2028 Bentley Torcal EV Prototype Ride-AlongBentleyThere is much we need to tell you about our first ride in a heavily disguised prototype of the 2028 Torcal, Bentley's first all-electric SUV, but we must start with what could be interpreted as a backhanded compliment: The Torcal might have the most convincing fake powertrain sounds we've heard, and with the best-ever origin story.Bentley brought a camouflaged Torcal to a driving event in northern California and offered us a 45-minute ride, with time spent in the back seats and the front. During our cruise, a Bentley engineer folded back some of the black fabric panels covering the interior; as with our exterior preview, we were not allowed to take pictures for publication, but we are permitted to describe in words as much as our eyeballs took in. Here's the brain dump—and then we'll tell you the fascinating story of those nifty not-engine sounds.BentleyMore Than Just Bentley Skin on Porsche BonesFor those unfamiliar, the upcoming 2028 Torcal SUV is the first all-electric Bentley. It's based on the same corporate VW Group platform as the Porsche Cayenne Electric (Bentley, like Porsche, is part of the Volkswagen Group), is of similar length, and shares much of the underlying hardware, including the 113-kWh battery and 800-volt electrical architecture.AdvertisementAdvertisementAlthough Bentley was shy on specifics, it did give us some rough-sketch details. The dual-motor powertrain will deliver more than 838 hp and 738 lb-ft of torque, potentially making it the most powerful Bentley ever. (Bentley publishes those numbers in metric figures, 850 ps and 1,000 nm.) Range is targeted at 600 kilometers (373 miles), though that's likely on the hyper-optimistic European WLTP scale. As for fast-charging, Bentley claims 10–80 percent in less than 20 minutes and 100 miles in 7 minutes—provided you can find a 400-kW charger.The new Torcal weighs around 6,000 pounds and will get the Cayenne Electric's active suspension with a Bentley-specific calibration. The goal, Bentley told us, was to make the Torcal as comfortable as a Flying Spur and as dynamically capable as a Continental GT. What about off-road ability, something Porsche demonstrated to us in an early drive of a Cayenne Electric prototype? Yep, said the Bentley rep, you can expect offroad capability that will, he said, be "compelling" and "unexpected in a Bentley."Having ridden in far more Bentleys than our adjusted gross income might suggest, we know how the marque's cars should feel to their passengers, and the Torcal certainly rides like a proper Bentley—and sounds like one, more on which in a few paragraphs.BentleyYou enter the Torcal through powered doors, just like those on the gasoline-fueled Audi Q9. (Audi is, of course, also part of the VW Group.) The focal point of the car's interior is a curved center infotainment screen, as also found in the Cayenne Electric. But where the Porsche has a giant handrest under the screen, the Torcal has a control panel that looks like an abbreviated version of the Continental's center stack. It features an ornate drive-mode dial with the master power button at the center, and it's flanked by a handful of buttons and knurled rollers to control temperature, fan speed, and volume, with other stereo and climate controls accessed via the screen.A View From (Next to and Behind) the Driver's SeatThe driver faces a digital dash, as in other Bentleys, and the steering wheel on the Torcal prototype looked identical to the Continental's. The column stalks are fixed in place with moving switches at the outer edges, like what we've seen in Audi SUVs such as the Q3, Q7, and Q9, but decorated more flamboyantly. We noticed a pair of rather obtrusive cameras on the A-pillars, in the same spot where the Cayenne Electric mounts speakers. Bentley was vague about their purpose; our guess would be interior security or driver monitoring for a hands-off driver assistance system.AdvertisementAdvertisementUnlike the Cayenne Electric, there is no screen for the passenger; Bentley reserves this space for a veneer of the customer's choosing. Unfortunately, Bentley has followed Tesla and Rivian's lead with air vents that are adjustable through the center screen. That means the organ-stop pulls, a longtime Bentley trademark, are also gone. (We suggested their engineers rethink this and go back to manually adjustable vents for the 2031 refresh.) Mercifully, back-seaters get hand-adjustable vents.BentleySpeaking of the back seat, we found it a lovely place to spend time in. The seats were covered, not that it matters; Bentley buyers can get pretty much any sort of upholstery they want if they're willing to pay. What's important is seat comfort: EVs with underfloor batteries often have high floors that compromise the rear seating position, but not the Torcal, which offers plenty of head-, leg-, and foot room. The two-panel panoramic sunroof lets in lots of light—and air, if you open the sliding front section—though we didn't see a physical sunroof blind. We imagine (and certainly hope) the Torcal's sunroof panels have an embedded liquid crystal film that lets them go opaque, as in the Q7, Q9, and Cayenne Electric. We can't imagine the VW Group will let its most affluent customers fry in the sun.While we didn't get to drive, we did glean a few things about the driving experience. The Torcal, like other Bentleys, will have multiple drive modes, with ride quality ranging from chauffer-soft to sports-car-firm. Like Porsche, Bentley chose to forgo one-pedal driving, presumably for the same reason (to make the driving experience feel as much like the gasoline vehicles as possible). The Torcal will, of course, have regenerative braking, but with only three modes: off, on, and auto, the latter activating regen in situations where it's likely to be needed. You cannot set the level of regen, and you must use the brake to bring the Torcal to a stop. (Again, asked for our input, we told the Bentley engineers one-pedal driving is one of the best features of an EV.)Drumming Up a V-8We've waited long enough; let's talk about those remarkable fake engine sounds—and they are remarkable, without doubt the most realistic we've ever heard. The simulated startup is rather cheesy—seems no automaker can get this right—but once you're on the move, the auditory resemblance to a gas-powered Bentley is uncanny.BentleyThe Torcal fake-idles with a deep rumble which, as you pull away, builds to a menacing, powerful thrum, like a slow-turning V-8 that never needs to break a sweat. Give the Torcal a little power in a low-rpm, high-torque situation like, for example, climbing a steep hill at city speeds, and the bassline builds to a basso profondo OBGOBGOBGOBGOBGOB that vibrates the lower parts of your digestive tract. Accelerate to highway speed, back off the power, and the noise fades into the background, just like a real engine.AdvertisementAdvertisementIf we didn't know any better—and really, we don't, because we weren't allowed to open the hood—we'd swear we were riding in a V-8-powered Bentley. Sure, the acceleration felt quick and smooth with no perceptible gearshifts, but isn't that true of the ICE-powered Bentayga?The effect was convincing enough that we couldn't help but reflect on the silliness of it all. Had the science of sound recording and synthesis been mastered in the late 19th century, might the earliest horseless carriages have been augmented with the piped-in sound of clip-clopping hooves? We could imagine our predecessors at MotorCarriageTrend praising the 1904 Locomobile for the simulated sound of horse droppings hitting pavement each time the car stopped.Our cynicism ground to a screeching halt when the Bentley engineer told us the source of the sound. What we were hearing wasn't a computer-generated synthesis of an engine. It was real live musicians playing real-life drums. (Er, we don't mean to imply the drummers were in the Torcal; that said, did we mention we weren't allowed to open the hood?) According to Bentley, the drummers were recorded playing a beat based on the firing order of Bentley's legendary 6.75-liter V-8, with the goal of emulating the classic Continental R. Presumably, computers take care of the rise and fall of pitch and volume that make it sound like a real engine.BentleyWhy record humans instead of using digital synthesis? Bentley says it wanted to introduce the imperfections of a hand-built mechanical device. The idea—and it really is a novel one—is that human craftsmanship in sound should complement the human craftsmanship that goes into the hand-stitched interiors, hand-finished veneer, and all the other things that elevate a Bentley above your run-of-the-mill luxury SUV. Whatever the reason, color us impressed; the soundtrack was nearly identical to a Continental GTC we'd driven the day before.Yep, It Feels Like a BentleyWhat did we glean from our ride? Bentley's overarching goal was to make the 2028 Torcal feel like any other Bentley, and in terms of ride, amenities, what bits of the interior we saw, and the soundtrack, it appears to have accomplished that mission. Of course, the next step is for Bentley to reveal the exterior styling, and with the EXP 15 Concept as a guide, we expect that to be the one major departure from Bentley tradition. We expect the company to take the wraps off the Torcal next month, when we're looking forward to seeing—and hearing—more.Photo credit: BentleyPhoto credit: BentleyPhoto credit: BentleyAdvertisementAdvertisementPhoto credit: BentleyPhoto credit: BentleyPhoto credit: BentleyPhoto credit: BentleyAdvertisementAdvertisementPhoto credit: BentleyPhoto credit: BentleyPhoto credit: BentleyPhoto credit: BentleyAdvertisementAdvertisementPhoto credit: BentleyPhoto credit: BentleyPhoto credit: BentleyPhoto credit: BentleyAdvertisementAdvertisementPhoto credit: Bentley