2026 Bentley Continental GT S First Look: More Driver Focus, Not More Power

Bentley decided to throw the kitchen sink at their land yacht 

2026 Bentley Continental GT S fornt profile
  • There's a new, driver-focused member of the Continental GT lineup. 
  • The GT S doesn't get any extra power, but it does get some serious handling hardware. 
  • What you end up with is something sharper that, hopefully, won't betray the Conti's inherent GT credentials. 

You could easily argue that the Bentley Continental doesn't need more power, more tech or more go-faster kit. Its many variants are all great to drive despite their considerable weight. But that hasn't stopped Bentley from making new, thinner slices out of the Continental pie. Meet the Continental GT S — the most driver-centric Conti of the range. 

Bentley must have felt the same about how much power the GT needs (or doesn't). The 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 and the plug-in hybrid system it's mated to remain the same and still crank out 671 hp and 686 lb-ft of torque. That's more than the old twin-turbo W12 ever made, but you'd think sticking an S in the name would bring at least a little more juice. There's plenty of headroom between the standard Continental and the Speed (which brings 771 hp and 738 lb-ft). 

So if there's no extra power (and the S doesn't look all that different from the standard Conti), what exactly are you getting here? As it turns out, all of the GT S' enhancements are things you can't see. The "Bentley Performance Active Chassis" system was formerly only available on the Mulliner models (Bentley speak for fanciest), and it brings with it a whole host of chassis wizardry. 

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2026 Bentley Continental GT S rear

The system includes twin-valve dampers that help change the character of the ride based on drive mode, a 48-volt anti-roll system that can electronically firm up parts of the car that need support during hard cornering or on bumpy roads, a limited-slip differential in the rear, and four-wheel steering. All of these elements should combine to make the Continental GT S a much better-handling machine than the standard Conti. 

As is typical Bentley fashion, there are innumerable ways to customize the inside and outside of your Continental GT S. But, in order to set the S apart, there will always be black accents on the outside and a two-way split for the interior color scheme on the interior. You'll also be able to get the S as either a coupe or a convertible, if unlimited headroom is more your style. 

We expect the GT S to start at around $300,000 for the coupe and about 10% more for the convertible. Since we already dig the regular Continental, we can't wait to get behind the wheel of the S to see if it really is the driver's car of the bunch. 

2026 Bentley Continental GT S
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Nick Yekikian has worked in the automotive industry since 2019. He has written close to a thousand car-related articles and tested and reviewed more than 200 vehicles over the course of his career. Nick is the Senior News Editor at Edmunds and has also contributed to MotorTrend, Automobile Magazine and Super Street. When Nick isn't zipping around town in his latest used-car find, he's probably making digital art in Photoshop or playing disc golf with friends.

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Kathleen Clonts has worked in the automotive industry since 2014 and has copy-edited thousands of vehicle reviews and stories about cars and the auto industry in that time. Kathleen is the Edmunds editorial team's copy chief and previously worked as the senior copy editor for Automobile magazine.

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