The first test of Bentley's new entry into V8: The south of the map is unexpected and has changed a lot.

Exactly four years ago, I first test-drove Bentley Tim Yue. In the article after the test drive, I rated this car the most: "This is a Bentley that inherits the historical heritage and is also a Bentley that dares to innovate." Yes, this evaluation is obviously high. It can be said that Tim Yue is not the most expensive top luxury car I have ever tested, but it is one of the top luxury cars that I personally like and give high praise to.

I didn't expect it to sell well, although I spoke highly of that Tim Yue at that time and gave a high recommendation rating. The reason is simple: expensive, beyond what we generally know as "luxury cars". This kind of car is destined to belong to only a few people. However, in the middle of this year, the data released by Bentley showed that since the listing of 20 16 in Tian Yue, the cumulative sales volume has exceeded 20,000 vehicles. Seeing this figure, I was really shocked: the average annual sales of cars at this price is 5000, which is too exaggerated. How much money can this make for Bentley? ...

I didn't expect to see this sales figure for a long time. A friend of Bentley contacted me and said that Xintianyue had arrived in Beijing for a test drive and asked me if I wanted to try it. Because the old model left a deep impression on me, I naturally didn't want to give up this opportunity, so I boarded the flight to Beijing. ...

New measures: inheriting history

After arriving at the newly added test drive venue, I found that there are two main test drive subjects: track test drive and venue test drive. After discovering this, I am very happy, because four years ago, although I had a deep experience with Tim Yue, I didn't have a chance to experience racing in the closed track and cross-country venue. This time, you can catch up.

I won't say much about off-road experience, because people who buy Tim Yue are not very good at driving such expensive cars off-road. But because of its hardware foundation: air suspension that can greatly adjust the height of the car body, four off-road modes, Torsten differential and strong power, general off-road projects can't beat it. In cross-country venues, I basically drive very steadily and have little experience.

The most exciting thing is the track test drive. Although Bentley's logo has been hung on an SUV with a height of more than 1.7 meters, this brand was originally famous for racing. Bentley's founder, W.O.Bentley, is a racing master himself. Since the first session, Bentley has been a frequent visitor to the famous Le Mans Endurance Race. In the first 20 years of Bentley's establishment, this brand has always been famous for selling the fastest cars in the world. Until the acquisition of Rolls-Royce, Bentley slowly embarked on the road of luxury.

But because Bentley's luxury image has been deeply rooted in people's hearts, I didn't expect this Tim Yue to be so powerful on the track. When I drove it quickly through the first corner, I was shocked: this dynamic agility was nothing like an SUV with a wheelbase of nearly 3 meters and a weight of more than 2 tons. Its wheel tracking is excellent, you can clearly perceive the state of the wheel in the corner, and it will make you feel that the car is very flexible; At the same time, its body roll is very small, even if you test drive on the track, you won't feel the obvious roll of this car. My mind immediately recalled the feeling of driving this car on expressway four years ago-this car was driving very leisurely on expressway. How did it become so "wild" off the field?

Indeed, Tian Yue feels obviously different from his brothers Q7 and Cayenne on the same platform. Q7 is a typical approachable style of Audi. No matter whether you drive slowly or hard, you always look like a nice guy and won't particularly stimulate you. Cayenne, however slow you drive, is restless. It will always hope you hurry up and don't waste all its sports equipment.

Tim Yue is closer to the style of Q7 in daily slow driving, which is smooth and smooth, and also because of stronger motivation and more confidence. I feel like the commander with the highest fighting capacity in the ancient army, and I will never play easily. But as long as it goes into battle, it must be fatal, and it will pick the enemy generals in an instant. In this state, Tim Yue transformed himself into a bloodthirsty species closer to the Cayenne, and the dynamic feedback and actual performance during intense driving were not worse than Porsche.

To achieve this effect, we must have good software and hardware support at the same time. In terms of hardware, the 48V electronic anti-roll bar, which is only available in high-end cars on MLB-evo platform, is a high-end weapon to curb vehicle roll on the earth at present. You really have to try to know its effect. In terms of software, as mentioned earlier, although Tim Yue was born in MLB-evo, Bentley was responsible for the chassis adjustment, including the great differences in eight driving modes (four off-road modes and four highway modes). This is not a team with extremely rich shunting experience, which is absolutely impossible.

Finally, talk about motivation. The new Tianyue cancelled the power of W 12 (the high-performance version of SPEED is still retained, but that version has not been considered for domestic sales) and switched to V8? 4.0T is the main theme. Compared with the W 12 version I opened four years ago, the V8 model is actually more fun, or more "temperature". Because the power of W 12 version is too strong, the engine speed is in a very low position for a long time when driving at ordinary times; The V8 model is more active in power and has more presence in speed climbing. Moreover, this engine has been tuned very well in the Tim Yue, so this time I found some new feelings that I didn't find when I drove this new Tim Yue four years ago.

Add new tranquility: be brave in innovation

For the actual buyers, the performance of Xintianyue may not be as important as its appearance and interior changes. Then let's talk about the new content of static. Bentley said that although this increase is only a mid-term change, 70% of its body parts are brand new, which is extremely rare in mid-term models.

If we look back at the old models, we will find that Bentley was still cautious in design when facing the new species in the SUV brand, which more reflected a conservative and steady mentality. But this new model, Bentley has obviously become a lot bolder, and many design elements of the whole vehicle have become more like Europe? Bentley sports cars such as GT are tall and have a family design style.

Especially at the rear of the car, in order to put Bentley's brand-new double oval taillights in, designers and engineering departments spare no effort to change the shape of the added tailgate. The new clamshell all-inclusive tailgate feels better integrated with the double oval taillights. Although this change will greatly change the rear fender, the workload and cost are huge, but Bentley thinks it is worthwhile.

In the carriage part, in addition to adhering to Bentley's luxurious carriage materials, Xintianyue has also made improvements in many details. For example, the rear row has expanded some leg space through the redesign of the seat; The front center console screen is expanded to 10.9 inch, and the new system interface is updated, including the latest functions such as wireless CarPlay; Even the Breitling clock that needs to be installed has been replaced with a dial with eight diamonds on the surface of Fritillaria, and the style of the whole carriage has been achieved by going up a flight of stairs. ...

Although it may be inaccurate and a bit vulgar, I really want to use "getting younger" to describe the new design changes. The previous Tim Yue, including most of the previous Bentley, seems to be more suitable for older people. But if a young car owner appears next to Xintianyue, the scene will become much more harmonious.

Summary: unexpectedly, Kun Peng has changed.

After the test drive of Xintianyue, I boarded the plane back to Guangzhou. I don't know why, but I remembered Du Fu's poem, "Unexpectedly, there has been a change." Perhaps, because Tim Yue is so big, it reminds me of Kunpeng, a monster in the ancient legend of China.

But speaking of it, The Story of Bo Yueyang Tower is an inspirational poem of Du Fu in his later years, and Tim Yue, as an important car series of Bentley in the new century, also has an extremely important "inspirational" role for the whole Bentley brand. During the two four-year experiences from the old model to the new model, I definitely felt the new ideas, new ways of playing and new changes that Tim Yue brought to the Bentley brand. It is mentioned in the article that on the new carrier of SUV, Bentley not only maintains the excellent tradition of relying on success in history, but also boldly tries new designs and technologies to make Bentley brand glow with unprecedented vitality in the new century (of course, the company's profitability should also go up). Therefore, although there are many masterpieces in Bentley's history, adding this "Kunpeng" will inevitably leave a colorful page in Bentley's history.

In terms of purchasing recommendation, since I gave a high evaluation to the W 12 version with a price of nearly 4 million four years ago, how can I be more critical in the face of a new increase with a more "people-friendly" price and a more tasteful design today?

The first impression of Bentley joining V8.

Outstanding advantages: although it is only a mid-term change rather than a replacement, the design is more innovative; Excellent dynamic performance; The material level in the carriage is extremely high.

Main disadvantages: the space performance is still not very spacious; W 12 totem mode was cancelled.

This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.