Anyone own, sell or know about Bentley's?

[Kev Williams]

04bent.jpg
I've been looking at Bentley Continental GT's for years. In the pic is a first-year 2004 at a used dealer 3 miles from me, 7 owners, 47k miles, all the right colors, W12 AWD, below $30k... I broke down and took a look at it last night. Place was closing and just getting dark, so didn't get inside, but outside it's near flawless, I couldn't find a scratch on it, or even a swirl in the black paint.

But doing a little research brings up the issues of 'scheduled maintenance' prices, and that no matter how much one pays for a 16 year old Bentley, the dealer shops still consider it a $180k car, yearly maintenance runs over $3500, oil changes are $500... First, it won't get driven much. The wife's Mustang GT Convert we've owned for 4 -- make that 5 years-- (which will be a casualty if I go thru with this ), hasn't been driven 2000 miles yet, my 2002 F250 I bought new, barely 60k miles. Work from home = not much driving- And most basic maintenance I can do myself, what I can't, mechanics I know & trust can likely handle it. For major repairs, maybe some repair insurance is in order?

Anyone have a little insight to share?

[Adam Herman]

they have a similar platform as the A8 from Audi, and the big VW sedan from the time. and share a lot of parts with many other models. if its in great condition, and does not have any problems, and there are some records, i think you will do ok with it. certainly on the right side of the depreciation curve! probably get the same service from the vw dealer for half the cost if you want to go that route, or find an independent mechanic if you don't work on them yourself.

[Jamie Buxton]

Seven owners in fifteen years? Seems like a lot of folks decided that owning a Bentley wasn’t as great an idea as they thought.

[mike stenson]

Seven owners in fifteen years? Seems like a lot of folks decided that owning a Bentley wasn’t as great an idea as they thought.

Lots of people get bored with cars after about 2 years. Especially luxury ones it seems.

[Rick Potter]

My brother has one just like that. The only thing he has complained about is that he bought it missing an ashtray in the back seat, and it cost's like $400.

With any expensive car, it's the parts and maintenance costs that kill you. That is why there are such good deals on the expensive BMW's and Mercedes. 10 year old ones are pretty inexpensive.....to buy.

PS: I don't know what a standard interior for his Bentley Continental looks like. I assume it is wonderful. My Brother's car has the optional interior. It was a $24,000 option!! The optional wheels were $8,000.

[Frederick Skelly]

With any expensive car, it's the parts and maintenance costs that kill you. That is why there are such good deals on the expensive BMW's and Mercedes. 10 year old ones are pretty inexpensive.....to buy.

Yup. I've always wanted a Ferrari 308 GT and when they hit about $30k I started thinking about it. Until I heard what it costs to maintain one. No. Nevermind. Thanks anyway.

Kev, if mechanical parts are expensive, perhaps body panels, bumpers, etc are too. You might get a quote from your regular car insurance on that, and maybe a specialty company like Hagerty too.

[Jim Falsetti]

Kev - Check out the Bentley and Phaeton forums at vwvortex. There is a ton of information on the Phaeton forum, and lots of it should be applicable to the Bentley. The Phaeton is a great car but was not as attractive to most Americans as a significantly more expensive Bentley. The Bentley is at least as nice as a Phaeton but more expensive to maintain.

The 2004 Bentley Continental was built at the transparent factory in Dresden. So was the Phaeton.

It is more similar to a W12 Phaeton than an Audi A8.

A lot of the parts are VW, and readily available in the aftermarket.

The 2004 W12 Phaeton transmission is supposed to have the fluid changed every 20k miles. Might want to look into this for the Bentley - it's a relatively expensive operation. I believe the Bentley has the big European brakes, and the brake rotors are relatively expensive, and they have to be replaced when the pads are replaced.


FYI...here is an interesting Bentley rebuild project. Looks like he did most of it in the driveway.https://forums.vwvortex.com/showthre...ey-GT-Re-Build

Jim

[Kev Williams]

thanks for the info everyone! And that rebuild, holy crap! I'd have lost half of what I removed within 20 minutes, let alone remember how to put it back together...

[Bill Dufour]

I could not find it but the VW supercar annual service is about $201,000. But the car was around 2 million or so. I think they send the wheels to Italy to get the tires replaced or maybe you have to buy new wheels as well. I understood vw was losing about 2-3 million per car on these. Sales never got high enough to spread out the costs.
Link below is for a guy who got tired of payments so he crashed it into a lake and claimed a deer made him do it. The video proved there was no deer so he got nothing except a trial for false claims.
Bill D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NJmB1F2mdE

https://www.secretentourage.com/life...-of-ownership/

[Adam Herman]

I could not find it but the VW supercar annual service is about $201,000. But the car was around 2 million or so. I think they send the wheels to Italy to get the tires replaced or maybe you have to buy new wheels as well. I understood vw was losing about 2-3 million per car on these. Sales never got high enough to spread out the costs.
Link below is for a guy who got tired of payments so he crashed it into a lake and claimed a deer made him do it. The video proved there was no deer so he got nothing except a trial for false claims.
Bill D

a veyron is a totally different animal.

[Mike Henderson]

A good friend once commented to me: "It's better to want an exotic car than to own an exotic car."

Mike

[Rick Potter]

You hit it on the head, Mike.

Anticipation always exceeds realization.

[Doug Dawson]

FYI...here is an interesting Bentley rebuild project. Looks like he did most of it in the driveway.https://forums.vwvortex.com/showthre...ey-GT-Re-Build

How hard can it be? :^) It's not like you're replacing a vent actuator in a Chevy Cobalt, those things really _are_ disposable.

[Doug Dawson]

thanks for the info everyone! And that rebuild, holy crap! I'd have lost half of what I removed within 20 minutes, let alone remember how to put it back together...

You need to label stuff, and have enough shelf space to store it temporarily.

The thing I'd be most concerned with is the body panels. Are they still doing the "custom fit-by-hand" thing like they used to? I farm out my bodywork and painting etc. That could get crazy.

[Bill Dufour]

a veyron is a totally different animal.

I guess so but, they are both made by VW not BMW.
What happened to the Indian company that bought Jaguar/Land rover? Ta Ta motors.
Bill D