05/06 Flying Spur as a daily?

[SlartiF430]

Hi all, I have some questions about what might be a ludicrous idea that I have floating around in my head. My current daily is a Land Rover FL2 and I'm finding it increasingly boring every time I get into it. It's a 3.2 that's been gas converted so is actually pretty cheap to run, and is also reasonably practical as a family a car (I have a wife and one child). However, it's dull! I was originally looking to replace it with a new shape A8 or maybe an S-class Merc, but the idea of getting a FS instead has implanted itself heavily into my psyche! For 30k you get sooo much! Anyway, hoping folks that know or have owned these cars might be kind enough to offer up some opinions....

1. Are they reliable? I know they're expensive to repair if things go wrong but I was warned off buying an Aston Martin by many people for being money-pits, unreliable, a time-bomb-waiting-to-go-off etc. I've since had two and both have been bullet proof - I only spent money on consumables and servicing.
2. Fuel is going to be expensive if I'm doing 12k miles per annum, does anybody have any experience of gassing these things up? Thoughts on this?
3. Are there any Bentley indies in the Northwest - do any offer maintenance packages?

Thanks all!

[WightGT]

Why do you want an independent garage rather than a main dealer? Bentley offer menu pricing for servicing, which only crops up once a year. Mostly you'll pay about £800 per year, but more if discs need replacing. The benefit of going to a main dealer is that you get access to the Bentley computer software and updates, and since these cars are heavily computer dependent for reliability, this is something that you'd not wish to be without. As for fuel, you'll get about 16 mpg as a running average, but if you try, you can drop this to 5 mpg, especially if you do a track day.

As to buying - make sure you have the best main dealer service record that you can afford, and if possible get a main dealer to check the car over before you commit.
Good Luck.

[SlartiF430]

WightGT said:

Why do you want an independent garage rather than a main dealer? Bentley offer menu pricing for servicing, which only crops up once a year. Mostly you'll pay about £800 per year, but more if discs need replacing. The benefit of going to a main dealer is that you get access to the Bentley computer software and updates, and since these cars are heavily computer dependent for reliability, this is something that you'd not wish to be without. As for fuel, you'll get about 16 mpg as a running average, but if you try, you can drop this to 5 mpg, especially if you do a track day.

As to buying - make sure you have the best main dealer service record that you can afford, and if possible get a main dealer to check the car over before you commit.
Good Luck.

Thanks for the reply :-)

I tend to use indies for sundry stuff. I've found with Porsches, Astons, Ferraris that changing things like discs are 30% cheaper at an Indy than main dealer.. I still use main dealer servicing as you simply need the stamp in the book for the short sighted buyers that insist on seeing them (even though the quality of work at an indy can be much better). Also, the electronic diagnostic computers (e.g. SD2 with Fez) are generally available to indies - of course, this may not be the case with Bentley as you point out above.

16mpg isn't so bad (guessing yours is a coupe, in which case I could expect slightly less in the larger saloon?). So on 12k miles p/a I'm looking at average fuel cost of £4725, that's £90 or a full tank each week. If I stuck LPG on it, the same mileage would cost around £2825 - a £2k saving which pays for the conversion at the end of year 1 - not bad at all.

I wonder if there's anything else I need to be aware of? I'm coming close to hitting the button on this :-)

[JamieBeeston]

I have a MY07 Spur as a Daily.

Best i've got is 8mpg on a long spirited trip.
Worst I've got is 22mpg on a trip back from LeMans
Average I get according to the trip computer is 12mpg

Had it approaching a year, have put on 10k or so and its driven flawlessly.
I have a warranty and I will be renewing it, but it just drives as you'd expect!

[SlartiF430]

Thank you Jamie. Despite the back seats and boot, I suppose it doesn't come anywhere close to the shopping practicality of an F40 :-) Is your average MPG skewed downwards because you generally drive her hard? I've got the F430 for spirited driving. I would probably use this for shopping trips and driving between Lancashire and London (M6/M1).

[JamieBeeston]

SlartiF430 said:

Thank you Jamie. Despite the back seats and boot, I suppose it doesn't come anywhere close to the shopping practicality of an F40 :-) Is your average MPG skewed downwards because you generally drive her hard? I've got the F430 for spirited driving. I would probably use this for shopping trips and driving between Lancashire and London (M6/M1).

I drive it as it's meant to be driven
It lives in sports mode and I could be considered to be a spirited driver!

I tend to get 160-180 miles out of a tank (80L or so) however on the way back from LeMans being weary of the local constabulary I did get 291 miles out of a single tank (Maybe french petrol lasts longer!)

F40 makes a great shopper

[SlartiF430]

Haha. That's exactly the pic I remember using while trying to convince the missus that we should sell off some family assets to get us into an f40 - I bet you miss it rotten!

Re mpg. That's great. It means if I take it easy I should be able to do the 220 miles from lancs to London on about 60 quid whoop whoop!! ( or have I got that wrong??).