2021 Bentley Bentayga Speed: A 12-Cylinder, 626-HP Ritz-Carlton on Wheels
There’s a whole lotta swank with this one.
Bentley has unveiled the newly facelifted version of the Bentayga Speed, Crewe's supremely luxurious-and-fast king of the Bentayga range. Just like the last Bentayga Speed, headlining the flagship Bentley SUV is a hand-built, 6.0-liter, twin-turbo W12 which pumps out 626 horsepower and 664 pound-feet of torque. This enables the 5,400-plus pound family hauler to go from zero to 62 miles per hour in just 3.9 seconds and onto a top speed of 190 mph. To contrast, the standard, non-Speed V8 Bentayga gets to 62 in 4.4 ticks of the stopwatch and is limited to 180 mph.
As capable as the Bentayga Speed is at devouring tarmac, it's also got an environmentally conscious side. Cylinder deactivation can shut down an entire bank of six cylinders. When cruising on the highway in gears five through eight, the 6.0-liter SUV can disengage the transmission if the accelerator is not being pressed, letting the engine rest at idle while the car "sails" along sipping fuel until throttle is applied.
To help the big Bentley navigate curves without toppling over, it uses a 48-volt active roll control system that electronically flattens out body movement. Its brake-based torque vectoring system has also been recalibrated to deliver better response. The Bentayga Speed's optional carbon-ceramic brakes are the biggest, most powerful discs available on any Bentley on sale today.
Par for the high-performance luxury SUV course, the new Speed distinguishes itself with darker grilles, sportier-looking bumpers, a tailgate spoiler, Speed-specific 22-inch wheels and oval exhaust tips. As an alternative to leather, alcantara is now available all over the inside, adorning the seats, gear lever and steering wheel, lower knee trim, upper pillar trim and the headliner. This is all applied to the facelifted Bentayga design Bentley showed off about a month ago that features a resculpted front end, new taillights and a reworked dashboard.
For the Bruce Wayne cosplayers, a Black Specification option replaces all of the Bentley Bentayga Speed's exterior chrome pieces for either gloss black or carbon fiber.
Bentley says the third and final member of the Bentayga family, the Bentayga Hybrid, will be unveiled sometime in the coming months. If you're wondering why Bentley didn't just go ahead and show us all three of these things in one fell swoop, we suspect it's all about maximizing the number of times we can ping 2 Chainz's Google Alert for "Bentley truck."
Got a tip? Send us a note: tips@thedrive.com
