2026 Bentley Continental GT S Is A $300,000 Sweet Spot

Since introducing the facelifted Continental GT in 2024, starting off with the Speed plug-in hybrid, Bentley has been hard at work filling out its coupe and convertible lineup. It followed up that 771-horsepower monster with the "standard" (read: base) car, then the GT Azure, the GT Mulliner, and the wild rear-drive GT Supersports. Now, it's bringing a new sweet spot to the lineup that splits the difference between the base Conti and the GT Speed, and it's called the GT S. Like the prior V8 S models, Bentley's engineers took a base Continental GT and fit it with all of the GT Speed's upgrades, short of its more-powerful engine. Don't worry, this powertrain gets the job done and then some.

You'd nearly be able to convince yourself it's a value, because it's only a few grand more than the standard car. Sure, it doesn't come cheap by any normal definition of the word, but that's neither here nor there. After all, no matter which body style you pick, there's an argument to be made that the Continental GT is the best car on sale today. Yes, it's obscenely expensive, but as I've said in the past, it's also obscenely good. That doesn't change with the GT S, thanks to a wonderful V8 engine, plenty of all-electric driving range, one of the best interiors money can buy, looks that put other cars to shame, and driving dynamics that will make you start questioning how infallible the laws of physics really are.

Full Disclosure: Bentley paid for my stay and food at a lovely hotel in the Hudson Valley so I could try out the 2026 Continental GT S and GTC S.

The recipe for building a Continental GT S isn't a particularly complicated one. Take a base Conti GT, rip out everything underneath other than the drivetrain, and replace that crap with the running gear from the GT Speed. Bing, bang, boom. Job done. Okay, maybe it's not that easy, but that is the essence of the car.

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The magic of the GT S is in the 48-volt Performance Active Chassis it inherited from the Speed. It takes the standard rear-axle steering, active anti-roll bars, torque vectoring, electronically controlled limited-slip differential and air springs with adaptive dampers of the standard GT and turns everything up to 11. The system can move the powertrain's torque both front-to-back and side-to-side. It's mighty impressive and helps to hide the admittedly substantial girth of the GT S. Its torque split is also just a bit more aggressive out of the box, running in rear-wheel drive in most dry and good-traction conditions, according to Bentley. You'd be hard-pressed to feel too many differences between the Comfort or "Bentley" modes over the standard car, but once things are shifted into Sport, everything comes into focus.

Another piece of the S's drivability comes in the form of that impressive electric active anti-roll control system, which can add up to 1,000 pound-feet of pressure to the car's shocks to counteract the rolling a car as big as the Conti will naturally want to do. Engineers did tell me that they didn't program out all of the car's roll, though, because that would just make everything feel a bit weird. I can't say I disagree with them.

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There are, of course, a few design differences between the S and the regular GT. Namely, Bentley designers fitted a slew of gloss black treatments on the outside, in the grilles and around the windows. It also runs on a new 22-inch wheel. On the inside, it's as customizable as ever, but there's a unique color split for the S on the seats, and a dark chrome trim option to choose from.

Because we no longer live in a world where Bentley runs multiple engines in the Continental GT (its plug-in-hybrid twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8 is the Conti's only available motivator), there were never going to be a lot of changes under the hood. Hell, the only difference between power output levels is software and tuning. That's why the S is more of a handling special, meant for the type of person who is into driving but doesn't want to shell out damn near $450,000 for a GT Speed. The only powertrain difference you can conceivably make on the S is adding an optional Akrapovič exhaust system, which isn't available on the base car but is available on the Speed. I can't speak to how it sounds, but judging by how good the normal S's exhaust note is, it's gotta be wonderful.

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Anyway, don't fret, because the standard powertrain in the Continental GT is a hell of a thing. Out of the box, the twin-turbo V8 and electric motor make 512 hp and 188 hp, respectively. With their powers combined, the GT S has a whopping 671 horsepower and 686 pound-feet of torque. The electric motor is hooked up to a 25.9-kWh battery pack that should give you well over 40 miles of all-electric range if the car isn't pushed too hard. Though when pushed, the system makes enough power to send the 5,421-pound coupe from 0 to 60 mph in 3.3 seconds with the help of a Porsche-supposed PDK gearbox, according to Bentley (the GTC S is 5,811 pounds and hits 60 in 3.6 seconds). It'll also go on to a top speed of 191 mph.

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As I mentioned a bit earlier, the GT S drives pretty similarly to the standard GT in Comfort and Bentley mode, but things get spicier in Sport. Bentley actually touts that Comfort is now the same across its whole lineup, so no matter what GT you get into, it'll feel largely the same. In any case, once you turn the wonderful-feeling dial into Sport, the springs, dampers and anti-roll bars all get stiffer; the all-wheel-drive system starts sending more power to the rear; the suspension drops by 0.4 inches; and all sorts of clever math is done to recalibrate the rear-wheel steering and torque vectoring. The stability control also loosens up the reins far more than it would in a standard GT, just so more fun can be had.

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In Bentley and Comfort modes, it's a supremely quiet cruiser that runs with the best luxury limos I've ever driven. It's got brilliant massaging seats, first-class adaptive cruise control, a bangin' 1,500-watt 16-speaker Bang & Olufsen stereo (an even more bangin' 2,200-watt Naim system is also available), and Volkswagen Group's fantastic suite of advanced driver assist tech. The interior is just as good as ever, and feels fresh despite the fact that it's eight years old at this point. The Forbidden Toblerone is still a great gimmick. This really could be an everyday daily driver, just so long as you're not carrying too much. That big battery eats a hell of a lot of trunk room.

Of course, none of that is important because the S is really about backroad driving, and that's where it does supremely well. It's no Lotus or Porsche 911, as the laws of physics do exist somewhat, but it gets a hell of a lot closer than anything else this big and heavy.

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On the twistiest of roads in the Hudson Valley, the Conti GT S's goldilocks formula does a great job of providing a fun drive, thanks mostly to heavy and direct steering feel with a ton of feedback on-center, and that Performance Active Chassis. It helps to keep body motion delightfully in check in both the coupe and drop top. This car feels exactly like a sporting Bentley is supposed to.

Technically, these cars have base prices, but they don't really matter, since no one in recorded history has ever bought a base-spec Bentley. But, if you must know, prices for the GT S and GTC S start at $296,150 and $325,350, including destination, respectively.

The two cars I drove, a Thunder over Beluga and Newmarket Tan coupe and a Glacier White over Beluga and Hotspur convertible, both carried prices far north of base, coming in at $341,990 and $379,550, respectively. The thing is, though, if you're buying a Bentley, that really doesn't matter, and neither does the spec of these cars. You can make them pretty much however the hell you want them.

And that's the point of the GT S. On the face of it, you wouldn't think there's a huge niche of people who want the engine from the base car mixed with the handling and suspension of the Speed, but Bentley feels there's enough of that piece of pie to cut another slice. Bentley just loves giving people options, so why not give them one more?