Oh Lordy - what have I done??
Discussion
Let's have some uber bargain barge porn to salivate over! 
There is nothing like a Turbo R, on every level. I have a 1997 P reg. Seeing it taking up all that space, feeling that comedy surge when you put your foot down, hooning, cruising, CD on, CD off, you will love it. The bills, though... I put mine up for sale last year (started a new business) and a head gasket blew on a test drive with a punter; bill for two new heads, radiator etc... Left it with the garage to sell and the gearbox lost reverse on the next test drive... another monster bill. (They got a new one from Bentley in a crate "because the gearboxes hardly ever go, so the factory are selling them cheap"). I got offered £8k for it shortly afterwards and thought- great, what can I buy with £8k- I know, a Turbo R.... so I've still got it.
You will discover that you always get to go first at roundabouts. I've never worked out if that's because people think you're an arrogant b*****d and are going to go anyway, or they're terrified what would happen if they got hit by it. So you end up just going and everyone thinks you're an arrogant b*****d. Mainly, though, my tree-hugging neighbours HATE it, which is fun in its own right. 13/4 mpg, by the way, but as you will have gathered, that's incidental. My kids love it, my wife hates it (never driven it in 4 years) except, funnily enough, on the odd occasion when only the Bentley will do. Enjoy it, get out and use it - they are rare things and we need to fly the flag.... Good luck!
You will discover that you always get to go first at roundabouts. I've never worked out if that's because people think you're an arrogant b*****d and are going to go anyway, or they're terrified what would happen if they got hit by it. So you end up just going and everyone thinks you're an arrogant b*****d. Mainly, though, my tree-hugging neighbours HATE it, which is fun in its own right. 13/4 mpg, by the way, but as you will have gathered, that's incidental. My kids love it, my wife hates it (never driven it in 4 years) except, funnily enough, on the odd occasion when only the Bentley will do. Enjoy it, get out and use it - they are rare things and we need to fly the flag.... Good luck!
MRM said:
There is nothing like a Turbo R, on every level. I have a 1997 P reg. Seeing it taking up all that space, feeling that comedy surge when you put your foot down, hooning, cruising, CD on, CD off, you will love it. The bills, though... I put mine up for sale last year (started a new business) and a head gasket blew on a test drive with a punter; bill for two new heads, radiator etc... Left it with the garage to sell and the gearbox lost reverse on the next test drive... another monster bill. (They got a new one from Bentley in a crate "because the gearboxes hardly ever go, so the factory are selling them cheap"). I got offered £8k for it shortly afterwards and thought- great, what can I buy with £8k- I know, a Turbo R.... so I've still got it.
You will discover that you always get to go first at roundabouts. I've never worked out if that's because people think you're an arrogant b*****d and are going to go anyway, or they're terrified what would happen if they got hit by it. So you end up just going and everyone thinks you're an arrogant b*****d. Mainly, though, my tree-hugging neighbours HATE it, which is fun in its own right. 13/4 mpg, by the way, but as you will have gathered, that's incidental. My kids love it, my wife hates it (never driven it in 4 years) except, funnily enough, on the odd occasion when only the Bentley will do. Enjoy it, get out and use it - they are rare things and we need to fly the flag.... Good luck!
You will discover that you always get to go first at roundabouts. I've never worked out if that's because people think you're an arrogant b*****d and are going to go anyway, or they're terrified what would happen if they got hit by it. So you end up just going and everyone thinks you're an arrogant b*****d. Mainly, though, my tree-hugging neighbours HATE it, which is fun in its own right. 13/4 mpg, by the way, but as you will have gathered, that's incidental. My kids love it, my wife hates it (never driven it in 4 years) except, funnily enough, on the odd occasion when only the Bentley will do. Enjoy it, get out and use it - they are rare things and we need to fly the flag.... Good luck!
Bravo!I bought my '96 Turbo R last winter & fulfilled a lifelong dream. It needed a good tidy-up & valet, so I spent the winter months thoroughly doing up the interior so it's like new inside now.
Then in the spring the head gaskets gave up the struggle for life, so I spent a fun-packed 3 weeks under the bonnet stripping down the engine top-end. Pretty much every tool I've accumulated over the past 25 years of spannering was used at some point in this massive job, although I only spent around £300 for all the essential gaskets & fluids.
Then summer arrived & the air-con wasn't working. I started to put the R134a in very slowly but heard it hissing out the front. Yep, condenser holed so had to see how to fix that without going bankrupt. The proper Bentley part was a silly sum, so after some measurements with a ruler I fabricated my own double-row condensor using 2 Rover 45 condensors for the princely sum of £90! Took a couple of days to fit it to the Bentley & connect everything up, evacuate the system & fill with R134a etc-but it's worked fine over summer and blows crisp, cold air that leave condensation on the metal facia eyeball vents
Took it for it's MOT last week-went to Halfords as they were doing half-price MOT's. Had to have a bulb replaced but other than that it was fine with no big advisories-just a couple of little things. Cost for the MOT & bulb was £31!
These are wonderful cars & more a way of life than mere transport-for all the bruised fingers & skinned knuckles, the hours spent under the bonnet from dusk 'till dawn, the fear & dread of giving it to the MOT tester-I wouldn't part with it for all the new Bentleys in China
They do need constant attention & use though-sitting idle causes more harm than regular use. Parts can be expensive so you have to be selective & precise when diagnosing faults-you can't just replace bits until the fault is cured otherwise you'll be bankrupt, homeless & living in a cardboard box under the railway arches-although you could live in the Bentley's boot as it's large & carpeted!
These cars need time & patience to look after-they're not that hard to work on as the engineering is fairly simple-just big & there's lot's of it! Most garage bills seem to be 70% labour/30% parts, so you can save a royal packet by spannering yourself. Just allow lots of time for doing the jobs & plod along at a leisurely pace.
Having a copy of the Bentley Assist CD is also essential for any DIY work as the exploded parts catalogues give you a good idea how everything fits together.
I came to the conclusion that you need to fit into one of the following 3 categories for successful Bentley ownership-you need to be either:-
1) Loaded with dosh
2) Good with spanners & have lots of them
3) One of life's 'lucky' people, who always wins bets & generally always come up smelling of roses
Other than that, welcome to Bentley ownership & the more you use it, the better it gets
Then in the spring the head gaskets gave up the struggle for life, so I spent a fun-packed 3 weeks under the bonnet stripping down the engine top-end. Pretty much every tool I've accumulated over the past 25 years of spannering was used at some point in this massive job, although I only spent around £300 for all the essential gaskets & fluids.
Then summer arrived & the air-con wasn't working. I started to put the R134a in very slowly but heard it hissing out the front. Yep, condenser holed so had to see how to fix that without going bankrupt. The proper Bentley part was a silly sum, so after some measurements with a ruler I fabricated my own double-row condensor using 2 Rover 45 condensors for the princely sum of £90! Took a couple of days to fit it to the Bentley & connect everything up, evacuate the system & fill with R134a etc-but it's worked fine over summer and blows crisp, cold air that leave condensation on the metal facia eyeball vents
Took it for it's MOT last week-went to Halfords as they were doing half-price MOT's. Had to have a bulb replaced but other than that it was fine with no big advisories-just a couple of little things. Cost for the MOT & bulb was £31!
These are wonderful cars & more a way of life than mere transport-for all the bruised fingers & skinned knuckles, the hours spent under the bonnet from dusk 'till dawn, the fear & dread of giving it to the MOT tester-I wouldn't part with it for all the new Bentleys in China
They do need constant attention & use though-sitting idle causes more harm than regular use. Parts can be expensive so you have to be selective & precise when diagnosing faults-you can't just replace bits until the fault is cured otherwise you'll be bankrupt, homeless & living in a cardboard box under the railway arches-although you could live in the Bentley's boot as it's large & carpeted!
These cars need time & patience to look after-they're not that hard to work on as the engineering is fairly simple-just big & there's lot's of it! Most garage bills seem to be 70% labour/30% parts, so you can save a royal packet by spannering yourself. Just allow lots of time for doing the jobs & plod along at a leisurely pace.
Having a copy of the Bentley Assist CD is also essential for any DIY work as the exploded parts catalogues give you a good idea how everything fits together.
I came to the conclusion that you need to fit into one of the following 3 categories for successful Bentley ownership-you need to be either:-
1) Loaded with dosh
2) Good with spanners & have lots of them
3) One of life's 'lucky' people, who always wins bets & generally always come up smelling of roses
Other than that, welcome to Bentley ownership & the more you use it, the better it gets
bqf said:
I've just bought a 1989 Bentley Turbo R, unseen, from an auction. For £3,600.
Am I about to be ruined? I understand it's just had £4,000 of brake work done, which sounds like a lot - are all the parts catastrophically expensive? I run an E55 AMG as my daily and I thought that was expensive to run!
I look forward to sharing my tales of extreme wallet-lightening with you all!
This one? http://classiccars.brightwells.com/images/lots/tn_...Am I about to be ruined? I understand it's just had £4,000 of brake work done, which sounds like a lot - are all the parts catastrophically expensive? I run an E55 AMG as my daily and I thought that was expensive to run!
I look forward to sharing my tales of extreme wallet-lightening with you all!
Looks nice...hope you're enjoying it!
Andy
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