MOTORING NEWS
BRAND NEW
HARDWARE
Bentley Bentayga
Either an army of Mac operators have been kept busy around the clock working their magic in Photoshop or Bentley have in fact succeeded in creating a four-wheel drive vehicle capable of travelling off-road in a way that you wouldn’t dare try in a Continental GT. Unless you’re filthy stinking rich and rebellious, that is, as you can pick them up for under £40k these days and that represents a lot of car for the money. Anyway, I digress... With a six litre twin-turbo W12 engine it was always going to be the world’s fastest SUV with a top speed of 187mph but the good news for tree-hugging trustafarians out there is that this W12 can disable one bank of cylinders to reduce the impact on the polar ice caps and there will also shortly be V8 petrol, V8 diesel and a V8 petrol plug-in hybrid version available if you simply must have one of Crewe’s finest that also affords you the ability to shoot things and drink champagne over a picnic from almost anywhere whilst ensuring that at least some of nature’s offerings will be left for your heirs to enjoy, daaaaahling. To avoid this final paragraph becoming litigious it’s important to warn you that I’m paraphrasing from a distant memory but seem to recall that designer Luc Donckerwolke stated in an interview when challenged about how Bentayga was more of an ugly duckling than an elegant swan replied that it’s selling really well so his team have in fact appealed perfectly to the taste of their target audience. However, as we all know, money can’t buy taste!
LF OLDER THAN TIME ITSE
Land Rover Defender Farewell, often unfaithful old friend. You who have carried us all over terrain, smooth and flat (in relative discomfort), steep and rough (with unwavering determination) and you who hath the ability to decompose at a rate so alarming it serves as the envy of all who possess a compost bin in their garden. You, with your almost nonexistent aerodynamic efficiency and near zero rollover protection that has scared all
BECAUSE QUALITY MATTERS
that have driven you witless during times of high wind or over-zealous climbing manoeuvres. Your tiny, feeble windscreen wipers and the ability to hold just enough water on top of your bonnet to gently but constantly splash up onto the windscreen as the air rushes past at almost exactly 30mph during periods of rainfall. The way that steering lock was slowly phased out over a period of around seventy years until it almost became necessary to conduct a five point turn whilst negotiating a roundabout.
Your unmistakable silhouette and British charm never failing to make us smile as we walk away after checking that all of the doors have been locked three times each, separately. Just some of the reasons why we love to hate you and love to love you at the very same time. You will be missed, old friend. Unless the bloke from Twisted manages to get his hands on the tooling, in which case overpriced but infinitely better built versions will still be available. I’d better start saving, just in case...
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