Not sold on a 1,156hp battery Cayenne? Its Crewe cousin still believes in the pull of pure petrol
Were proof ever needed about how simply and affordably electricity yields horsepower, it’s served this week by two, rather different VW group super-SUVs. The new is the most powerful Porsche road car in history, its 1,156hp peak is almost double that of a Carrera GT yet conducted to the ground fairly masterfully via a whole suite of chassis tech.
While Sam was overseas getting a big grin silently slapped on his face, I was back on British shores driving a louder, pricier yet half as powerful alternative. The Bentley Bentayga Speed is a known entity to PH and it’s my hands which tapped the first drive from its global launch in. This is a chance to reassess it on the narrower, bumpier roads of home, where an errant house cat or kamikaze pheasant is more likely to stroll into the road than a bison or bear. Plenty about the second-gen Bentayga Speed marks it out as special – more special than its modest exterior upgrade portrays, however much orange highlighting it’s been gifted. The 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 up front develops 650hp and 627lb ft, the former 100hp healthier than a standard V8 Bentayga and the latter on tap from just 2,250rpm – enough for 0-62 in 3.4 seconds and a 193mph top speed, both neat improvements upon the older, W12-motivated Speed. All four wheels are driven through an eight-speed automatic transmission and the lack of any hybrid assistance keeps its kerb weight below 2.5 tonnes. Small mercies, of course, but that new Porsche is significantly chunkier while wearing much less bougie trim inside. The bigger news, though, is the Bentayga debut of an ESC Sport mode and Launch Control – so long as you’ve spent ten grand on the ‘Dynamic Specification’ and its carbon ceramics to unlock the option. Those measure 440mm up front to tie the Speed with the Lamborghini Urus and Conti GT for ‘world’s biggest production brakes’ honours. While the Speed’s other drive modes are tuned the same as its base car, twisting the delightfully knurled dial to Sport ramps up the steering response , stiffens the damping by 15 per cent and opens up a more agile world of brake torque vectoring and the newly languid grasp of its stability control. A car that proved riotous on a sprawling Montana ranch is still wholly satisfying on the tighter confines of UK roads. It potters along very nicely indeed in its default Bentley mode, the mellifluous burble of its V8 – given louder voice by a £7,740 titanium Akrapovic setup – underscoring a car that still places comfort and luxe above all else. Twisting to Sport doesn’t ruin the ambience, crucially, and while the auto ‘box now clings more keenly onto lower ratios, it treads a finely judged line between dynamism and decorum. So long as you’re mindful enough to upshift through villages to avoid making too much of a racket. It’s also a gratifying thing to drive once the village limits end and the road opens up. A 48v anti-roll system keeps a deliberately soft grasp on things, the Bentayga still allowed to pitch and roll in corners to neatly sidestep the overly taut nature of some of its myriad rivals. There’s plenty of performance and control, but the core, Bentayga character – ‘a Bentley, but higher’ – appears sacrosanct to the Speed treatment. We know it can cut loose and show a sharper dynamic edge, but you get a welcome sense of assertion on the road without it undergoing an uncouth transformation in character. Standard air suspension soaks up any dynamic disadvantage that comes with its optional 23-inch wheels, too. The Bentayga is a ten-year-old car now, and it’s remained something of a benchmark amid the luxury and performance 4x4 Venn diagram for that entire decade. Its legacy status also means a sensibly sized touchscreen, finely crafted physical climate controls and a nice, round steering wheel with only a light smattering of buttons. Decorum indeed. This first UK drive permitted us a handful of laps around Goodwood Motor Circuit, too, where its outright traction and smart balance made it a pleasing thing to throw around – its 650hp proving sufficient to not frustrate the supercars we shared track space with. Even 440mm ceramics don’t permit the same braking points as a 296 or Temerario, of course, yet the Speed acquitted itself well in a situation I don’t imagine too many will ever find themselves in. Even if it does hold the ICE SUV record on Goodwood Hill. “Bentley is probably keen to shoehorn in any ICE-only specials before the electrified grasp of its Beyond100+ strategy irrevocably tightens,” I said last June. Since then, we’ve seen its powertrain popped into the Pastrana-approved rear-drive is still coming, sharing a platform with that new Cayenne, and it won’t be re-engineered to take an ICE setup. But other EVs scrawled on the big Bentley whiteboard may not be immune to such a pivot. Bentley is far from alone in having to alter broad, forward-looking philosophies. In this context, the Speed appears less of a high-intensity send-off than it did just nine months ago – though it feels no less satisfying for it.
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