Nestled atop the hills of Richmond, Rhode Island’s dense forests covering 3,500 acres sits one of the most expansive private resorts in the world. The usual suspects, such as an on-site hotel, private residences, an 18-hole golf course, and an overwhelming amount of amenities, are all present. It’s what you’d expect from a club whose membership fees can cost well into the six-figure range. What you wouldn’t expect, however, is a private off-roading course tailor-made to showcase what the Bentley Bentayga is capable of.
Yet that’s precisely what The Preserve offers. It is a massive facility run by attentive staff whose driving ethos is to forget the word “no” when presented with a request. As such, projects and ideas take flight quickly here, with partly constructed buildings, residences, and even more amenities scattered throughout the sizable property. So quickly, in fact, that its off-roading course took just 90 days to complete. That includes digging up the tracks, creating all the obstacles designed to test the Bentayga’s $4,960 All-Terrain Specification, and making it look presentable to meet member expectations.
The Preserve has an official partnership with the British brand. As such, you won’t have to BYOB, as there are Bentleys on-site available. The chosen model is the V8-powered Bentayga with a standard wheelbase. With an as-tested price of $236,150 with options, these SUVs are not modified to tackle the course. Each Bentayga has the aforementioned All-Terrain Specification, $5,530 Bentley Dynamic Ride, $2,410 21-inch twin-spoke wheels, and Pirelli All-Season tires. Visually, the resort’s rides distinguish themselves with Beluga (Black) paint and a unique livery incorporating the forest’s green hues.
While the Bentayga’s 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 may produce 542 horsepower and 568 pound-feet of torque, allowing it to sprint to 60 mph in a brisk 4.5 seconds, its straight-line performance wasn’t necessary. Instead, this SUV’s off-road mode and active anti-roll bar systems do the brunt of the work. Rotate its center-console mounted dial, and you can choose between “Snow & Grass,” “Dirt & Gravel,” “Mud & Trail,” and “Sand” drive modes. The first pair aims to provide adequate reaction and stability for their pre-determined driving scenarios. Stepping up to “Mud & Trail.” the mode we’d use today, lifts the Bentley Bentayga’s suspension to its highest “off-road” setting, offering up to 11.6 inches of ground clearance.
As we approached the trail, we chatted with the Bentley representative riding in the second row about the obvious: “Will off-roading a $236,150 outside of preset tracks like this void the warranty?” A quick “no” echoed the cabin as we crested small hills, occasionally splashing through puddles of muddied water. Although the Bentayga may share structural components with other Volkswagen Group products, the brand’s rep was quick to point out that despite these similarities, much of the Bentayga’s kit, such as its air shocks, were specifically engineered for it to ensure their durability. Since the trail’s opening, no SUV has failed to complete it or broken down.
We stopped just short of a fairly steep incline as we reached the top of the last of the first round of small hills. We made our way up, stopping halfway. To show off the Bentayga’s Hill Descent Control, the course has you slot its shifter into reverse, lift your foot off the brake, and hope the system will catch you. Of course, in a track tailor-made for the Bentayga, it does, slowly descending at most a few miles per hour. We later tried it again, pointing downwards, and it worked just fine.
We raced down a few more hills, splashed some water, and felt like this course had gone too easy on the big Bentley Bentayga. Sure, we rode up on some logs, utilizing its onboard forward-view camera to place our tires just right, but isn’t this all too easy for an SUV that has touted its off-roading prowess in its marketing since day one?
Then, we pulled up to the most challenging obstacle of all. The Preserve’s builders had dug up alternating portions of dirt, creating a dip on one side and a small hill on the other, resembling the moguls you’d see on a ski slope. The left tire went airborne when the Bentayga’s right front tire made contact with the first hill. We made our way forward, but the opposite happened at the back. Here we were, driving forward as this SUV’s tires took turns leaving the ground as the other crested a new hill. What’s most impressive, however, is the Bentayga’s leveling system. Despite these acrobatics going on underneath, the body remained relatively level as its all-wheel-drive system searched for traction.
Eager to move on, we tackled the rest of the trail, alternating between some of the obstacles we’d seen before as it rewarded you with luscious forest views and some substantial elevation changes. This is far from the most challenging off-road course you’ll ever see, but considering tackling it in an SUV costing almost a quarter-million, you wouldn’t want it to be any more challenging. Plus, it becomes substantially more entertaining if you pick up your speed.
Surprisingly, there were still more Bentayga’s for us to see. The Preserve’s partnership with the carmaker extends far beyond just the trail. The club relies on extended wheelbase models to shuttle people between activities. Bentley made three unique iterations of its family hauler for the resort, each designed to revolve around one of three themes: Field Sports, Fly Fishing, and Picnicking. These SUVs are explicitly built for the resort and sport, with unique configurations highlighting their determined activity. They also have specially designed trunks that hold all the necessary gear, showing the model’s flexibility and customization options.
It’s common to see luxury SUV marketing materials oversell their off-roading chops. In the Bentayga’s case, tackling this trail showed us that while it’ll never win the Baja 1000, this uber-lux family shuttle is far more capable than expected. For the $4,960 that its All-Terrain Specification costs, it vastly expands where this $236,150 SUV can go, and while you may never take it there, it’s still nice to know that it can should you ever want to.
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