Bentley Mulsanne Speed

Surprising performance belies the Mulsanne’s sheer size

AT 2610KG, 5.5 METRES LONG, OVER 2 metres wide and powered by a six-and-three-quarter-litre twinturbocharged V8 generating 811lb ft of torque, as numbers go, Bentley’s Mulsanne Speed is close to a full house.

As a B-road flyer it falls short, but come on, what else would you expect? A Lotus Elise it is not. Where the Mulsanne Speed does surprise and delight, however, is in how it blends effortless momentum with quite unexpected performance. Despite the speeds it will reach with an extended throttle opening, it never feels rushed or unwieldy, despite every visual clue suggesting that it should. Rarely has so much mass been so well balanced when asked to change direction at speed. It’s akin to a second-row deftly side-stepping a fly-half. Open the floodgates from a standstill and it feels so much quicker than it has any right to be as that wonderful V8 propels the weight of two family hatchbacks at the horizon and on to 60mph as quickly as a hot hatch.

If how it drives is a little unexpected, how the Mulsanne is built and put together certainly isn’t. Unlike other Bentley family members, every process in its construction is carried out in Crewe, the vast majority by hand. The inside of a Mulsanne is exactly what you expect a Bentley to be: off-the scale refinement, unquestionable quality and such a grand sense of occasion you feel guilty when your denim makes contact with the chair’s hide and your trainers disappear into the carpet. I assume swapping the champagne in the rear-seat fridge for a couple of cold cans wouldn’t be the done thing, either.

We have always said the thrill of driving comes in many shapes and sizes, and in the case of the Mulsanne Speed it’s a big shape, but still a thrill every time you step inside one.