Audi RS Q8 vs Bentley Bentayga

What's the difference?

The Audi RS Q8 Performance is a lot - of everything. It offers lots of power, lots of performance, lots of space and lots of luxury. But it’s also a lot of money, and at more than $250k it’s not going to be on everyone’s shopping list. It’s a very niche proposition for a small group of buyers. For those select few, those who want a lot of everything and who crave the ultimate of whatever product they’re buying, then the RS Q8 Performance is going to be a very tempting proposition - even if they never set any lap record in it.

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.

We don’t refer to ‘facelifted’ cars for no reason, the RS Q8 Performance has a number of visual changes.

These include a new Audi ‘singleframe grille’ and new front bumper design, with a new Matt Carbon trim package available to highlight that.

There’s also a new rear bumper design as well as new digital daytime running lights at the front and digital OLED lights at the rear.

The unique forged alloy wheels are another design change, but also bring a functional element. Measuring 23 inches they do a good job of filling out the wheel arches and give the RS Q8 Performance a purposeful stance and good proportions. But they are also 5kg lighter per wheel than the 22-inch rims on the RS Q8, saving unsprung weight to help the ride and handling.

Inside, Audi hasn’t made any dramatic changes to the design, which is fine because the brand does some of the best cabins on the market in terms of look and feel.

What is new is an aluminium inlay and an optional RS interior design package which provides a unique finish to the seats, with contrasting stitching, for an additional $4100.

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.

While it’s easy to get swept up in the power and speed of the RS Q8 Performance, it’s important to remember that it’s an SUV and it needs to offer ‘utility’ as well as ‘sports’. 

With that in mind, the front seat occupants are well looked after with supportive and comfortable sports seats, with a good amount of small item storage spaces. 

The rear seats are surprisingly comfortable, despite the sloping roofline of this ‘coupe-style’ SUV. Audi has cut recesses into the ceiling to create more headroom, so it will be fine for anyone under six-foot tall. Despite there being five seat belts, this is realistically more of a four-seater for adults, although three smaller kids could squeeze across the back.

There’s also a pair of cupholders, two USB-C ports, a 12-volt outlet and your own climate controls for the rear passengers.

As for the boot, again it loses some volume because it’s not a wagon-style SUV, but there’s still a decent, square floor space with a claimed 605 litres of capacity.

So, overall the Q8 obviously isn’t the most practical version of an SUV, but it does well given its focus on style.

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.

This is the latest iteration of Audi’s twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 petrol engine - and it’s a beauty.

While this engine is used in a variety of models, for the RS Q8 Performance Audi has taken power to 471kW with 850Nm of torque, which, as mentioned earlier, makes it the most powerful internal combustion engine Audi has ever offered in a production car.

That’s also a big boost over the previous RS Q8, which managed 441kW/800Nm, and is only just shy of the 485kW/850Nm offered by its ‘cousin’, the Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT.

Audi claims that the RS Q8 Performance will launch 0-100km/h in just 3.6 seconds and keep going to an electronically limited top speed of 250km/h. We tried to test the acceleration time on a closed circuit, but driving into a very strong headwind the big SUV could manage only 4.4 seconds - which is still a very quick time given its size and luxury.

The engine is paired to an eight-speed automatic transmission and Audi’s trademark quattro all-wheel-drive system to help smoothly transmit so much power to the road.

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...

Unfortunately you don’t get the most powerful production engine without some trade-off, and for the RS Q8 Performance that means significant fuel consumption. The official fuel economy rating is a very thirsty 12.2L/100km, but that's the best-case scenario too. If you partake in some spirited driving that unleashes the full potential of the engine will result in a higher rate of premium unleaded being consumed by the big V8. We saw returns in the high teens across our time, but that was largely open road driving, so we’ll reserve final judgement for an extended test drive across more varied conditions.

Thankfully there’s a fairly large 85L fuel tank, so if you can hit the claimed average you can get a theoretical 696km of range.

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.

Despite the extra power and fancy new brakes, the RS Q8 Performance costs the same to service as the existing RS Q8.

That means $4690 for Audi’s five-year service plan, and $5720 for the Audi Advantage.

The latter package includes an extra two-year, unlimited kilometre warranty on top of Audi’s five year/unlimited km coverage. It also includes two extra services and two more years of roadside assistance, to keep you covered for seven years total.

That’s good, but it’s still an extra cost when many mainstream brands already offer seven years of coverage as standard.

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.