Flying Spur family car?

Flying Spur family car?

Author
Discussion

biggbn

23,360 posts

220 months

Saturday 10th February
quotequote all
I find it incredible that cars built and sold as the best in the world seem to have had engineering expertise showered on everything except reliability and longevity. Perceived quality and luxury means sod all when you're broken down in a layby waiting on the AA....again. Why do we collectively put up with what demonstrably must be second grade engineering in these vehicles?

GordonGekko

178 posts

89 months

Saturday 10th February
quotequote all


Not a Spur, but a Mulsanne as the daily was absolutely sublime. Without a doubt the best car ever owned - should never have let it go.

Quality is on another level to every other car so I highly recommend a Bentley.

Will be getting another soon…

fflump

Original Poster:

1,369 posts

38 months

Saturday 10th February
quotequote all
biggbn said:
I find it incredible that cars built and sold as the best in the world seem to have had engineering expertise showered on everything except reliability and longevity. Perceived quality and luxury means sod all when you're broken down in a layby waiting on the AA....again. Why do we collectively put up with what demonstrably must be second grade engineering in these vehicles?
It's often peripheral stuff -the electrics in my Cayenne had a mind of their own but thankfully all sorted under warranty. Likewise, this Flying Spur has slight delamination in one corner of the rear windscreen. I guess most owners would file it under "live with" but they are replacing it.

fflump

Original Poster:

1,369 posts

38 months

Saturday 10th February
quotequote all
GordonGekko said:
Not a Spur, but a Mulsanne as the daily was absolutely sublime. Without a doubt the best car ever owned - should never have let it go.

Quality is on another level to every other car so I highly recommend a Bentley.

Will be getting another soon…
A beauty-any pics of the exterior?

GordonGekko

178 posts

89 months

Saturday 10th February
quotequote all



OverSteery

3,610 posts

231 months

Saturday 10th February
quotequote all
fflump said:
Also opted to extend the warranty to 3 years for £4k which is good value IMO and less than if you opt to extend later.
That genuinely looks like a bargain - I suspect it will be one of the few associated with ownership.

Good luck and enjoy!

biggbn

23,360 posts

220 months

Saturday 10th February
quotequote all
fflump said:
biggbn said:
I find it incredible that cars built and sold as the best in the world seem to have had engineering expertise showered on everything except reliability and longevity. Perceived quality and luxury means sod all when you're broken down in a layby waiting on the AA....again. Why do we collectively put up with what demonstrably must be second grade engineering in these vehicles?
It's often peripheral stuff -the electrics in my Cayenne had a mind of their own but thankfully all sorted under warranty. Likewise, this Flying Spur has slight delamination in one corner of the rear windscreen. I guess most owners would file it under "live with" but they are replacing it.
Again, even peripheral stuff at this level should be bullet proof. Early Cayenne had their issue with bore scoring, coolant system etc, inexcusable on a fiesta never mind a prestige car. 911 porsche similar issues but more so, and as you allude to, wonderful cars like these Rolls and Bentleys and various Mercedes etc grinding to a halt because whilst they went to the finest leather and wood workers they used the cheapest wiring and electric motors. Henry Royce wouldn't have allowed his cars to be spoilt by penny pinching...and neither have the likes of Lexus which might lack the big names cache but at least will keep on keepin on....

fflump

Original Poster:

1,369 posts

38 months

Saturday 10th February
quotequote all
biggbn said:
Again, even peripheral stuff at this level should be bullet proof. Early Cayenne had their issue with bore scoring, coolant system etc, inexcusable on a fiesta never mind a prestige car. 911 porsche similar issues but more so, and as you allude to, wonderful cars like these Rolls and Bentleys and various Mercedes etc grinding to a halt because whilst they went to the finest leather and wood workers they used the cheapest wiring and electric motors. Henry Royce wouldn't have allowed his cars to be spoilt by penny pinching...and neither have the likes of Lexus which might lack the big names cache but at least will keep on keepin on....
True but time and again there seems to be no link between cost of car and its reliability.
Least reliable always JLR and 'prestigious' German brands. For most reliable invariably from the Land of the Rising Sun.

biggbn

23,360 posts

220 months

Saturday 10th February
quotequote all
fflump said:
biggbn said:
Again, even peripheral stuff at this level should be bullet proof. Early Cayenne had their issue with bore scoring, coolant system etc, inexcusable on a fiesta never mind a prestige car. 911 porsche similar issues but more so, and as you allude to, wonderful cars like these Rolls and Bentleys and various Mercedes etc grinding to a halt because whilst they went to the finest leather and wood workers they used the cheapest wiring and electric motors. Henry Royce wouldn't have allowed his cars to be spoilt by penny pinching...and neither have the likes of Lexus which might lack the big names cache but at least will keep on keepin on....
True but time and again there seems to be no link between cost of car and its reliability.
Least reliable always JLR and 'prestigious' German brands. For most reliable invariably from the Land of the Rising Sun.
Which was my point... beer

fflump

Original Poster:

1,369 posts

38 months

Saturday 10th February
quotequote all
biggbn said:
Which was my point... beer
Spot on. We'll see how my tarted-up-Audi shapes up ;-)

biggbn

23,360 posts

220 months

Saturday 10th February
quotequote all
fflump said:
biggbn said:
Which was my point... beer
Spot on. We'll see how my tarted-up-Audi shapes up ;-)
Fair play to you man. A 'mk2' Cayenne 4.8gts is on my imaginary shopping list for when I'm just a bit more solvent!! Enjoy yours, bet its a blast

biggbn

23,360 posts

220 months

Sunday 11th February
quotequote all
GordonGekko said:


Is that a 365 gt4 in the background? Or a 400i? Either way, yer a man of impeccable taste. Bravo.

fflump

Original Poster:

1,369 posts

38 months

Sunday 11th February
quotequote all
biggbn said:
Fair play to you man. A 'mk2' Cayenne 4.8gts is on my imaginary shopping list for when I'm just a bit more solvent!! Enjoy yours, bet its a blast
Thanks that's very kind. A Mk 2 GTS sounds like a good car to aim for. I love my out-going Mk2 E-Hybrid's driving dynamics and interior build quality, but the GTS would be so much more fun to push on in.

What do you need for a decent Mk2 GTS? £30k?

Patrick Bateman

12,183 posts

174 months

Sunday 11th February
quotequote all
anonymous-user said:
No worries. The dealer with a Maserati and Bentley franchise sounds like an ideal scenario, and I can virtually guarantee that the wait and potential extra you'd spend as opposed to this particular car and deal will pay for itself over a surprisingly short time.

I was a little bit spoiled by doing my apprenticeship at Bentley because that set standards that I've never seen any other of the subsequent "premium" brands even get vaguely close to, either in the workmanship, skill and knowledge required, plus the costs + time required to effect such skill,. Put a W12 bentley in for a spark plug change at a competent but otherwise unfamiliar to them technician, and I'm almost certain that they will break something, and I'm already 95% sure of exactly what they'd break and how to avoid it before they even got the spanners out. They really are that kind of car.

The approved warranty was genuinely excellent, we would about once a week have the assessor come down and look at our diagnosis on particular cars covered, grumble a bit and then approve it all with no fuss. Compare this to virtually every other "premium" retailer I've worked for that will flat out reject claims on their own 3 year manufacturer warranty because the claim was missing a particular screenshot or online form or because we didn't change a specific non important £1 bolt the workshop manual advised, let alone the mickey mouse warranties that barely covered anything in the first place (that goes for both "approved used" and 3rd party)

Things may have changed as it's been a long time since I last spannered on a Bentley, so please do your own checks to see what the state of play is nowdays especially with the warranty, its excess and exclusions, but as someone who would think absolutely nothing about spending the very top of their realistic budget on a nice V12 Twin turbo S600 or S65, a similarly priced and aged Spur or Conti GT would have me running for the hills screaming "NOPE" at the top of my voice, and that's despite my ability to (in theory) be able to carry out a lot of the work myself.

Good luck with the hunt though. Despite the negative comments and hate you might get, nothing comes even close to the quality of materials and attention to detail you'll find in a Bentley or Rolls Royce smile



Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 25th February 01:44
Jesus H Christ I think that says everything us plebs need to know. yikes

Proper lottery cars for me even though these appear to be a bargain on the face of it.

Nice motor though fflump hopefully it behaves…

fflump

Original Poster:

1,369 posts

38 months

Sunday 11th February
quotequote all
Patrick Bateman said:
Jesus H Christ I think that says everything us plebs need to know. yikes

Proper lottery cars for me even though these appear to be a bargain on the face of it.

Nice motor though fflump hopefully it behaves…
Cheers-while being on a 3 year warranty helps I am under no illusion that tyres, discs, pads, bushes etc. will be steep. On the plus side I cycle to work so it gets saved for evenings and weekends.

Yomamaisasnowblower

279 posts

17 months

Sunday 11th February
quotequote all
fflump said:
I was ridiculously fussy particular about what I wanted-

Mulliner spec, dark blue metallic, linen interior with blue secondary hide, burr walnut trim, 2-tone steering wheel, contrast stitching (as opposed to colour matched stitching. Ideally the V8.



















Congrats on the car, looks stunning! Also, kudos for having the balls to take on the running costs.

I've really been tempted by the Continental in the past and just saying "sod it" and seeing what happens. This thread has prompted me to look again :-)

biggbn

23,360 posts

220 months

Sunday 11th February
quotequote all
fflump said:
biggbn said:
Fair play to you man. A 'mk2' Cayenne 4.8gts is on my imaginary shopping list for when I'm just a bit more solvent!! Enjoy yours, bet its a blast
Thanks that's very kind. A Mk 2 GTS sounds like a good car to aim for. I love my out-going Mk2 E-Hybrid's driving dynamics and interior build quality, but the GTS would be so much more fun to push on in.

What do you need for a decent Mk2 GTS? £30k?
Depends on miles but I'm sure they start at about half that. The n/a GTS is much cheaper than the v6 turbo

Edited by biggbn on Sunday 11th February 12:00

fflump

Original Poster:

1,369 posts

38 months

Sunday 11th February
quotequote all
Yomamaisasnowblower said:
Congrats on the car, looks stunning! Also, kudos for having the balls to take on the running costs.

I've really been tempted by the Continental in the past and just saying "sod it" and seeing what happens. This thread has prompted me to look again :-)
Go for it. Like you say if man-maths fails, “sod it” brings about the correct decision .

GordonGekko

178 posts

89 months

Monday 12th February
quotequote all
fflump said:
I was ridiculously fussy particular about what I wanted-

Mulliner spec, dark blue metallic, linen interior with blue secondary hide, burr walnut trim, 2-tone steering wheel, contrast stitching (as opposed to colour matched stitching. Ideally the V8.



















Congratulations! What a beautiful car with superb specifications - this is really impressive!

May it bring many many enjoyable miles

fflump

Original Poster:

1,369 posts

38 months

Monday 12th February
quotequote all
GordonGekko said:
Congratulations! What a beautiful car with superb specifications - this is really impressive!

May it bring many many enjoyable miles
Thanks GG. I'll post on this thread both good and bad aspects of ownership!