bentley continental gt any good?

[J4CKO]

Something like this is the 10th Dan of home car maintenance but it is amazing how what used to be seemingly impossible becomes common knowledge, especially so with the internet, go on any marque specific forum and there are guys pulling stuff apart, rebuilding it, changing engines, drive layouts etc etc. A lot of the amateurs out there
make some actual mechanics look clueless.

I remember the witchcraft that a Golf GTI used to represent with its fancy fuel injection, now it is just simplicity itself, whilst I never think anyone could call a Conti GT simple in any way, it is just a car, if someone has the space, time, inclination and intelligence it would be possible to do most stuff at home, as more of these get written off to supply S/H parts and the commonality with other models gets worked out it will get a little cheaper, will never be cheap but it shouldnt be as ruinous.

The problem is that the first few owners will probably be worried about warranties, service history and even touching it, as they get cheaper and are broken its a case of roll your selves up and get on with it, otherwise it just gets scrapped. My concern would be around the electrical side, but, to be honest as long as it starts and drives, for some people that is enough, if the aircon conks out and needs 5 grand spending, sod it, wind the window down and wait for a cheaper solution to come up.

I wouldnt take one on, but I know people who would, the ones that worry me are the ones with 30 grand burning a hole in their pockets/payday loan and thats it, no mechanical skills, no inclination or ingenuity, just the desire to be seen in an aging flash car.

The Conti GT is a difficult one, a bit of an anomaly as it has certainly depreciated but unlike a similar aged German Exec or Jag, it is still very expensive, 25 grand being entry level, so, not so easy to throw away if the engine goes or whatever, it doesnt have the same ownership as the older Bentleys, it is more like an upmarket German coupe than a Bentley, regarded more of a commodity than a piece of bespoke craftmanship (even though it is and still a lovely thing).

[anonymous-user]

stain said:

blindswelledrat said:

Superb post 279.
Like all really nice cars, noticing the near-affordability of the GT makes my mind start to wander and Im gald you've put me off so comprehensively.

Something you didn't really mention is how common these expensive faults were. Are they an inevitability or are they the minority but with the potential costs being that scary that it doesn't matter?

I've been surprised with ours just how many faults we have had. The suspension was the biggest single item bill but they do wear out suspension arms and ball joints fairly regularly as 279 has mentioned. The gearbox played up on my first one but they got to the bottom of that. Despite resetting the ECU it still had a bad jolt between 1st and 2nd in the morning.

The black chrome window trims will be bubbling by now and they are very pricey.

You've minding me of a few bits I forgot to mention.

As you say, the gearboxes do sometimes lose their adaptions and reward the owner with brutally hard shifts. When the adaption process is done properly 9 times out of 10 it will cure the problem, but it is a two person job with one driver and one person watching the gearbox temps on the diagnostic computer and reading out the adaption process which involves all sorts of funky driving, but doing it properly is the difficult thing. It requires a lot of time & patience, and in a trade driven by bonus and targets, time & patience are often over looked, especially when you've got two people out on the road .

You did mention the High level brake light before. Now it does not require the screen to be removed or the headlining to be fully dropped, but it is now a very fiddly job which carries the very real risk of damaging the screen (or creasing the headlining if the mechanic is an animal). Again, something definitely for a dealer/specialist.

Actually, the KEY thing I forgot to mention. If you're not using the car every single day, get a good battery conditioner and use it. With all of the ECUs needing a constant voltage the main battery takes a pounding and will drop below the required voltages to keep basic settings for certain control modules which will need resetting if you'd like them to work properly. Windows, roofs (in GTCs), HVAC flaps, seats etc. The windows you can do at home, everything else is a plug in job (Although should take no longer than half an hour to an hour of labour)

Tip to any GT/FS/GTC owners, if your car won't start in the morning due to what seems to be a flat battery, put the key in the ignition, turn it to the left, then turn it all the way to the right and it should start. When starting the car normally on a flat main systems battery it could throw a fit due to the low systems battery, this method bypasses it and fires itself up entirely on the starter battery which obviously with the car running with charge the main battery, but it won’t restore the adaptions that were lost.

You also mentioned air springs, which do occasionally go, but I wouldn't start it was particularly common, just one of those things (although I imagine that is difficult to swallow with the £5k replacement cost).

It does come across that I'm putting people off GTs with what I've posted, as if I'm implying they are rubbish, horrific money pits. Please do remember that as a Technician, I only dealt with broken cars but never got to enjoy them for what they were. Touring across Europe or cruising around Mayfair at night, I reckon they'd be lovely, but I only experienced the ‘bad’ side of those cars, so that’s all I can really share.

What I was trying to get across in my post was the sheer numbers that could be racked up on an early, neglected car in the space of a single service. I’m not sure if the rules of the official extended warranty have changed, but I cannot recommend it enough. Get the top of the line warranty and everything that isn’t a consumable is covered. I don’t remember how much it costs but it was so cheap not a single person I worked with saw how the warranty company made any money back on them compared to how easily a single claim would eclipse the yearly premium. However I do believe that you cannot a proper extended warranty on a car sold by a non-franchise dealer unless it was a private sale, and there may be some age and mileage restrictions, but please do double check before taking my word for it as I never dealt with selling warranties.

It is excellent and means effectively your costs are ‘locked’ to whatever a main dealer service plus consumables, which fair enough, it still is a considerable amount of money, but I’m convinced that it is the most clever, cost effective way to run these cars, not getting Phil down the arches trying out euro car parts spec Audi A6 bits because some bloke on the internet told you they were the same thing in a different box. That’s a false economy.

[anonymous-user]

LuS1fer said:

Question for 279:

I've never been that taken by the CGT but have always found the Bentley Arnage an enticing proposition for around £25k.
I believe these use the 4.4 V8.
Are these any better or worse than a CGT?

I didn't work on a particularly high number of Arnages so can't give an as detailed opinion as I could on a GT and the 4.4L V8 cars were somewhat of a rarity for the workshop as a whole, but I'd say they were a significantly better proposition to run without having a warranty to fall back on. The most common issues seemed to be airbag related faults which were rather cheap and easy to rectify. Never once did I see a 4.4L car haven't any sort of mechanical (engine) work needing doing, bar the occasional sensor.

I believe the Bentley scan tool used on earlier Arange (I think up until 07) cars is much easier to get a hold of as a specialist than a VAS with the correct software and the wiring diagrams are (or were at least up until I left) still available on disc so I'd say a specialist would be able to fault find just as well as a main dealer, if not better as the volume of GT series cars means that fewer and fewer technicians actually find themselves constantly working on Arange series cars so 'experts' are a dying breed, at least in dealers.

One thing to mention, don't don't expect them to be as smooth as you'd perhaps initially expect. Quite often the rear suspension spheres go bad and the ride at the rear is rock hard, although they aren't too difficult to change and not massively costly if I remember correctly. The 4.4L cars you mentioned are actually pretty 'smooth' in comparison to the later 6.75 V8 cars. The high duration cam in the T is neigh on laughable considering the type of car it is. The idle is akin to an American V8 with a moderately lumpy cam. Not massively quick either, neither do they sound particularly epic on standard pipes.

Still, awesome cars and definitely something I'll considering owning if the values to drop to Turbo Rish prices at any point. No car makes you feel as special sitting in it as a Arange (although I would say the later ones are nicer), apart from out course, a Mulsanne. I'm actually quite thankful that they didn't put the Mulsanne interior and inards in a late Arange body, or else I'd be out right now doing unspeakable things in order to get the money to purchase one .

[Vulgar LS2]

Jimmy No Hands said:

http://www.pmcuk.com/content.asp?id=89

Breakdown of a quote for new brakes (well discs & pads) all around on a Bentley CGT.


Comes to... £1650.

Holy crap, that's cheaper than my Monaro.

[Globs]

Vulgar LS2 said:

Jimmy No Hands said:

http://www.pmcuk.com/content.asp?id=89

Breakdown of a quote for new brakes (well discs & pads) all around on a Bentley CGT.


Comes to... £1650.

Holy crap, that's cheaper than my Monaro.

But still rather more than my car is worth

[anonymous-user]

Vulgar LS2 said:

Holy crap, that's cheaper than my Monaro.

Are they made from Unicorn teeth or something?

At least the Bentley has/had the excuse of being the largest sized discs fitted to a production car.

[largelunchbox]

thx 279, very informative, you have put me off the early cars and i cant afford the later ones so the search go,s on

[IATM]

falkster said:

I love how every thread turns into a get a 300bhp/ton.
I think people understand his point but read between lines that aren't there.
When someone posted about it being a 100k car so will still require £100k car maintenance my view on that would be yes to a certain extent but then no as its VAG.
A £100k 456 or Maserati 4200 at £20k is going to require exotic car maintenance but being VAG I think the Conti would be a much cheaper proposition.
There are always going to be car specific parts that will ruin your pocket but given the cars peers the Conti is the 'cheaper' £100k car.

Exactly this! Its turned into a 300bhp/ton bashing thread for a reason which is really pointless. hes propsed a certain view which in fairness many people could share in the sense that similar parts are used in other cars which means it MAY be cheaper to run outside of the worst scenarios.

If he is wrong its best to provide the information to back it up and likewise 300 should provide info from his point of view. There really is no need to call him a fool, idiot or a nightmare to teach in school.

Really not enjoying reading posts on pistonehads anymore, almost every thread turns into a bashing session of some what.

Really disappointed.

[Dr mojo]

This topic has been really informative especially 279. Looks like I will wait until I can afford a post 2006 car.

[Fox-]

Vulgar LS2 said:

Holy crap, that's cheaper than my Monaro.

Because the Monaro is known as a car with particularly expensive brakes, not because the CGT brakes are cheap.

[J4CKO]

279 said:

Vulgar LS2 said:

Holy crap, that's cheaper than my Monaro.

Are they made from Unicorn teeth or something?

At least the Bentley has/had the excuse of being the largest sized discs fitted to a production car.

As 300 said, you can get the pads a lot cheaper, lots available on EBay, from reputable manufacturers as well, £100 for pads, even if you paid the same for the disks and did them yourself, then replacing the brakes could be done for £800 or so, I know Bentley owners generally don't but for the handy owner looking to keep costs down brakes are one area where you can save quite a bit, still £800 for brakes is a lot, I can usually do them on any of my cars for £200, or less. I suspect people pay £800 for brakes on a lot more mundane stuff though when labour is taken into consideration.