£22k Bentley Continental GT - running costs?
Discussion
300bhp/ton said:
No offense but how rich or dumb do you have to be to pay way over to top for a serivce kit at includes wipers and hose clips??? 
what the f
k are they charging you, £20/clip or something.
Hell pop down to Halfords for those items. Clips will cost a couple of quid (and likely don't need replacing anyhow
) And I be you could buy wipers for £8-12 a pair if you actually tried.
Your link above is a PRIME PRIME example of Bentley tax and paying way over the odds for cheap easy to attain items.
Why dont you wobble off and get alternative prices for a service kit, containing the same quality parts . . . . what the fk are they charging you, £20/clip or something.Hell pop down to Halfords for those items. Clips will cost a couple of quid (and likely don't need replacing anyhow
) And I be you could buy wipers for £8-12 a pair if you actually tried.Your link above is a PRIME PRIME example of Bentley tax and paying way over the odds for cheap easy to attain items.
AndrewW-G said:
Stop talking nonsense, do you even know how much oil these cars use? . . . . .I'll give you a clue, you'll struggle to even buy the oil for £60.
You £500+ oil change, is actually
Oil approx.. 10-12L Mobile one - £70
Filter - £20
Labour 1 hour @ specialist rate - £60 Inc. VAT
Cost to change just the oil = £150
And that’s without any of the other tasks that need to be done, even with a minor 10k service
If you are going to run a car like this buy the oil by the barrel and it'll be way cheaper than £70 for 10 litres. Also what other oils can you use? So long as it's a quality oil of the correct grade it'll be fine, you don't need to be tied into a brand.You £500+ oil change, is actually
Oil approx.. 10-12L Mobile one - £70
Filter - £20
Labour 1 hour @ specialist rate - £60 Inc. VAT
Cost to change just the oil = £150
And that’s without any of the other tasks that need to be done, even with a minor 10k service
I've already seen an oil filter £12.90 that you pointed me at earlier
It shouldn't take anywhere near an hour to change the oil!!! If you can't be bothered yourself to do it, find someone who'll charge £20-25 labour or under to do it. (if moneys not an issue then neither of these things matter).
Who said anything about a 10k service??? I said oil change.
BTW what exactly does an annual service actually consist of? Do you have a check list?
Muncher said:
I used to work in a Bentley dealer parts and aervice department. Some of the prices are eye wateringly expensive. There are an awful lot of mechanical and electrical systems in there which if they fail will either cost a lot of replace, or cost a lot to diagnose as there are numerous ECUs and control systems. Only a specialist or a dealer will be able to do anything with them.
I don't know the parts, but are any of them common with other VAG products? I say this, because often a part will have multiple prices depending on how you order them.A classic one I know of is a Range Rover and Discovery door mirror (classic RR and Disco 1). When the in the mid 1990's if you order the Range Rover mirror it was double the cost of ordering a Discovery mirror at the same parts counter in the same dealer. It's the exact same mirror in both cases!!
Another example, a Jaguar 5.3 XJ-S V12 uses a TR7 air box and air filter. Buying an air filter for the Jag from a Jag specialist is vastly more expensive than buying the same filter from the Triumph specialist.
300bhp/ton said:
AndrewW-G said:
Stop talking nonsense, do you even know how much oil these cars use? . . . . .I'll give you a clue, you'll struggle to even buy the oil for £60.
You £500+ oil change, is actually
Oil approx.. 10-12L Mobile one - £70
Filter - £20
Labour 1 hour @ specialist rate - £60 Inc. VAT
Cost to change just the oil = £150
And that’s without any of the other tasks that need to be done, even with a minor 10k service
If you are going to run a car like this buy the oil by the barrel and it'll be way cheaper than £70 for 10 litres. Also what other oils can you use? So long as it's a quality oil of the correct grade it'll be fine, you don't need to be tied into a brand.You £500+ oil change, is actually
Oil approx.. 10-12L Mobile one - £70
Filter - £20
Labour 1 hour @ specialist rate - £60 Inc. VAT
Cost to change just the oil = £150
And that’s without any of the other tasks that need to be done, even with a minor 10k service
I've already seen an oil filter £12.90 that you pointed me at earlier
It shouldn't take anywhere near an hour to change the oil!!! If you can't be bothered yourself to do it, find someone who'll charge £20-25 labour or under to do it. (if moneys not an issue then neither of these things matter).
Who said anything about a 10k service??? I said oil change.
BTW what exactly does an annual service actually consist of? Do you have a check list?
St John Smythe said:
Buying a barrel of oil? Seriously 300, this must be a wind up?
Nope, done it before and will do it again. Just buy through the trade and its a heck of a lot cheaper. If you have a garage or workshop a single barrel and pump is no issue to store. Failing that just buy as/when you need, but don't pay retail. Either get a trade card @ Halfords, a CAS account or chat up a local mechanic to buy it for you and pay the cost price.Of course if money isn't an issue this isn't a problem. But if you want to run an 'expensive' car on a budget you have to be a little be savvy about doing it.
Not in the same league, but did an oil and filter change on my brothers Land Rover two weekends back. Ok we spent 20-30 mins on it and got a bit grubby. But it cost £10 to do. I think that represents a good saving.
AndrewW-G said:
Why dont you wobble off and get alternative prices for a service kit, containing the same quality parts . . . .
Ok, so who actually makes the rubber for the wipers and the hose clips? Can you explain to me how they are so high quality and the return I should expect by using them and paying £400 to get them?Is the air filter unique to the GT or is the same air filter used on any other VAG products? If these are truly bespoke, then you either have to sucker up the price or see if you can adapt to a cheaper or reusable filter instead. Even if you want to keep the originals to put back on come re-sale time. All an air filter needs to do is filter and flow sufficiently, it doesn't need programming or do anything complex.
300bhp/ton said:
AndrewW-G said:
Why dont you wobble off and get alternative prices for a service kit, containing the same quality parts . . . .
Ok, so who actually makes the rubber for the wipers and the hose clips? As per prevous post, go away and find out what is involved in servicing one of these cars and report back on the cost using OEM or equivilant parts
Edited by AndrewW-G on Thursday 24th May 11:37
For running cost information:
Check relevent section
Find good specialist near you
Phone specialist for prices of servicing, etc. Ask him his thoughts on car.
Weigh up pros and cons and then pull the trigger.
Personally, I'd probably go for it if I had the disposable. At £22k you should make most of the outlay back. I'd view it as a short term buy though and not do anything really yourself on it; if I were chucking £20k+ at a Bentley (which should still be it's value in 6-12 months) then I'd want provinence. With that in mind I'd be tempted to to spunk out for a pukka franchise service - you'd make it make in resale
Check relevent section
Find good specialist near you
Phone specialist for prices of servicing, etc. Ask him his thoughts on car.
Weigh up pros and cons and then pull the trigger.
Personally, I'd probably go for it if I had the disposable. At £22k you should make most of the outlay back. I'd view it as a short term buy though and not do anything really yourself on it; if I were chucking £20k+ at a Bentley (which should still be it's value in 6-12 months) then I'd want provinence. With that in mind I'd be tempted to to spunk out for a pukka franchise service - you'd make it make in resale
Back to the OP's original question
Yes, it will be expensive. Tyres, brakes, fuel....all obvious, all expensive. Insurance will not be cheap, but it's a known price. Servicing is known and not cheap, but no worse than, say, a top end Audi. Find a good specialist and you'll be fine.
However, drive it for three or four years, put another 40k miles on it, and you WILL have something major happen. I don't know what it will be (though the tyre pressure sensors are a known example of things that fail/wear out, which are expensive, and for which there's no pattern/cheap parts available), and you can bet your life that there might well be several of these at £1000-2000 each. You've also got to reckon that the £23k car now will be a £10k car in 3-4 years, so that's another few thousand a year in overall costs.
If you can afford that, have checked the car thoroughly, and like the spec/price of the Bentley, then why not? They're lovely places to be, though for the life of me I'd not have one. Too big, too thirsty, too impractical, and with a slightly unfortunate image.
Yes, it will be expensive. Tyres, brakes, fuel....all obvious, all expensive. Insurance will not be cheap, but it's a known price. Servicing is known and not cheap, but no worse than, say, a top end Audi. Find a good specialist and you'll be fine.
However, drive it for three or four years, put another 40k miles on it, and you WILL have something major happen. I don't know what it will be (though the tyre pressure sensors are a known example of things that fail/wear out, which are expensive, and for which there's no pattern/cheap parts available), and you can bet your life that there might well be several of these at £1000-2000 each. You've also got to reckon that the £23k car now will be a £10k car in 3-4 years, so that's another few thousand a year in overall costs.
If you can afford that, have checked the car thoroughly, and like the spec/price of the Bentley, then why not? They're lovely places to be, though for the life of me I'd not have one. Too big, too thirsty, too impractical, and with a slightly unfortunate image.
I know nothing about Bentleys, but I know that a >100k car costs a helluva lot more to service and maintain than a 20k car, even when it has gone below 20k.
What I would be worried about is not so much the servicing, it can be done on the cheap, but theunexpected bang when a turbo or any other mechanical part goes, or that Tuesday morning when you go to start it and nothing happens due to some electrical fault caused by a random loose connector or fried electronics unit.
What I would be worried about is not so much the servicing, it can be done on the cheap, but the
AndrewW-G said:
300bhp/ton said:
AndrewW-G said:
Why dont you wobble off and get alternative prices for a service kit, containing the same quality parts . . . .
Ok, so who actually makes the rubber for the wipers and the hose clips? As per prevous post, go away and find out what is involved in servicing one of these cars and report back on the cost using OEM or equivilant parts
Edited by AndrewW-G on Thursday 24th May 11:37
So again, tell me what are
-the bespoke parts?
-what are common failures?
-what parts are shared with other VAG models (even if a different part no)?
300bhp/ton said:
AndrewW-G said:
300bhp/ton said:
AndrewW-G said:
Why dont you wobble off and get alternative prices for a service kit, containing the same quality parts . . . .
Ok, so who actually makes the rubber for the wipers and the hose clips? As per prevous post, go away and find out what is involved in servicing one of these cars and report back on the cost using OEM or equivilant parts
Edited by AndrewW-G on Thursday 24th May 11:37
So again, tell me what are
-the bespoke parts?
-what are common failures?
-what parts are shared with other VAG models (even if a different part no)?
You have already stated that a Bentley CGT can be serviced using off the shelf generic parts for a fraction of the cost.
You are now stating that you have no practical knowledge of this, and don't even know what is required both in materials and technical effort, to service a CGT.
Do some research and you'll find out that if you have a ramp and all the tools, you still can't change the oil on a CGT for £60 using OEM parts . . . . Even if you do have a barrel full of the relevant spec oil and a Halfords discount card!
Not rocket science, the VW bits will be reasonably-priced and everything with a Bentley part number will cost a fortune. Might not be a huge issue if you can find one being broken, but a headlamp is over £1k for example.
There's obviously a huge amount shared (some early Spurs were built in Germany on the Phaeton line) but you'd be mad to think it won't cost a fortune to fix at some point.
There's obviously a huge amount shared (some early Spurs were built in Germany on the Phaeton line) but you'd be mad to think it won't cost a fortune to fix at some point.
Finlandia said:
I know nothing about Bentleys, but I know that a >100k car costs a helluva lot more to service and maintain than a 20k car, even when it has gone below 20k.
What I would be worried about is not so much the servicing, it can be done on the cheap, but theunexpected bang when a turbo or any other mechanical part goes, or that Tuesday morning when you go to start it and nothing happens due to some electrical fault caused by a random loose connector or fried electronics unit.
That is a risk yes. But one many people run with far more mundane cars that could still break to bank to sort. Again how much would an out of warrant M3 (or 335i) cost to repair if the motor/turbo went tits up?What I would be worried about is not so much the servicing, it can be done on the cheap, but the
Also the original price doesn't always reflect fully the scope of changes. You pay partly for the badge and exclusivity.
Aston Martin took the Jaguar XJ-S, re-skinned it, tarted the interior up and made a few minor changes. Yet still used Ford parts bin switch gear. They then sold it for double the money. A lovely car, but mechanically just Ford/Jaguar.
AndrewW-G said:
So let me get this straight:
What that you are making stuff up and claiming I said things I did not... AndrewW-G said:
You have already stated that a Bentley CGT can be serviced using off the shelf generic parts for a fraction of the cost.
Nope I didn't. I said oil change and SOME parts. And mostly on the labour side.............. is this really so difficult to understand?AndrewW-G said:
You are now stating that you have no practical knowledge of this, and don't even know what is required both in materials and technical effort, to service a CGT.
I asked you do you have a check list - you have completely failed in supplying.AndrewW-G said:
Do some research
I keep trying, yet only seem to get stone walled from you. Logically this means you either don't know, or know the answer will prove you wrong.AndrewW-G said:
and you'll find out that if you have a ramp and all the tools, you still can't change the oil on a CGT for £60 using OEM parts . . . . Even if you do have a barrel full of the relevant spec oil and a Halfords discount card!
Ok then - tech me!!!What exactly do you need to do to change the oil on one. And again why must it be OEM parts????????
if someone wants to run any car on a budget any quality part is fine, no need to over pay just because it comes in a different box.But hay, I'm willing to bet you'll fail to answer these questions too....
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