I suddenly realised the other day that I have now owned Betty the Bentley for just over 3 months. I had been watching a youtube video where somebody was talking about the costs of owning one of these cars, the numbers he was talking were simply unreal. He was one of these guys that wants everything to be like new but doesn't know one end of a screwdriver from another and was paying specialists an absolute fortune to do the simplest of jobs. He is the polar opposite of me, I do everything myself and while I won't skimp on quality I won't pay 5 or 10 times what I need to.
My first big cost saving fix was the door locks - aside from lubrication there are primarily 3 things that break in them - 2 micro switches and the actuating motor. Now you can buy a complete new assembly from Bentley for about £1300 plus the Vat and for about the same again they will fit it for you. 3 of mine weren't working. Rather than do that I took them all apart and cleaned them, paying particular attention to the commutators of the motors. I could have bought replacement ones for a tenner each but then I would have had to wait a few days so I tried cleaning them, they are still working now. Total cost under a fiver and about 1 1/2 days of my own time to do the job. It would have cost nearly what I paid for the car for the dealer to do that, seems mad but there you go, that's why people insist these cars are totally unaffordable.
Then there was the door mirror, it had been taken apart and reassembled incorrectly, also the switch connector was hanging off, another free fix that took me maybe an hour to sort. The plugs and coils were a fairly big job, nothing complicated just a fair bit of time. I could have replaced just the faulty one - number 3 - but seeing as how they were the original 1998 items and a set could be had for just 90 quid, I did the lot. A set of the correct NGK plugs was another 35 quid so they got done too. This would have been another 4k job at a Bentley dealer. The coils were the same as BMW use on the cars where they fir the M62 v8 engine, if you want them in a nice black Bentley box then you will have to pay over 300 quid each for them. Genuine non Bentley branded Bosch items can be had for about 35 quid each, I bought the set of 8 for 90 quid, they came with a 5 year warranty. Maybe they won't last 64k miles and 28 years like the originals did but there was no way I was going to pay best part of 3 grand for them.
The very first fault I noticed on the car was an intermittent speedo, that has been a bit of a saga, I think I might be close to understanding that now but I have fitted the GPS controlled digital one as a back up for now. It's hidden in the ashtray so when that is shut nobody would know it's there. It works very well an helps me keep my licence clean, God knows what the insurance would be if I started getting points.
Another intermittent I noted from day one was an occasional error on the digital information panel saying the auto ride control was being naughty. It took me a good while to get to that one as often it wouldn't happen for a while and then it would come back. I was very concerned that it would be a shock fault - that's a really expensive job on these. Fortunately it was just a reseat and clean up of the electrical connectors that was needed. That can of electrical cleaner that did the trick on the door locks has really earnt it's keep - another free fix.
The drop links were another potential bank breaker but thanks to Ali Express many more hundreds of quids were saved. One of them was absolutely destroyed, the knocking noise was getting on my nerves. They took a while to get here but the 660 quid Bentley wanted seemed far too much for what are just like double ended track rod ends. The 78 quid I paid for a pair seemed much more reasonable and made the 10 day wait tolerable. Fitting was easy, the difference in ride enjoyment massive. Another 1500 quid saved.
The electric aerial was another big saving, I couldn't find an exact like for like replacement but then I didn't really need one. The original was a dual purpose one, it served the radio and the built in phone, which I didn't need any more. I found a couple for sale at around the 400 quid mark but opted for a universal item at 26 quid and a bit of creativity to make it fit.
Numerous other jobs have been tackled, regular readers of this blog will know what they are. The bloke who's vlog I had been watching had burnt his way through about $60,000 on his car, a crazy amount to spend on a car that will never be worth anything like that. I just wanted to put forward an alternative viewpoint as my car is now fault free and my total outlay has been a tiny fraction of what it could have been. Yes there are some parts that are crazy expensive and there is not a lot you can do about it - the shocks being the most obvious thing. Body parts are dear, second hand parts that say Bentley on them tend to be silly prices too. Fortunately the car have been around long enough for the after market boys to make a lot of the parts, a lot more cross reference to BMW so the Bentley tax can usually be avoided.
I would say if you you have a decent set of tools and the knowledge to use them these cars are absolutely superb, a real joy to drive and a sensible proposition. If you insist on the black boxes that Bentley send their parts out in and you have to pay somebody to replace a bulb these cars are absolutely not for you.
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