Arnage - What is High Millage for an Arnage
Discussion
Hi, new on here and have read many of your threads with regards to Bentley's. I have a Bentley 'Itch' that I have decided to scratch. I understand the maintenance costs, that things could go well and that things could also go badly wrong ! The prices of car's in dealers hands appear high, but they also appear to moving them. I am searching for an 02 for around £20k. This is when millage comes in to play. When dose millage become a problem with a well maintained car ? Is an 80k car asking for trouble ? Also, I have seen a 1998 4.4 car with only 16k on the clock. Is this viable for a daily use car?
All comments apreciated
All comments apreciated
Your first look should be at the "Buyers Guide" on this site.
On any purchase a careful examination of a detailed service record is essential on a high mileage car and particularly to see whether the things listed in the Buyers Guide have occurred and been dealt with. Couple this with a PPI and you have covered most of the bases.
Personally I would not buy anything with over 50k but that is just personal preference. Low mileage cars are always at a price premium
On any purchase a careful examination of a detailed service record is essential on a high mileage car and particularly to see whether the things listed in the Buyers Guide have occurred and been dealt with. Couple this with a PPI and you have covered most of the bases.
Personally I would not buy anything with over 50k but that is just personal preference. Low mileage cars are always at a price premium
Purely from a personal point of view I would always concentrate on the vehicles overall condition and service record and as I'm not mechanically minded I look to secure a vehicle report from a marque specialist. I have never purchased an especially low mileage car, except for the new smaller cars that I've purchased for my wife over the years, and prefer to see that the cars recorded mileage, on the annual M.O.T. documents, identifies that the vehicle has had a reasonable amount of use spread over the course of its life.
I would suggest that before thinking about using an Arnage as a daily driver that you certainly drive on first. Until you get to drive one of them the vehicles overall size may not be as apparent to you as it should be before you then evaluate how, when and where you will be using it. If your proposed daily use involves rush hour traffic jams this will be a relatively expensive option from a fuel perspective, albeit a very comfortable place in which to wile away the time you are wasting. If you will require using the car for trips to the local shops / supermarket then the boot provides tremendous stowage capacity, but then you may need to spend considerable time seeking out a parking space large enough to be able to leave it without risk of returning to discover the almost inevitable door ding!
Should daily use allow you to drive on relatively free flowing roads in the certain knowledge that your destination will provide you with easy access to generously proportioned parking areas then there is no better car to own and make use of as far as I am concerned, although, I am not entirely sure that many of us living in the UK will find that this is a realistic scenario.
I would suggest that before thinking about using an Arnage as a daily driver that you certainly drive on first. Until you get to drive one of them the vehicles overall size may not be as apparent to you as it should be before you then evaluate how, when and where you will be using it. If your proposed daily use involves rush hour traffic jams this will be a relatively expensive option from a fuel perspective, albeit a very comfortable place in which to wile away the time you are wasting. If you will require using the car for trips to the local shops / supermarket then the boot provides tremendous stowage capacity, but then you may need to spend considerable time seeking out a parking space large enough to be able to leave it without risk of returning to discover the almost inevitable door ding!
Should daily use allow you to drive on relatively free flowing roads in the certain knowledge that your destination will provide you with easy access to generously proportioned parking areas then there is no better car to own and make use of as far as I am concerned, although, I am not entirely sure that many of us living in the UK will find that this is a realistic scenario.
I've owned a Red Label for 11 years - it's a 2001 which I bought in 2004. Had no problems at all until this year when had very expensive head gasket failure. I've been told this is not uncommon on the earlier single turbo cars like mine (and continental R's and T's too). Given this I would recommend a later twin turbo Arnage R or T.
WightGT said:
I don't wish to be rude, but what did the head gasket rectification cost you? Just so that others can understand the cost of this common failure and build it into their negotiations.
About $10,000 (£7000) here in the US at an independent - both fiddly from a labour point of view and the genuine parts are expensive - even gasket sets and o rings are shocking. Bentley Dealer told me it's an engine out job and more like $20,000. Not sure what it would be in the UK but I think labour rates and parts must be similar. I have recently purchased a "T" and absolutely love the driving experience, any longer term appreciation would be a bonus that I hadn't factored into my decision making. I simply wanted to buy a large four door saloon car for occasional use and my research led me to this model.
I previously owned a Jaguar XJR which I kept for many years and which was a fantastic car even if a little short on boot space. By comparison the Arnage T is very spacious and provides every bit as much acceleration that I used to enjoy when driving the Jag. The driving position in the Bentley is much improved as you sit far higher and don't tend to get dwarfed by other vehicles on the road.
My car is a 2003 model with the perspex covered lights, the only real disappointment with these earlier cars is the fact that a lot of the cabin technology has now become largely redundant (Sat. Nav. + Phone system) and I am therefore looking around for a discrete solution that will bring these elements up to current day standards, nonetheless, I certainly don't want to do anything that would detract from the marvellous appearance of the cars interior.
I previously owned a Jaguar XJR which I kept for many years and which was a fantastic car even if a little short on boot space. By comparison the Arnage T is very spacious and provides every bit as much acceleration that I used to enjoy when driving the Jag. The driving position in the Bentley is much improved as you sit far higher and don't tend to get dwarfed by other vehicles on the road.
My car is a 2003 model with the perspex covered lights, the only real disappointment with these earlier cars is the fact that a lot of the cabin technology has now become largely redundant (Sat. Nav. + Phone system) and I am therefore looking around for a discrete solution that will bring these elements up to current day standards, nonetheless, I certainly don't want to do anything that would detract from the marvellous appearance of the cars interior.
WelshBentleyBoy said:
In the new "Classic Car Show" programme on UK Channel 5 Quentin Wilson is tipping the Arnage T as a car to buy , enjoy and get some appreciation. ( Financial that is)
Don't hold your breath! He tipped the Turbo R a week or two back and if you beleive that, you'll beleive anything. I don't reckon mine will be worth any more than it is today for at least 10 years and in that time I'll have spent more on maintaining it than I paid for it in the first place (£22K 12 years ago). So, if you bought a decent Turbo R today and even if it were to doubled in price in 10 years, you would still be down at least £10K. I suspect the maths on an Arnage, even a T, would be much the same.If you want a car that's going to be an investment, buy a 2-seater V12 Ferrari. Someone who bought his 550 around the same time as I did (two and a half years ago), sold it recently and after factoring in every last penny of his running costs, calculated that it had paid him £1.50 a mile, for the c.8K miles he had covered in his ownership. I am thinking of buying another one!
I must admit that I view his predictions with some scepticism. In Classic cars he has always tipped what I sold a few years ago ie a Gordon Keeble, a Ferrari 456, a Maserati Quatroporte, a Continental R and even a BMW 2002. He even wrote a lengthy article in praise of a RR Corniche in the RREC 2015 year book and guess what? He owns one!
12 POT said:
I have recently purchased a "T" and absolutely love the driving experience, any longer term appreciation would be a bonus that I hadn't factored into my decision making. I simply wanted to buy a large four door saloon car for occasional use and my research led me to this model.
I previously owned a Jaguar XJR which I kept for many years and which was a fantastic car even if a little short on boot space. By comparison the Arnage T is very spacious and provides every bit as much acceleration that I used to enjoy when driving the Jag. The driving position in the Bentley is much improved as you sit far higher and don't tend to get dwarfed by other vehicles on the road.
My car is a 2003 model with the perspex covered lights, the only real disappointment with these earlier cars is the fact that a lot of the cabin technology has now become largely redundant (Sat. Nav. + Phone system) and I am therefore looking around for a discrete solution that will bring these elements up to current day standards, nonetheless, I certainly don't want to do anything that would detract from the marvellous appearance of the cars interior.
Balmoral uk do a brilliant sat nav upgrade. And integrate a tom tom into the existing sat nav door. Can also install hands free and music blue tooth kits. Check them out. Mines brilliantI previously owned a Jaguar XJR which I kept for many years and which was a fantastic car even if a little short on boot space. By comparison the Arnage T is very spacious and provides every bit as much acceleration that I used to enjoy when driving the Jag. The driving position in the Bentley is much improved as you sit far higher and don't tend to get dwarfed by other vehicles on the road.
My car is a 2003 model with the perspex covered lights, the only real disappointment with these earlier cars is the fact that a lot of the cabin technology has now become largely redundant (Sat. Nav. + Phone system) and I am therefore looking around for a discrete solution that will bring these elements up to current day standards, nonetheless, I certainly don't want to do anything that would detract from the marvellous appearance of the cars interior.
john9992 said:
Balmoral uk do a brilliant sat nav upgrade. And integrate a tom tom into the existing sat nav door. Can also install hands free and music blue tooth kits. Check them out. Mines brilliant
Hi John. I would be interested in seeing pictures of the finished fitting. Can you add to the thread?High mileage has never really worried me and can be a cost efficient way of getting into ownership. Also my experience of low mileage cars is that once you start to use them they tend to be unreliable. I would prefer a car that has been regularly used and maintained accordingly.
When I buy a car I take all the data I have and put it into an Excel spreadsheet capturing Date/Mileage/Work covered etc. I take this from the following sources: Service Book, Invoices, MOT certificates, HPI reports. By plotting this as a graph it very effectively shows if the mileage has any discrepancies across all the documentation.
What is also important is to understand what work has been carried out recently (last 2 years) and how many miles have passed. It can help to determine what work needs to be done immediately or in the next 1-2 years.
On another post I have broken down my costing on an Arnage T I was looking at. The car is currently advertised for £18k and was in very poor condition, complete with a fuel leak in the engine! The car needed a further £10k spent (at least). The car was way overpriced.
Go into these cars with your eyes open as maintenance is expensive. But if the mileage is high and the price reflects this, then there are few reasons not to go for it!
When I buy a car I take all the data I have and put it into an Excel spreadsheet capturing Date/Mileage/Work covered etc. I take this from the following sources: Service Book, Invoices, MOT certificates, HPI reports. By plotting this as a graph it very effectively shows if the mileage has any discrepancies across all the documentation.
What is also important is to understand what work has been carried out recently (last 2 years) and how many miles have passed. It can help to determine what work needs to be done immediately or in the next 1-2 years.
On another post I have broken down my costing on an Arnage T I was looking at. The car is currently advertised for £18k and was in very poor condition, complete with a fuel leak in the engine! The car needed a further £10k spent (at least). The car was way overpriced.
Go into these cars with your eyes open as maintenance is expensive. But if the mileage is high and the price reflects this, then there are few reasons not to go for it!
john9992 said:
Balmoral uk do a brilliant sat nav upgrade. And integrate a tom tom into the existing sat nav door. Can also install hands free and music blue tooth kits. Check them out. Mines brilliant
Hi john9992,Thanks for the tip. I will check this solution out. Have you any photo's of the finished installation? I would want to try and ensure that the upgrade is as "seamless" as possible.
I've had a MY 2000 4.4l Arnage 'Birkin', peacock blue, gorgeous. I have had it as a daily driver since I bought it 10 years ago, it has 116k on the clock and never misses a beat. Its a V8 engine so a high mileage is not an issue for me, its a great car for every day use, you can wiz up and down the country with all your suitcases and colleagues easily. Just get it regularly serviced and away you go.
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