Land Rover Mulls Ultra Luxurious SUV to Rival Bentley Bentayga

Well, I can only speak for myself, but I can chime in with relevant info because I own one, and I once took a ride in a Bentayga, so I can make a direct comparison based on experience. The Bentley is a little nicer inside but you have to get all the way down to comparing the quality of button surfaces, things like glove compartment latches, and seat belt releases, etc before there is any appreciable difference in quality. Comparisons of things above that level of detail are really a matter of taste, not quality. That said, there are several things on the Range Rover that are nicer than the Bentley, like the stereo (I don't care how many watts the Bentley has, it has less speakers and doesn't sound as good), and, of course, most off road related technology is better on the rover. Although the interior is slightly nicer in the Bentley,..,it's just that Bentley, like Rolls Royce, overdoes everything even when it doesn't add any real value or improvement, which is why they are typically overpriced. It's hard to beat either Bentley or Rolls Royce in coach building though, so I might suggest Land Rover take a que from Mercedes and just partner with Maybach on an ultra-lux version. That way they definitely wouldn't miss the mark on the coach buildout. Let's face it, they won't sell enough $250,000 range rovers to make a decent profit, so this is all about marketing. Partnering with Maybach (if possible) would be much easier, cheaper, and would be guaranteed to result in the nicest possible SUV if that is their goal.

You really think the Bentayga is nicer inside than the Autobiography? The Bentley did a good job at keeping it Bentley looking, but some things like the brakes and trim are just nicer on the Range Rover. Funny, I was looking at both last Saturday. The respective dealerships are next year other in my locale. The Bentayga is more of statement; that's for sure. I like the design of the Velar, but I don't think that could go over 120k if you tried

Yeah, I do, but I think the Bentayga is just slightly nicer than the regular ATB (& the SV-ATB). The carpet, for instance, is slightly nicer and so are a few buttons and such. However, although I've never seen one in person, I think the Holland & Knight ATB version, with its engraved handles and trim, is probably slightly nicer than the Bentayga. Those are as nice of handles as I've ever seen on any vehicle. The only way I can see that you might make a nicer handle than the H&K ATB handles would maybe be by having them made of hand forged Damascus steel or something like that. Regardless, the Bentayga is an inferior vehicle because it's an SUV after all and, as such, you have to look at more than just the quality of its coach buildout and acceleration/top speed to judge its worth. It fails miserably in that department. I would never buy an off road vehicle made by a company that (a) has no real experience building off road vehicles, and (b) focuses all of its design and engineering efforts almost exclusively on comfort/luxury elements and top speed/acceleration respectively....neither of which are very important in SUVs. It would be like Ferrari bragging about putting a sand crawl feature on the LaFerrari. Sure, it might work, and who knows, maybe it even gets used once by a single LaFerrari owner worldwide, but who in their right mind would want that feature or cite it as a reason they like the LaFerrari better than another hyper car? So, in the end, no Bentley, Lambo, Ferrari, Porsche, or Rolls Royce SUVs for me. When companies like those build an SUV, all they wind up building are oversized cars that don't handle very well and are slow. Sorry Porsche fans, all Porsche makes in the off road category are fat, slow, poorly handling cars. They just masquerade as SUVs. Hardcore car companies that traditionally focus on making fast or luxurious cars usually just dont focus on what is really important. I'd even hesitate to buy an SUV from BMW. Merc is the only exception in my mind. They've always focus on making high performance sports cars and high end luxury sedans, but they also have a very long history of producing off road vehicles. But whatever the case, I just think the new SUV manufacturers like Bentley and Jaguar, or even relatively new to the scene, Porsche, have a long way to go before proving themselves to be competent off road vehicle manufacturers.

Jaguar does have an upper hand compared to the other new to the game marques mentioned. The F-Pace borrows Land Rover's technology and refines it for more on-road use, but is essentially a Land Rover. Same sharing as seen throughout the JLR portfolio. The big dud for me is the Levante; like a decade too late the game in its current suit.

Agreed, Jag has a big advantage because it can borrow parts from Land Rover, but the execs making the decisions regarding the F-Pace will still be people who are primarily "car" people so I'd buy a Land Rover SUV over a Jag any day of the week. Still, like you say, they do have an advantage over the others due to the shared tech. By the way, I obviously erred when I said Holland and Knight instead of Holland and Holland. Holland and Knight is a law firm. I'm a lawyer so i guess that name just popped into my head.