Regular Mulsanne or Speed - Honest advice please?
Discussion
I wasn't on the original thread but I bought my 2017 Mulsanne Speed new last August and have since racked up over 11,000 miles in that time. It has been incredibly reliable and has gone back to the dealer for some loose trim and it's first 10,000 mile service. It gets used most days (especially with baby duty) and have taken it on several spirited drives and even a track day (where it performed surprisingly well for such a heavy/large car). We replaced our 2016 Rapide S with it - while I loved the Rapide (styling, noise, feel-good), we were about to have our first baby and it made more sense to have something that had more room and could accommodate all of the baby stuff as well as our dog - and we got an extremely good deal on the Mulsanne so just had to do it. Our spec is Anthracite with Cognac interior. The way I looked at it, the deal we got on it pays for the first year and a half of depreciation and I'm planning on keeping this car indefinitely. I always said I would never buy a Bentley because of the age perception (I was 33 at the time, now 34), but after driving one of these it completely changes your perception and you really just don't care because the car is so good. I tried it back to back with a Ghost, and the Ghost was too similar to a BMW, didn't feel as well-built or special, the Ghost is definitely flashier, and I really didn't see the value prop of one vs. the Mulsanne.
mirage5512 said:
Lovely car and nice pics too. How long does it take to drive to Vegas from San Francisco as I've always wanted to do that trip?
My car is actually anthracite with all black interior, sounds a bit boring but its not if you know what I mean.
Thanks! I've actually done that drive, and it took ~9 hours (including gas stops, but not much else). I think it's tough or impossible to get a boring interior with a Mulsanne!My car is actually anthracite with all black interior, sounds a bit boring but its not if you know what I mean.
I still have my 2007 Arnage.
There is a cost to storing them outdoors: corrosion around the license plate frame and some paint bubbling on the sunroof. It also needs 4 new discs & pads, a couple of new tyres, and a couple of sensors replaced (door, rear proximity and a wheel speed sensor). Looking at north of £10K all told.
Then again my Vanquish just tallied up a similar figure, and it lives inside. (Wishbones, tyres, window trim strips, coolant sensor, brake fluid reservoir, coils and plugs.)
Just for comparison my 1968 Land Rover Series IIa needed a new distributor cap, rotor and coil, and I treated it to a Magnetronic ignition module. About £200.
There is a cost to storing them outdoors: corrosion around the license plate frame and some paint bubbling on the sunroof. It also needs 4 new discs & pads, a couple of new tyres, and a couple of sensors replaced (door, rear proximity and a wheel speed sensor). Looking at north of £10K all told.
Then again my Vanquish just tallied up a similar figure, and it lives inside. (Wishbones, tyres, window trim strips, coolant sensor, brake fluid reservoir, coils and plugs.)
Just for comparison my 1968 Land Rover Series IIa needed a new distributor cap, rotor and coil, and I treated it to a Magnetronic ignition module. About £200.
I bought my Bentley Mulsanne Speed brand new in April 2016, like others I got a great deal, then went on to sell it in October 2017.
During my 18 months of ownership I thoroughly enjoyed the car, using it regularly with several trips to Scotland (from Yorkshire) and a trip to the South of France thrown in, covering a total of 9,800 miles.
So why did I sell it? - Well, for one I found myself driving this car far too fast and far too often, this is a very deceptive powerful car!
If you drive a Ferrari at 100mph you know about it, you have to hold on for dear life and it takes a lot of concentration..... Drive at 100mph in a Mulsanne and it feels like you're travelling at 55mph!
I hurried back from Scotland one day and later that evening reflected on my journey, or more importantly the speed at which I travelled back, next day I sold it!
Also, some days I found myself preferring the driving position in my old 4.4 V8 Petrol Range Rover which we keep for the dogs (worth about £10k), so I decided to order a 2018, 5.0 Supercharged Range Rover Autobiography (a 9 month delivery date resulted in me cancelling the order but that's another story).
In terms of reliability, I never had any issues with lumpy acceleration - The car was pretty good, one or two minor issues, such as misting front side lights after washing or heavy rainfall (although this tended to clear quite quickly). Also the front wing, lower metal trim with the word "Speed" written on it fell off and had to be replaced.
The only real major issue I had was a ticking noise coming from the front O/S wheel. It sounded like a small stone stuck in the tyre but it wasn't - It took several months and several trips back to the Bentley main dealer and a visit from factory technicians to rectify. The solution was some kind of recalibration - Something to do with the wheels rotation..... I didn't really understand it if I'm honest.
All that said, I do really miss the Mulsanne and regularly find myself looking through the classifieds and Bentley Pre Owned for another, that or something else special.
I'm now considering either a Rolls Royce Wraith, or a 2017 Mulsanne Speed........ It's a real dilemma, for the following reasons:
I recently had a couple of days away with Rolls Royce, driving their full range of cars. The Wraith is much quieter than the Mulsanne at low speeds, a benefit which is even more noticable when under acceleration, something I really missed in the Mulsanne - The Mulsanne is not a quiet car, in fact it actually sounds like a freight train when under acceleration.
That said, the build quality and materials used in a Mulsanne are truly exceptional - Equally as good, if not better than the flagship R/R Phantom in my opinion! - Also, the Wraith feels nowhere near as planted to the ground at higher speeds as the Mulsanne.
So do I go for the Wraith, offering silence while on the move, good materials and build quality, or another Mulsanne slightly noisier but every component made from the very finest materials?
By the way NTLR - Your car looks stunning! - Any interior shots?
During my 18 months of ownership I thoroughly enjoyed the car, using it regularly with several trips to Scotland (from Yorkshire) and a trip to the South of France thrown in, covering a total of 9,800 miles.
So why did I sell it? - Well, for one I found myself driving this car far too fast and far too often, this is a very deceptive powerful car!
If you drive a Ferrari at 100mph you know about it, you have to hold on for dear life and it takes a lot of concentration..... Drive at 100mph in a Mulsanne and it feels like you're travelling at 55mph!
I hurried back from Scotland one day and later that evening reflected on my journey, or more importantly the speed at which I travelled back, next day I sold it!
Also, some days I found myself preferring the driving position in my old 4.4 V8 Petrol Range Rover which we keep for the dogs (worth about £10k), so I decided to order a 2018, 5.0 Supercharged Range Rover Autobiography (a 9 month delivery date resulted in me cancelling the order but that's another story).
In terms of reliability, I never had any issues with lumpy acceleration - The car was pretty good, one or two minor issues, such as misting front side lights after washing or heavy rainfall (although this tended to clear quite quickly). Also the front wing, lower metal trim with the word "Speed" written on it fell off and had to be replaced.
The only real major issue I had was a ticking noise coming from the front O/S wheel. It sounded like a small stone stuck in the tyre but it wasn't - It took several months and several trips back to the Bentley main dealer and a visit from factory technicians to rectify. The solution was some kind of recalibration - Something to do with the wheels rotation..... I didn't really understand it if I'm honest.
All that said, I do really miss the Mulsanne and regularly find myself looking through the classifieds and Bentley Pre Owned for another, that or something else special.
I'm now considering either a Rolls Royce Wraith, or a 2017 Mulsanne Speed........ It's a real dilemma, for the following reasons:
I recently had a couple of days away with Rolls Royce, driving their full range of cars. The Wraith is much quieter than the Mulsanne at low speeds, a benefit which is even more noticable when under acceleration, something I really missed in the Mulsanne - The Mulsanne is not a quiet car, in fact it actually sounds like a freight train when under acceleration.
That said, the build quality and materials used in a Mulsanne are truly exceptional - Equally as good, if not better than the flagship R/R Phantom in my opinion! - Also, the Wraith feels nowhere near as planted to the ground at higher speeds as the Mulsanne.
So do I go for the Wraith, offering silence while on the move, good materials and build quality, or another Mulsanne slightly noisier but every component made from the very finest materials?
By the way NTLR - Your car looks stunning! - Any interior shots?
Edited by Mulsanne-Speed on Sunday 29th July 11:07
I really like that ntlr, very elegant...... It's lovely to see leather in that colour, ties in really nice with the wood.
More importantly, I'm loving the pooch, that's a beautiful face, a Borzoi I think? - Quite a rare dog here in the UK!
We're big dog people in our house, although I'd better not let my wife see that photo, she seems to think it's OK for our dogs to travel in any of our cars, although I fear for the leather seats.
We have two Pyrenean Mountain Dogs (or Great Pyrenees as they're known in the U.S.), one is 70kg, the other 50kg, so I try an avoid them climbing in to anything nice - They do at least have their very own, old 4.4 V8 Petrol Range Rover though.
To give you some idea of the size, the second photo shows our larger dog making friends with a cow..... You don't want two of these in the back of your Mulsanne!
More importantly, I'm loving the pooch, that's a beautiful face, a Borzoi I think? - Quite a rare dog here in the UK!
We're big dog people in our house, although I'd better not let my wife see that photo, she seems to think it's OK for our dogs to travel in any of our cars, although I fear for the leather seats.
We have two Pyrenean Mountain Dogs (or Great Pyrenees as they're known in the U.S.), one is 70kg, the other 50kg, so I try an avoid them climbing in to anything nice - They do at least have their very own, old 4.4 V8 Petrol Range Rover though.
To give you some idea of the size, the second photo shows our larger dog making friends with a cow..... You don't want two of these in the back of your Mulsanne!
Edited by Mulsanne-Speed on Thursday 2nd August 18:42
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