2017 Bentley Mulsanne Speed Gallery

What does $400,000 get you in the world of luxury automobiles? Stop by your local Bentley dealer and it'll get you a well-specified 2017 Mulsanne Speed, one of the most powerful and fastest cars in the company's rarified line-up.

For the 2017 Model Year, the Mulsanne Speed gets a bolder grille and redesigned lights, along with new tail-lamps that light up with a "B" logo. The headlamps are LED as standard, and can auto-adjust their spread and reach according to how fast you're driving. Under the sculpted bodywork, meanwhile, there's retuned air suspension.

It's also where you'll find the meaty 6.75-liter twin-turbo V8 engine, rated for 530 HP and 811 lb-ft. of torque. That's enough for a 190 mph top speed and a 4.8 second 0-60 mph time: frankly astonishing when you consider quite how much the Mulsanne Speed weighs. An 8-speed automatic transmission and carbon ceramic brakes play their part, too.

Is the Bentley a sensible choice? Certainly not, when you could pick up a couple of Mercedes-Maybach for the same price, but the German cars simply won't have the same gravitas, attention to hand-stitched, hand-polished, hand-crafted detail, and general air of old-school luxe that the Mulsanne Speed does so well.

Additional photography by Jody Troxel