Luxury and Power: Bentley Mulsanne Speed's Perfect Blend

It’s taken since the start of the decade, but Bentley has finally turned the Mulsanne if not into the car it should have been from the start, then at least the one you might have hoped it would be.

I’ve always enjoyed the Mulsanne – hard not to when ensconced in a cabin where perceived quality is not applied like make-up, but designed in from the very start. I liked the torque of the V8 and even its benevolent tolerance of being hustled quite quickly. But nor have I been blind to its shortcomings: it’s never ridden quite well enough to be a convincing rival for a Rolls-Royce, never felt quite quick enough to be cast in the role of the modern Speed Six. It felt caught between the imperative of being a luxury car and its conflicting brief to satisfy the desire of the man or woman behind the wheel. You can be driven in a Bentley, we are always told, but a Bentley is for driving.

No doubt this Speed model is the one that most subscribes to this credo. The enormous pushrod V8, so changed from the 1959 original that only the bore centre spacings remain, now puts out 530bhp and, far more significantly, a wall of torque so wide and tall it might make an American president gasp.