£22k Bentley Continental GT - running costs?

£22k Bentley Continental GT - running costs?

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Discussion

Jasandjules

69,825 posts

228 months

Wednesday 23rd May 2012
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Grey Ghost said:
A guy I work with has one and it is maintained by a Bentley dealer. He budgets an absolute minimum of £1200 per year for the service and a few minor issues they may find that he always has done.
TVR Chimaera tends to be about that..... Sometimes a little less, sometimes a little more...

The Moose

22,821 posts

208 months

Wednesday 23rd May 2012
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There's a good mobile Bentley indi my dad uses for his GTC. If you want the chaps number for an idea of servicing costs from someone who actually knows what they're talking about as opposed to internet hearsay, drop me a PM.

They're cracking cars - I think you'd be mad not to based no what you've said!

sturrick

Original Poster:

7 posts

142 months

Wednesday 23rd May 2012
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Those saying i should check the receipts : i haven't seen the car yet as it's not been taken in the customer was buying a Land Cruiser and it is due to be by Saturday so i have no way of knowing the costs of that particular car. My Uncle (who owns the garage) just said in passing that this GT will be in and they were going to underwrite it to trade or even put it through at auction, when he then said i if i wanted it he could hold it back.

The guy that said on here on first page about a bulb changing needing a £1k bill is the sort of thing i'm scared of even if that isn't true or not, its the sort of thing. I do have a back up fund but not sure if it should be diminished on something like this, but at the end of the day you only live once and i'm lucky to be getting it for trade money - i believe the retail price is nearly £30k!

Things like 911s and the like dont really float my boat i'd rather a nice cruiser than a sports car TBH. My previous car was a Mercedes CLK.

Sod it, i'm going for it. Unless anyone can talk me out of it. Haha!

anonymous-user

53 months

Wednesday 23rd May 2012
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First and foremost I'd be heavily suspicious of being offered a 'bargain' GT out of the blue. At £22k a 04/05 car screams 'Corroded slice loom' for me, and that job will lighten nearly 5 figures from your bank balance without much issue as the entire car's interior needs to be gutted and the HVAC system removed for the repair.

Running costs themselves wouldn't worry me too much, its simply the risk involved if/when something goes wrong. For example loads of jobs require the engine to come out which is about £4k at main dealer pirces before anything has actually been repaired. If their is a TPM light on the dash you can bet the sensors have no battery life left, and if they don't you can bet you're going to need the later type control module which is going to take four figures from your wallet. And there's no way to 'turn off' the system either.

My advice would be to get someone who knows their stuff to check it out before parting with any money. I've easily managed to write up £15k worth of extras on 04 GTs with less than half the mileage through a combination of common faults and work being put off over the years.

Chicane-UK

3,861 posts

184 months

Wednesday 23rd May 2012
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Awesome. Keep us posted, OP! I look forward to hearing about your experiences of this car! smile

Chad_Hugo

649 posts

177 months

Wednesday 23rd May 2012
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Unlike most on here I have always had a soft spot for the Continental GT, however a 04 car with 115 k miles on the clock is not something I would consider, even at £22,000.

Firstly, considering the miles, and the fact that you would do 10k miles a year, it's not that great a deal. 04 cars with very high miles like 85k-90k are listed at around or just under £30,000. This car, with 115k miles and a hideous (sorry but it is) blue interior would never sell for 30k.

It would list at under 30k, and would sell for 4k-5k under list price anyway, so in reality your not really getting that much of a special price. This is even more valid if the car does not have an absolutely top spec- does it have tv, keyless entry/go, cooling/massage seats, phone?

If not then it becomes an even worse buy.

Depending on how many years you keep it for,if your doing 10k miles a year it could also become extremely hard to sell unless your prepared to give it away.

The 8K total ownership cost, excluding depreciation should not be ignored. You could spend half of that on petrol! It's also wise to not budget for any less than 1500 per service, although you should have at least 3k-4k put aside in case there is a real problem. If there is anything that required attention other than routine work it does not take much to get a 2k bill from Bentley, on top of the usual service charge.

Don't let people on here mislead you, these are very expensive cars to maintain, especially as they get older.








AndrewW-G

11,968 posts

216 months

Wednesday 23rd May 2012
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Post the same question in the Rolls Royce and Bentley section, plenty of owners who can give you real world examples of servicing cost smile

bull996

1,442 posts

208 months

Wednesday 23rd May 2012
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Brake pads on e-bay £26.94. Bargain.


sturobturbo

5,746 posts

145 months

Wednesday 23rd May 2012
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AndrewW-G said:
Post the same question in the Rolls Royce and Bentley section, plenty of owners who can give you real world examples of servicing cost smile
Best post yet.

anonymous-user

53 months

Wednesday 23rd May 2012
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agree with the last post, seek advice from those who have or do own the car.
However in my rather pointless opinion I would look at this car from the angle that there really is no point at all in going for a Bentley or VW dealer service ( I understood that if a dealer serviced Phaetons then they could do Gt's??, probably wrong smile)
You have a car that at 100k plus miles is way past the point of investment or holding any kind of value, its simply down to good maintenance to avoid big bills and enjoy one hell of a lot of car.
I think you are in the same area as owning an old Rolls, you know it could cripple your wallet, you know you wont make anything on a sale but its a fantastic opportunity to own something that, when new, you would never ever own.
Seek the advice of the "indi" boys and go for it!!

300bhp/ton

41,030 posts

189 months

Thursday 24th May 2012
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Chad_Hugo said:
It's also wise to not budget for any less than 1500 per service, although you should have at least 3k-4k put aside in case there is a real problem.
An honest question - but why?

I mean what exactly would £1500 for a service get you? Is a normal service not just a fluid and some filter changes and a cursory glance at tyres, lights and so forth.

And unless really unlucky what really costs £3-4k to fix unless it's a replacement engine????

This as you said is a £22k car - it'll never every be worth £50k+ and chances are it'll only continue to depreciate for the foreseeable future, likely to even the sub £10k bracket. There simply is no point throwing money away paying over the odds when it offers no return. If this was a classic with a stable or appreciating value then it'd be different, but it isn't.



Chad_Hugo said:
If there is anything that required attention other than routine work it does not take much to get a 2k bill from Bentley
How mad would you have to be to take a £22k GT to a Bentley main dealer? confused

jdw1234

6,021 posts

214 months

Thursday 24th May 2012
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Just do basic maintenance and run it into the ground.

Posh bangernomics!!

You could Ratlook it and the VDub crowd would worship you like their king.



Cemesis

771 posts

161 months

Thursday 24th May 2012
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Judging from the responses here, its not going to be that bad. Find out how much 4 tyres would be (good ones, like Michelin's) as at 10k a year I'd expect you to go through most of one set (its a very heavy car and I'm comparing it to an M5). Get the average mpg from the car and work out the fuel costs for your 10k and add in a service.

If these figures are OK to you then you should be fine. At 10k a year though you'll be looking at £4k in fuel though (and I'd suggest Super unleaded)

Daniel1

2,931 posts

197 months

Thursday 24th May 2012
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The servicing is quite cheap to be honest. What scares me with these type of cars are the perishable specialist items. Stuff like turbo and radiator hoses, thermostats, etc. Take it for it's mot and it needs a balljoint, some bushes and the brake lines are corroded and need replacing.... Crikey eek

300bhp/ton

41,030 posts

189 months

Thursday 24th May 2012
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[redacted]

honest_delboy

1,498 posts

199 months

Thursday 24th May 2012
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jdw1234 said:
You could Ratlook it and the VDub crowd would worship you like their king.
^^^^ This

300bhp/ton

41,030 posts

189 months

Thursday 24th May 2012
quotequote all
Daniel1 said:
The servicing is quite cheap to be honest. What scares me with these type of cars are the perishable specialist items. Stuff like turbo and radiator hoses, thermostats, etc. Take it for it's mot and it needs a balljoint, some bushes and the brake lines are corroded and need replacing.... Crikey eek
Are the balljoints unique to Bentley or are they common to other VAG products?

Can you buy aftermarket bushes? I reckon there are options at least: http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/performance/bushes-b...

Brake lines, well you can buy new generic lines and get any garage to fit them. Don't see how or why this would be any more costly than it would be to replace brake lines on a 1995 Land Rover Discovery.

anonymous-user

53 months

Thursday 24th May 2012
quotequote all
300bhp/ton said:
Chad_Hugo said:
It's also wise to not budget for any less than 1500 per service, although you should have at least 3k-4k put aside in case there is a real problem.
An honest question - but why?

I mean what exactly would £1500 for a service get you? Is a normal service not just a fluid and some filter changes and a cursory glance at tyres, lights and so forth.

And unless really unlucky what really costs £3-4k to fix unless it's a replacement engine????

This as you said is a £22k car - it'll never every be worth £50k+ and chances are it'll only continue to depreciate for the foreseeable future, likely to even the sub £10k bracket. There simply is no point throwing money away paying over the odds when it offers no return. If this was a classic with a stable or appreciating value then it'd be different, but it isn't.



Chad_Hugo said:
If there is anything that required attention other than routine work it does not take much to get a 2k bill from Bentley
How mad would you have to be to take a £22k GT to a Bentley main dealer? confused
Don't the words 'high mileage' and 'Bentley' say it all? Of course it's going to cost a packet to run!

anonymous-user

53 months

Thursday 24th May 2012
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300bhp/ton said:
With a car like this I feel you have to be somewhat pragmatic and thus make it as expensive or as cheap as you like. If you want to keep it perfect and only use main dealers or expensive specialists then it'll cost you and you won't see the return come sale time (it's not going to appreciate as an asset).
But getting it serviced at a back street garage who wouldn't have a vaguest clue about the cars and running it around with numerous faults kind of defeats the object of owning such a car, does it not? If you're happy to spend £22,000 plus fuel, plus whatever goes wrong that actually disables the car on something that is a bit broken (well, in the sense that it could quite realistically take another 5 figures worth of work to bring it up to standard electrically and mechanically) just so that you can say you own a Bentley then rock on. I'd personally rather put the money into a car that I could afford to run correctly.

I'm all for saving money where possible, but this isn't really like putting a set of part worns on a bargain barge as opposed to spending a fraction of the car's value on new PZeros. You're pretty much advocating ignoring all non essential faults on a £22k motor, which even if I didn't have the experience I do with these cars think is a bit pointless.


300bhp/ton

41,030 posts

189 months

Thursday 24th May 2012
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St John Smythe said:
Don't the words 'high mileage' and 'Bentley' say it all? Of course it's going to cost a packet to run!
How and why? Do they run on dilithium crystals or something?