We drove a $246,000 Bentley Bentayga SUV to see if it's worth the money - here's the verdict

Hollis Johnson/Business Insider

Our 2018 Bentley Bentayga test car.

• The Bentley Bentayga debuted in 2016.
• The Bentayga is powered by a 600 horsepower, twin-turbocharged W12 engine.
• The Bentley SUV can hit 60 mph in 4.0 seconds and reach a top speed of 187 mph.
• The 2018 Bentley Bentayga starts at $195,000.

The Bentley Bentayga is one of the most talked-about cars in recent memory that doesn't carry Ferrari's prancing stallion or one of Tesla's battery packs.

With global demand for SUVs unyielding, it was only a matter of time before the world's most exclusive automakers joined in on the action.

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High-end luxury SUVs have been on the market for as longs there's been luxury cars and SUVs. These days, Range Rover is an unstoppable sales juggernaut, while the Mercedes-Benz G-Class has long shed its utilitarian upbringing to become a status symbol for world's well-heeled elite.

But it wasn't until the Bentayga's debut in 2016 that the era of the ultra-luxury SUV began. By the end of 2018, the Bentley SUV will be joined by both the Rolls-Royce Cullinan and the Lamborghini Urus.

In late 2016, Bentley dropped off a white Bentayga for Business Insider to check out. Even though we were able to shoot photos, scheduling restraints did not afford us enough driving time to properly evaluate the vehicle. So Bentley gave us another bite at the apple a couple of months ago when it loaned us another Bentayga - a 2018 model in Rubino Red.

But this time around, we were able to spend nearly a week with the Bentayga. The 2018 Bentley Bentayga starts at $195,000 but $48,120 in options and a $2,725 destination fee pushed the as-tested price to $245,845.

Here's a closer look at the Bentley Bentayga: