I know what you're thinking. That the Bentley Bentayga, that colossus, that house-sized powerhouse, really just needs some extra grunt and tweaked, sportier suspension to make it better. Well, I have good news...
Tweaked suspension
The Bentley Bentayga has been given some extra grunt and tweaked, sportier suspension to make it better. Specifically, Bentley has been hard at the tweaking coalface to create this, the Bentley Bentayga S.
You'll spot a Bentayga S from the outside thanks to liberal applications of black trim, instead of more stately chrome, unique 22-inch alloy wheels in a choice of three finishes with spokes that are designed to appear like scythes, apparently; dark tint lenses for headlamps and tail lamps, black door mirrors and black split oval tailpipes.
Inside, as if the regular (pffft... 'regular') Bentayga wasn't sufficiently opulent, there are new seats with unique stitching and Alcantara trim, colour accents on the instrument panel, centre console, door pads and seat bolsters, and more Alcantara on the steering wheel and gear selector. There are also S badges on the passenger fascia as well as new graphics in the driver's instrument panel and illuminated treadplates.
550hp V8
So what has the Bentayga S got under the hood to justify all this lavishly sporting trim? Well, it's using the same 4.0-litre V8, twin-turbo, petrol engine as the regular Bentayga (that word again) but this is an eminently tune-able engine. And so it should prove - Bentley's engineers have extracted a full 550hp and 770Nm of torque. That is... *checks notes*...EXACTLY the same as the standard model. What gives? I mean, it's still good for a 0-100km/h time of 4.5 seconds and a top speed limited to 250km/h, which is hardly slow, but where's the whole 'S' bit coming from?
Ah, the answer is, it seems, in the chassis, not the engine. For the first time, Bentley Dynamic Ride is fitted as standard - this is a 48-volt active anti-roll bar system (borrowed from the magnificent Audi SQ7 and versions of the Porsche Cayenne) that reduces body roll in corners, ramps up agility, and does both without sacrificing the sort of ride comfort which ought to come as standard on any Bentley. The system can react within 0.3 seconds with up to 1,300Nm of torque to counteract lateral rolling forces when cornering, ensuring maximum tyre contact with the tarmac.
Improved steering feel
As with the recently-launched Continental GT Speed coupe, there's an upgraded Sport mode. In this mode, Bentley claims improved steering feel, greater turn-in response and further reduced body-roll are possible due to an additional 15 per cent increase in air suspension damping and a unique Electronic Stability Control and Bentley Dynamic Ride tune. There's also a Torque Vectoring by Brake system, which brakes a trailing wheel to pitch the car more keenly into corners and to add to the drama, there's an upgraded sports exhaust.
Bentley claims that, in spite of all this sportiness, the Bentayga's off-road abilities are undimmed, and it retains its optional All-Terrain Specification bringing four dedicated off-road modes (Snow and Wet Grass, Dirt and Gravel, Mud and Trail, and Sand) along with a 500mm wading depth.