That is the question that many people have asked me over the last couple of weeks, to be fair I am still wondering it myself. Those of you that know me best will know I was actually lusting over an earlier Turbo R, a car that I have admired since the mid 1980's, I have covered the story before so won't repeat it here but it's been a long burning itch that I have only recently felt in a position to scratch.
I went to see one - old news again but bear with me - I had never at that point considered an Arnage for one single second. But here we were, the bloke I bought it from - Mike - had three Bentleys -the Turbo R I was hell bent on buying, the Arnage and a newly acquired Continental W12. Seeing all three sat there set some doubts in my mind, I knew the W12 was a maintenance nightmare, it would have been more cash than I wanted to part with too. But somehow the Arnage threw up serious doubts as to how much I really wanted the gorgeous blue monster Turbo R in front of me. They say you should never meet your heroes, this was a perfect example. I sat in it and it didn't feel anything like I expected. Sure it was comfortable, a lovely place to be. It was in pretty good nick, excellent for it's age really. The view down the long bonnet with the flying b at the end of it was the stuff that dreams are made of to a petrol head like me. It needed some bits doing to it, that didn't scare me I knew before I got there, I so very nearly bought it. But that green Arnage looked so damn good from the driver's seat of the R.
I then did a really stupid thing and went and had a closer look. Even more stupid I sat in it and fired it up. I can't put my finger on it, something about the car made me forget about the R in an instant. Maybe it was the smell of the leather - they say 12 cow hides are used in the building of these cars, even the roof liner is finest Connolly hide. Maybe it was the modern take on the classic British GT car dash. Maybe it just fitted me better, probably it was a combination of all those things. The engine was smoother than a cashmere cod piece, quieter than a mouse's fart. It's a BMW derived V8, same as I had in my old Range rover. Bentley were owned by Vickers at the time, as luck would have it they also owned Cosworth engineering, who took the engine, bolted on a couple of turbo charges, increased power by 100 BHP and then gave it back to Bentley. I knew the engine to be great in the Rangey, a turbo version had to be a thing of beauty and it most certainly is. Power is only about 350 BHP but torque is endless. Anyway, I left Mike's without buying anything and with my head in an absolute spin. I couldn't quite believe that my hero for so many years had been replaced by the new 28 year old pretender to the Bentley throne.
I came home and read countless articles on the web and watched countless youtube videos that all said you needed to be stark raving mental to even consider buying an old Bentley. Prices are ruinous, they said. It will have you in the poor house within days, they said. Then most of them went on to explain that Bentley dealers charge about 3 quid a minute and that parts are eye watering, to be fair they had a good point. But then I reminded myself that one of the advantages of old cars is that parts become plentiful on the second hand market and every common problem gets an after market solution. If you don't care that everything has the Bentley name engraved, cast or attached to it massive savings can be had, you don't have to go Chinese to do it, Germans make decent alternative parts for many things, all without the Bentley tax. Doing things for yourself saves a fortune. My recen door lock fixing escapade show it nicely - that job would have been 5 grand or more at a Bentley dealer, it cost me half a tin of switch cleaner and half a tin of WD40. Don't get me wrong some things are much less easily dealt with - the key for example, although I think I am close to a solution on that now.
It's not an every day car, it's only insured for 3000 miles a year, which equates to just under 60 miles a week on average, which rings me neatly to the often asked question of fuel consumption. The car weighs 2.7 tonnes, or slightly less than the planet Uranus. Of course it's going to be more juicy than my diesel Insignia but it's not as bad as many people might think. The 6.75 litre turbo charged motor in the R was designed in 1959 and although it has been developed over the years, it's still a massive 2 valve per cylinder thirsty beast. At best you will get 18 out of it on a cruise, that will fall to about 12 around town, or less if you go really silly with it. The BMW lump is much more sophisticated with variable cam timing, 4 valves per cylinder and 40 odd years more development behind it. The fuel injection is more sophisticated, the turbos much more advanced. It will do 24 on a run, just under half what the insignia does. I can live with that, 60 miles or 3 gallons a week isn't going to kill me. I used to spend that on whiskey.
I've had Jags, I've had Range rovers, I've had a Porsche and a Mercedes. I've had new cars, classic cars, nice cars and less nice cars, none of them have come anywhere close to feeling like the Bentley, the XJR was close but it was different.Very different. No point me trying to put my finger on any one particular feature, it's the whole package that comes together so well - the British heritage and craftsmanship can be felt everywhere. I just love it and I couldn't help myself.
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