The baby cow’s bravado is understandable. After all, we’re the unexpected guests, hurtling through its 9,200-acre home—Montana’s Jumping Horse Ranch—in a Bentley. It’s an unlikely pairing: the baronial British marque and the rough-hewn landscape that helped put the “wild” in Wild West. Yet the union feels right in the new 2026 Bentayga Speed.
Acceleration, agility, and power are on full display as we traverse grass-carpeted hills scored with what resemble nothing more than wagon-wheel tracks, then briefly trail the calf. The swagger here isn’t just bovine; the Bentayga makes its own kind of noise, courtesy of an optional Akrapovič titanium exhaust that delivers a sonic punctuation easily mistaken for a thunderclap.
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Though both Montana and Bentley share screen time on Yellowstone, they find true common ground in this luxury S.U.V. with the soul of a maverick. Like the fictional patriarch John Dutton III (played by Kevin Costner) or the real-life frontier folk who pushed the territory toward statehood, it blends grit and grandeur in equal measure.
Departing from the Montage resort at Big Sky, perched at 7,500 feet, we descend a ribbon of asphalt toward the Gallatin River, a mecca for fly-fishing and whitewater adventure. The majesty of the scenery is given added gravitas by the Bentayga’s new 641 hp 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8, managed by a ZF eight-speed automatic transmission.
The engine choice speaks to the current uncertainty shaping the automotive landscape. Bentley’s Beyond100 strategy—originally aiming for full electrification by 2030—has been pushed out five years. “A lot is, for sure, influenced by the regulators,” says Bentley chairman and C.E.O. Frank-Steffen Walliser, “but the regulators are not buying the cars… the customers are.” The marque’s first E.V. is still expected by 2026, but for now, the Speed (which has not had pricing released as of press time), remains proudly combustion-powered. Notably, even a hybrid wasn’t considered for this model.
“For the history of the Bentayga, and the Bentayga Speed, it was the clear target to develop this car as ICE [internal-combustion engine] only,” says Markus Thiel, the automaker’s director of research and development for vehicle motion. “The chassis was adapted so that it can deal with the increased power.”
It shows. The most powerful Bentayga yet comes with all-wheel steering, can crest at 193 mph, and bolts from zero to 60 mph in 3.4 seconds. It’s that burst of acceleration—and near-instant throttle response—that instills confidence when passing (legally) on the vast single-lane straightaways leading to Madison Valley.
Yet with two of the three drive modes—Bentley and Comfort—remaining unchanged, the real story here is Sport mode, which now increases suspension damping by an additional 15 percent. The result is even greater control, reducing body roll when pushing this 5,425-pound (curb weight) S.U.V. closer to canyon-carving territory than it has any right to reach. Even more impressive? It does it all on 23-inch wheels—the largest ever fitted to a Bentley (available when paired with carbon-ceramic brakes).
Off-road, Sport mode reveals another side. On loose gravel at the Jumping Horse Ranch, the new E.S.C. Dynamic setting and optional carbon-ceramic brakes reduce stability-control intervention, allowing for sharper turn-in and even controlled drifting. Add in Launch Control and the Speed channels its inner supercar.
Yet for all its athleticism, the Bentayga hasn’t abandoned civility. In Comfort or Bentley mode, the ride is expectedly genteel, the cabin poshly dressed in two-tone leather—with new diamond quilting developed solely for the Speed—complemented by an array of wood veneers to choose from, as well as carbon-fiber or brushed-aluminum trim selections and the optional Naim for Bentley 20-speaker sound system. The one miss? The S.U.V.’s body styling remains largely unchanged. With only Speed-specific badging to set it apart, the exterior looks too tame for what lies beneath.
Still, this Bentayga lives up to its moniker. It may have startled a calf—but it’s here to claim the range. As Yellowstone’s John Dutton said, “You build something worth having, someone’s gonna try to take it.” That’s what Bentley is banking on.
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