Mercedes-Benz G-Class vs Bentley Bentayga

What's the difference?

As per the 1979 original, the current G-Class is produced by Magna Steyr in Arnie’s home town of Graz in Austria. And many fundamental things haven’t changed since then. But clearly this EV monster’s exotic electric powertrain is a huge departure.

It retains impressive off-road ability and straight-line speed. But will it hit the mark with top-end luxury 4WDers? Short story, this thing is wild, and it will be irresistible for a likely narrow band of tech-focused ‘must have the latest and greatest’ buyers. Nothing like impressing friends and family with a tank turn.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with travel, accommodation and meals provided.

The Bentley Bentayga Azure may look a bit awkward and it surely isn't great value for money, but it is a true Bentley and a very good family SUV that not only provides terrific practicality but superb performance and comfort.

Okay, so Mercedes-Benz says, with a straight face, that “with the aim of optimising the vehicle’s aerodynamics” classic G-Class elements have been revised, including the reprofiled bonnet, ‘air curtain’ vents in the flares over the rear wheel arches, A-pillar cladding and the small spoiler on the edge of the roof.

At the same time, the 20-inch wheels are also claimed to be "aerodynamically optimised” and underneath, a 26mm underbody casing made from a mix of materials, including carbon-fibre (attached to the ladder frame with more than 50 steel screws), protects the battery from dust, dirt and rocks.

In ticking off the Edition One, car-spotters should look for black rims with blue brake callipers behind them, blue inserts in the exterior protective strips as well as black door handles and a new rectangular design box on the rear door for storing items such as charging cables, tools or snow chains. If you want a spare wheel, choose the standard model.

An optional black-panel radiator grille ($3800) features tinted lighting units as well as an animated LED light band and chrome surround. The light band can be activated as a running light or an animation when locking and unlocking the vehicle.

And it’s worth noting Mercedes-Benz and the car’s contracted manufacturer, Magna Steyr, have invested much time and many Euros in retaining the car’s classic handle and door lock design. G-Wagen owners will recognise its sound from several kilometres away.

Inside the G580 it’s clear this is one area where the G-Class has progressed enormously over the decades. It’s still quite upright in terms of the dash design, but you’re confronted by twin 12.3-inch screens, supporting the Mercedes-Benz user interface. 

All very high-tech, but that’s balanced by an old-school grab-handle for the front passenger to latch onto during off-road work. 

The signature turbine-style air vents are located within squared-off panels, and in the limited Edition One you have a blue fleck running through carbon-fibre inserts on the centre console, door cards and that front grab handle. In the standard car it’s a (very attractive) walnut open-pore wood rather than carbon.

A luxurious interior for sure.

You'd think of all automotive brands Bentley, with its beautiful swooping and powerful saloons, would be able to floor us with something just exquisite in SUV form. But right from the 2012 concept the Bentayga has struggled to stun the world with its design.

So, while there are Bentley family traits all over the Bentayga, from the intricate headlights and mesh grille, to the oval tail-lights and body which squats over the rear wheels, the overall design looks awkward to my eyes.

To me it appears the boxy design with the tall, flat roofline and elevated ride height favours practicality over the sleekness possessed by a lower, more coupe-like SUV.

I favour dark coloured clothes because it hides my shapes, creases and bulges, but these are the things you want to see in a car and our Bentley's 'Onyx Black' paint, despite being a beautiful colour with a blue hue added, make it a featureless blob in the sunlight.

A lighter shade or something outlandish like a turquoise or yellow would look amazing, and even better, upset your neighbours.

Let's look at the interior design which is lavish with all the quilted leather and Mulliner customisation, but lacks the modern look of many contemporary cabins with its smallish media screen and busy mosaic of buttons.

I like the little chrome plungers for the air vents, the winged styling to the dashboard and the stitched leather upholstery, but it's easy to spot parts that are shared by other members of the Volkswagen Group (which owns Bentley).

For example, there are the indicator and wiper stalks, as well as the steering wheel buttons, all from Audi. Surely Bentley should have its own crafted parts?

The interior colour scheme on our Bentayga is 'Beluga' (black) and 'Camel' (tan) and the Mulliner option split the colours with a cream tone.

From a family perspective the tan and black will hide dirt, although the cream will struggle. It's possibly the best leather on the planet, however, coming from cattle living high enough that their hides are unblemished by insect stings.

For the record, the G63 is just over 4.6m long and a little more than 1.9m wide with a 2890mm wheelbase. So, not huge, but its close to 2.0m height is hard to ignore. 

In the front there’s lots of breathing space, and in terms of storage you have generous bins in the doors with plenty of room for big bottles. Then there’s a centre armrest, which doubles as the top of a deep storage box housing a USB-C port inside. 

A sliding roller cover in the centre console reveals two cupholders, another two USB-C sockets, a 12-volt outlet and a wireless charging pad. Add in a big glove box and you’ve got plenty of options in terms of storage, power and connectivity. 

In the back, sitting behind the driver’s seat set for my 183cm position I’ve got tons of foot and legroom and, no surprise, lots of headroom.

There’s a fair bit of sculpting in the rear seat, which is as nice as it is unusual (makers often avoid bolsters on the rear seat as it makes the backrest harder to fold flat). And in terms of three-abreast accommodation, a smaller adult will be okay in the centre spot for shorter journeys. Three up to mid-teenage kids will be swimming in it.

Then, for practicality you again have generous bins in the doors. And if you need even more capacity, fold down the centre armrest which houses two different size cupholders. 

In the rear of the centre console you’ve got two USB-Cs, a 12-volt power outlet, individual climate control and directional vents.

There are map rockets on the front seatbacks and more air vents in the B-pillar. So, when it comes to comfort, powering up devices and storing ‘things’ you’re well taken care of.

The side-opening tailgate door opens from right to left, which isn’t ideal when parallel parked on the left hand side of the road, but boot volume is over 600 litres (VDA) with all seats upright, expanding to nearly 2000 litres with the 60/40 split-folding rear seat lowered.

There are multiple tie-down hooks, a netted pocket, two lights, a 12-volt outlet as well as a ‘ski-port’ door and sliding cargo cover to enhance practicality and security.

As mentioned earlier, the full-size spare in the standard model, but the Design Box replaces it on the Edition One, although Mercedes-Benz says it’s aiming to make a spare available as an option later in the year.

Being shaped like a bus does nothing for the Bentayga's beauty but makes it spacious for cargo and roomy for people.

With its large doors and elevated ride height (the car can be lowered for easier access) it's great for families.

Our Bentayga is a five-seater, which is fine for my little family of four, but there are four- and seven-seat configurations available, too.

Second row legroom is exceptional, even for me at 189cm tall, and sitting behind my own driving position there's still plenty of room.

Headroom is also outstanding throughout. We could be a family that loves top hats, on our way to the top hat championships, and not have to remove our top hats. That's how good headroom and hat room is.

Sun blinds in the second row are vital in Australia, and the electric ones in the Bentayga raise and lower quickly, not just offering protection but also more privacy.

Storage is good throughout with big door pockets and five cupholders.

It seems the cabin space eats into the cargo area because the boot isn't overly large at 484 litres with all seats in place.

Buttons in the cargo area allow the rear of the car to be raised and lowered to make it easier to hoist items in the boot.

For devices there's a wireless phone charger up front along with USB ports in both rows.

Reviewing every type of car on the market provides a pretty good perspective, but when it comes to Bentleys we enter a realm where value-for-money often isn't as crucial as it is for more mainstream options.

The same goes for the price. Bentleys are among the most expensive cars in the world. So if, like me, you flinch at the thought of paying more than half a million dollars for an SUV, it may not be the car for us right now.

With that I can tell you the Bentley Bentayga Azure's list price is $475,000 and our car with all of its options comes to $515,000.

That's more money than any SUV from Mercedes-Benz and BMW costs. Even Range Rover can't quite reach that mark.

Only the likes of Aston Martin's DBX 707 and Lamborghini's Urus can match the price.

There are always bigger fish, though, and Rolls Royce's Cullinan swims in at $700,000, making the Bentayga's price seem quite reasonable.

Let's look at the standard features.

Coming standard on the Bentayga Azure are the prettiest LED headlights in the world. There are LED tail-lights, too, as well as a proximity key, roof rails and a panoramic glass roof, plus a hands-free tailgate.

Inside there's the 10.9-inch media screen, sat nav, wireless Apple CarPlay and wireless Android Auto.

The diamond quilting to the door trims is also standard and so are the Bentley sports pedals.

Many of these features are standard on lower grades in the Bentayga range, but the point in choosing the Azure is that many of the optional bundles on offer are fitted as standard here.

So, while leather upholstery is of course standard the 'Colour Specification' package gives you a choice of all interior colour combinations and an extended choice of hide colours.

The 'City Specification' brings extra safety tech like rear cross-traffic alert and a top view camera.

The 'Front Seat Comfort' specification adds 20-way power front seats, ventilation and massage as well as comfort headrests.

The 'Touring Specification' brings adaptive cruise control, a head up display, lane keeping assistance and 'Night Vision'.

And then the 'Sunshine Package' adds electric sun blinds, which are great for kids in the back.

Despite the multitude of standard packages there's plenty left to option on the Azure.

Our car was fitted with about a dozen options including piano black veneer ($5884), 22-inch alloy wheels ($4733), rear privacy glass ($2617), LED welcome lights ($2238), self-levelling wheel centre caps ($1208), a heated acoustic windscreen ($1094), luggage management for the boot ($937) and a heated steering wheel ($543).

Then there's Mulliner, Bentley's in-house customisation division which will personalise your Bentley.

The Mulliner custom features on our Bentayga Azure include the addition of an extra colour in the leather upholstery ($13,492), 'Honeycomb' stitching on the steering wheel ($5391) and contrasting stitching on the quilted areas of leather trim ($2688).

Best family features would have to be the privacy glass, temperature control in the second row and the rear sun blinds.

The second row also comes with a removable tablet which can be used to adjust the climate control, sunroof and media settings among other functions.

In the hands of children this is every parent's nightmare and there's a 100 percent chance of the tablet being lost forever, possibly on the motorway between Sydney and Canberra.

The G580 is powered by four permanently excited synchronous motors, each delivering around a CLA200’s worth of power and torque to each wheel for overall outputs in excess of 432kW/1164Nm.

Each motor has its own two-stage transmission and power electronics for almost infinite fine-tuning of the direction and amount of drive sent to individual wheels. Merc calls it ‘individual-wheel drive’.

When Bentley stopped putting its W12 into the Bentayga this year I was unsurprised yet sad. The world is moving toward tighter fuel emissions but the twin-turbo petrol V8 in this Azure is still a beast.

The 4.0-litre turbo-petrol V8 is from the Audi family and I love it as much for its plentiful torque and superb acceleration as the deep rumble of its exhaust.

Making 404kW and 770Nm the V8 can lift and throw the 2.5-tonne Bentayga to 100km/h from a standstill in 4.5 seconds and onto a top speed of 290km/h. I reckon you could get it to 300km/h with the wind behind you.

Drive goes to all four wheels via an eight-speed transmission and a Torsen-type centre differential.

Default drive balance is 40/60 front to rear, with up to 70 per cent of power able to be sent to the front wheels and up to 85 per cent to the rear axle.

I don't think you'll be astounded to hear this powertrain uses a lot of fuel? Let's go there...

Housed in a torsion-resistant casing and embedded low down in its ladder-frame chassis, the G580’s 116kWh two-tier, liquid-cooled lithium-ion battery pack delivers a WLTP-rated range of 473km, or 567km on the more lenient NEDC scale.

‘Eco Assistant’ and ‘Range Monitoring’ functions provide continuous information on battery status, energy consumption and estimated range.

Maximum system capacity is 400 volts which enables 200kW DC charging, meaning a 10 to 80 per cent fill in as little as 32 minutes. Maximum AC charging capacity is 11kW.

Claimed energy use is 23.1kWh/100km, and we saw an average of 28.6kWh across urban and highway running on the launch drive program.

Not exactly a ‘green’ EV choice, then, but it’s worth noting a one-year Chargefox subscription is included to off-set the car’s energy appetite.

Bentley says the Bentayga Azure with the V8 petrol engine will use an average of 11.4L/100km over a combination of open and urban roads.

But what happens if you live in the suburbs not far from the city and drive the Azure every day to do the school drop offs and trips to the shops and then take in some fun country roads? You use an average of 22.8L/100km according to the car's trip computer.

This is still not as high as I was expecting. I've driven V6-powered SUVs which use more than this under the same conditions.

That said, even when using as much fuel as Bentley says you should, an 85-litre fuel tank is only going to deliver an approximate 745km driving range.

The Bentley Bentayga doesn't have a safety rating as like many extremely high-end cars it hasn't been assessed by ANCAP or Euro NCAP.

That said, the Azure grade comes standard with an armoury of safety tech including AEB (with turn assistance), lane keeping assistance, blind-spot warning, rear cross-traffic alert, evasive steering assistance, and adaptive cruise control.

Front and rear parking sensors are standard (and the most relied-upon feature I use daily), while exit warning saved my child and myself more than a few times from leaping out into the traffic on the school run.

The G580 is covered by Mercedes-Benz Australia’s five-year/unlimited-km warranty, which remains the standard offering in the premium part of the market and an eight-year/160,000km drive battery warranty.

Service intervals are every 12 months or 20,000km with service plan pricing available over three ($2645), four ($3980) and five ($4670) years. In approximate terms, each workshop visit will cost ‘around’ $900. Not exactly cheap, especially for an EV, but this is no ordinary electric vehicle.

The Bentayga is covered by Bentley's three-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty. Servicing is recommended every 12 months or 16,000km.

The good news is all new Bentley's have five years regular servicing included in the cost of the vehicle.