Volkswagen Touareg vs Bentley Bentayga

What's the difference?

The facelifted Touareg is subtly improved across all metrics including price. That's a rare win for a mid-life facelift and should help VW shift more of this accomplished family SUV.

It's not all perfect, with no spare tyre included and the mis-match between braked towing capacity and towball down weight.

The diesel engine is torquey, refined and the 170TDI feels like an awful lot more than a base model with stacks of equipment.

As for the R, it's an expensive flagship with a unique powertrain. One that's very well integrated but the plug-in hybrid experience isn't for everyone. There's no doubting its performance credentials and everyday comfort, though.

No matter the spec, VW's revised Touareg is a family SUV that should definitely make it onto your short list.

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.

The Touareg is an elegant large SUV that has presence in its size, if not eye-catching design flair.

For the facelift, Volkswagen has smartened up the fascia and rear bumper. New 'click clack' front lighting signatures give extra menace while the rear light bar and glowing VW badge let you know this, indeed, is the new Touareg.

Fresh alloy wheels designs are interesting but the R-Line's are a little chunky for my tastes.

Inside, it's a similar story, though worth calling out is the open pore wood trims on 170TDI and Elegance that are so classy compared to the chintz of a Jeep Grand Cherokee.

The R gets Lapiz Blue accents and stitching inside though is generally very similar to the other models, meaning you might not feel so justified spending the extra cash.

Fans of light-coloured leather will be glad to hear the 210TDI Elegance can be ordered with Mistral cream leather upholstery for no extra cost.

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.

Volkswagen has been busy improving usability of the touchscreen. There is now a vertical row of shortcut buttons for front and rear demisters, air recirculate and other heavily-trafficked functions.

Another row of shortcuts at the top of the screen allow you to a easily jump from navigation to car settings, phone mirroring and back.

Excitingly, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto take full advantage of the massive screen, now running to all four corners.

In general, the user interface is excellent and very user-friendly though there is occasional lag symptomatic of an older-gen processor. Also, when adjusting the HVAC settings, phone mirroring disappears briefly. Annoying but not end-of-world stuff.

Continuing on the theme, VW's customisable digital driver's display is very crisp and can display a map. The new head-up display is bright enough to work with polarised sunglasses, too.

There is plenty of space to stash snacks and drink bottles in the door pockets. Two large cup holders can be found in the centre console, there are three USB-C ports in the front (now 45W instead of 15W) and storage under the supportive armrest.

The back seat is roomy with enough space for three adults across. There's a transmission tunnel but it's low enough not to be too troublesome.

The Touareg's rear doors open wide and are fitted with soft-touch materials as well as classy integrated sun blinds.

With a standard panoramic sunroof, and lots of space between the front seats, vision out is fantastic. The cabin feels light and airy but thanks to tinted glass and powerful four-zone climate control it never gets too hot.

There are also two more USB-C ports and a second 12V socket in a fold out section of the rear console.

As before, the Touareg is only offered with five seats, with no optional third row to match some rivals.

All variants feature a standard power tailgate with auto-close functionality.

The boot has a crucial flaw for Australian buyers, though: no Touareg is equipped with a full-size or space-saver spare tyre. It's an inflation kit or tow truck if you get a flat.

Other attributes, including an 810L maximum space with five seat up or 1800L with the second row folded, are rather stellar. So is the finishing, with quality carpet, a cargo net included, sturdy tie-down points and a classy bag for the PHEV's charging cables.

There are shopping bag hooks on either side, remote pull tabs to fold the 40/20/40 backrest flat and buttons to raise and lower the air suspension for easier loading.

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 Touareg's core 3.0-litre common rail direct-injection turbo-diesel V6s carry over unchanged developing 170kW (at 4000 rpm) and 500Nm (from 1750-3000 rpm) in 170TDI tune and 210kW/600Nm in the 210TDI.

It's the plug-in hybrid that's interesting. A 3.0-litre direct-injection turbo-petrol V6 teams up with gearbox-mounted 100kW and 400Nm electric motor. An eight-speed transmission means it feels conventional when in petrol (or hybrid) mode with no slurry CVTs.

It means that the Touareg R has the same '4Motion' full-time four-wheel-drive system with mechanical transfer case. Volkswagen uses braking systems to simulate a locking diff for off-roading, known as Electronic Differential Lock (EDL) and Extended Differential Lock (XDL).

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...

Focusing firstly on the R, its fuel consumption is either stellar or proportional for a large SUV, depending on the battery charge and conditions.

The lab-certified 3.3L/100km, though, is fanciful given how most will use this vehicle.

Charged up to 100 per cent, we got 46km from the Touareg's 14.3kWh battery in E-Mode – pretty close to the 51km rating – in a typical suburban commute.

It will take around 2.5 hours to charge the Tourage from 20 per cent-full at a 7.4kW wallbox, or eight hours using a three-pin socket.

Alternatively, you can recuperate charge on the move in Hybrid mode. Using regenerative braking and excess engine power, the hybrid battery can be returned to 100 per cent on a long drive.

On our extended, twisty country drive we saw 11L/100km in the R using hybrid mode, with a target of 50 per cent charge to carry us through small towns. A combined range of 750-800km from the 75L fuel tank is realistic.

Planning your route, regular charging and paying close attention to what works best for economy will prove beneficial in the long run – a plug-in hybrid is not for the disengaged motorist.

The diesel engine's consumption was a more straightforward affair. Compared to the 7.3L/100km rating, we saw 8.0L/100km over hilly terrain with some dirt roads.

It is perfectly efficient in the country and the 90L tank means 1000km driving range from a fill-up is perfectly normal.

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.

Volkswagen covers the Touareg with a five-year, unlimited kilometre warranty.

The R's high-voltage battery is covered for eight years and 160,000km.

Volkswagen's pre-paid Care Plans offer the best deal for servicing. All models are due for maintenance every 12 months/15,000kms with the diesel costing $1900/$3500 for three/five years and the plug-in hybrid $2050/$3400 for the same intervals.

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.