2026 Bentley Bentayga Speed Will Roar Its Way Into Your Heart

High-end luxury brands have traditionally been conservative when coming up with spec configurations for their cars, both in terms of what’s sent to dealers and what is shown in marketing materials and built as press cars for journalists to drive. In recent years brands like Aston Martin and Rolls-Royce have been going wild when it comes to specs, building more cars in searing bright colors and unusual combinations, and this vibe shift is especially evident while walking through the parking lot at the launch event for the 2026 Bentley Bentayga Speed.

Available for us to drive are Bentaygas in metallic orange with a blue interior, satin green with a matching green interior and orange accents, white with lime green seats and exterior trim, and teal blue with granite veneer. Yes, that’s right, you can get stone in the dashboard of your Bentley. Customers really do buy ostentatious specs these days, surely a reflection of increasingly younger average owner ages and their desires to stand out, and the new Bentayga Speed is looking to capture those buyers who want even more drama than what Bentley used to offer from its SUV. With more power, enhanced handling and a truly awesome exhaust the 2026 Speed is genuinely sportier than any Bentayga before it, and an easy car to become infatuated with.

Full disclosure: Bentley flew me to Montana to drive the Bentayga Speed, put me up at a very nice hotel and fed me good meals, including one al fresco at a cattle ranch where an extremely hot man in a cowboy hot served me lemonade.

I understand if you’re mourning the W12 that powered the old Bentayga Speed, an engine that Bentley discontinued in 2024 after eleven years in production, but you really shouldn’t miss it. The twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 that the new Speed uses is a lot more exciting and better suited to the SUV’s sportier mission, plus it doesn’t feel too much like other Volkswagen Group products that use the same powertrain, such as the Audi RS Q8 Performance and Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT.

The new Bentayga Speed’s V8 produces 641 horsepower and 627 pound-feet of torque, 15 hp more than the outgoing W12-powered Speed, though the W12 had 37 more lb-ft. Compared to the Turbo GT the Bentayga is down 9 hp but up 1 lb-ft, and it has 10 hp more than the RS Q8 and the same amount of torques. Other V8 Bentaygas have just 542 hp and 568 lb-ft, so the Speed is a big jump up. Modifications for the Speed include larger turbochargers that come on earlier and have less lag, a lower compression ratio and higher-flow fuel injectors.

For the first time in a Bentayga the new Speed has an actual launch control feature so you don’t have to just brake torque it anymore. Where the Continental GT and Flying Spur’s launch control systems are laser-precise, being on the MSB platform shared with the Porsche Panamera, the Bentayga Speed’s launch control is a lot more dramatic. It’s pretty easy to activate: twist the extremely lovely drive mode knob into Sport, hold the stability control button to activate the new ESC Dynamic mode (more on that later), depress the brake and then gas pedals all the way, and release the brakes.

The Bentayga Speed squats hard in a very un-SUV-like way, blasting to 60 mph in just 3.4 seconds, four tenths quicker than the old W12 Speed and a full second quicker than the Bentayga S. A Turbo GT is three tenths quicker, but the Bentayga will match the RS Q8 when the light turns green, and it’s nearly as quick as Bentley’s latest PHEV Speeds. With launch control enabled the first two or three shifts from the 8-speed ZF automatic transmission are a lot more violent than normal, and it’s quite entertaining. 100 mph is reached in 8.3 seconds, and the Speed will keep pulling like a train up to a 193-mph top speed, 3 mph up from the W12 Speed.

But forget how quick it is — the Bentayga Speed sounds awesome. As standard it has a sport exhaust system that’s louder than other V8 Bentaygas and the old Speed, but you can option a titanium Akrapovic system that’s fitted to all the Bentaygas at the drive event. Bentley says the Akrapovic pipes save 28 pounds, and their sound is totally natural with no artificial enhancements. Even in the calmest Comfort drive mode the exhaust is always present, burbling and grumbling like a dog having a good dream, but it’s never too droney even at highway speeds.

Put the Bentayga into Sport and the exhaust really comes alive. I think it sounds even better than in the other SUVs with this V8, Turbo GT included. It’s like the exhaust is reading a music sheet where the notes are a graph of my inputs; every blip of the throttle, every downshift, every lift-off as I enter a corner is accompanied by roars and bangs and crackles and barks. My drive partner and I spent most of our time laughing at how outrageous the exhaust is, especially for a big Bentley SUV, and it really fits the Bentayga Speed’s character.

Even in Comfort mode it’s loud as hell from outside, too, the kind of exhaust note you’ll hear driving through city traffic that makes you turn your head and go “what car is that coming from?” When someone is getting on it in a Speed you can hear its exhaust blatting even if they’re corners away. Plus the Akrapovic system just looks cool, with a pair of huge branded ovals on each side of the diffuser instead of the more subtle single ovals of the standard system.

To really take advantage of the Speed’s newfound power and loudness, Bentley made its Sport drive mode a lot, well, sportier. It makes the suspension 15% stiffer, increases steering feedback and throttle response, and makes the engine and transmission even more responsive. Rear-wheel steering and Bentley’s Dynamic Ride 48-volt anti-roll system also come standard on the new Speed for the first time. A Cayenne or RS Q8 would be the better performer for those who want a true performance SUV, and I certainly can tell but the Bentayga weighs 5,425 pounds, but it’s able to really hustle on the twisting hills and long sweepers in Big Sky in a way that brings a legit smile to my face. Minor corrections are easy to make without the Bentayga getting unsettled.

22-inch wheels are standard, but another Bentayga first are the optional 23-inch wheels, which all of the Bentaygas we drive are equipped with, paired with 285-width Pirelli P Zero summer tires. Despite the wheel size and performance rubber ride quality is shockingly smooth and composed, at least on these pretty nice Montana roads, and there’s tons of grip with very little noise coming from the rubber even when pushed hard. Driving down a gravelly road the Speed’s ride is still better than your average big-wheeled luxury performance SUV. Coming hand-in-hand with the 23s are carbon-ceramic brakes, with their 17.3-inch front discs (paired with 10-piston calipers!) being the largest in the industry. They’re never too sharp or grabby around town or when in the mountains, and brake pedal feel is nice and linear.

Then there’s that ESC Dynamic mode that’s exclusive to the Speed. It allows for way more on-throttle slip angle and power oversteer, though stability control will still kick in if the car detects you’re not gonna save it. In this mode the brake-based torque vectoring system works harder when turning into and powering out of corners, and there’s less understeer. On the road ESC Dynamic makes a noticeable difference even when I’m not really pushing it; the Speed feels tauter and more responsive, the tail end a lot more lively.

To really test out ESC Dynamic mode Bentley set up a makeshift rally course using single-lane dirt roads surrounding the Jumping Horse Stock Ranch. Despite being restricted to fairly low speeds — that’s totally alright, as I don’t want to crash a $300,000 SUV into a ditch or a cow — it’s a great opportunity to really get silly. That tail-happy tuning is even more present on these washboard surfaces, and pulling off nice drifts around 90-degree corners is a cinch. The steering feels great here, with the fairly quick rack and responsive throttle making it easy to chain corners together, and there’s just enough slip and power to get really lairy but not be in fear of losing control.

I do wish Bentley differentiated the Speed’s styling a bit more, but it is a fantastic looking thing. It has unique splitters and spoilers, tons of dark-tinted trim as standard, and clear taillights that I adore. The 23-inch wheels look fantastic, and a Speed-only option is contrast color pinstriping along the lower body kit pieces. You can also get the roof panel in gloss or satin black for the first time, and dozens of different paint colors are available, including true two-tone options. I say go for the brightest, wildest specs you can. Live a little!

The cabin doesn’t just feel like a tarted-up Porsche to me, either. Every panel, switch and piece of trim looks and feels of the utmost quality. There are plenty of buttons and knobs for you to press and twist, many of which are made out of real metal. The seats are supportive and comfortable (and have a great massage function), and you can get the Speed with a four-seat setup that has a fixed center console in the rear and all sorts of business class–like accoutrements. Speeds are offered in a special color split, and they also get precision diamond quilting on the seats and door panels. The digital gauge cluster and central infotainment system look good and work well, though it’s all getting a bit up there in age. It’s simply a really nice interior to spend time in, a car that you could easily daily drive without complaint.

The fact that Bentley made a supremely nice luxury SUV that is genuinely playful on a dirt course should be commended. Bentley didn’t have to do it, and certainly few of its customers will really drive the Bentayga Speed to the full extent of its capabilities — marketing materials have shown the SUVs chasing bicyclists down sand dunes, racing skiers on a snowy mountain and following a surfer by driving along the beach.

But while many Bentayga Speed owners won’t even take their SUVs on a twisty mountain road or ever engage the ESC Dynamic mode, they’ll all be delighted by the loud exhaust, grin when they floor it from a flight, giggle as they whip around city streets. Maybe they’ll even be encouraged to do some drifting off the beaten path when on vacation in Aspen or St. Mortiz. The 2026 Bentley Bentayga is just fun, and refreshingly so. 106 years into its existence Bentley is gaining a real sense of humor when it comes to its products, and Bentayga Speed customers will reap those benefits.