayga DIESEL arrives with 429bhp and 0-62mph in 4.8 seconds

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The Bentley Bentayga Diesel has been revealed as Bentley’s first diesel-engined car, offering 429bhp from its 4.0 litre V8 and 35.8mpg.

It’s taken Bentley almost a century to fit a diesel engine to one of its cars, and it’s fitted it to the car which many consider so far removed from a Bentley that it proves Ettore Bugatti’s withering ‘fast lorries’ aphorism. Step forward the Bentley Bentayga Diesel.

Of course, this isn’t just any diesel, it’s a Bentley diesel (well, to be fair, it’s more of an Audi diesel) which means 4.0 litres of V8, 429 of the finest oil-burning horses and a very large 664 lb/ft of the twisty stuff. You couldn’t call the Bentayga Diesel underendowed.

All that adds up to a triple-turbo performance of just 4.8 seconds to 62mph, and yet delivers official economy of 35.8mpg. Of course, if you do better than 20mpg in the real world with a heavy right foot you’ll be doing very well. But you’d do very well to hit double figures in the W12 Bentayga.

Just like the W12 Bentayga, the Diesel Bentayga comes sumptuously equipped – and Bentley will offer you endless options to gild the lily and empty your bank account – and with just a few tell-tale signs, like a black grille and ‘8’ shapes for the tail pipes, proclaiming you’re driving an oil-burning Bentayga.

Bentley clearly hope its star can rise further with a diesel car, just as its parent VW’s is dying for the same reason. We’d have thought a plug-in hybrid Bentayga would have been a much better shout.

Still, the Bentayga Diesel does make Land Rover’s diesel Range Rovers look a bit arthritic (assuming you buy a full-size luxury SUV for the performance – most don’t), but you could save half the likely cost of the Bentayga Diesel and grab an Audi SQ7 – which is exactly the same car but without the knurling, quilting and badges.