Thinking about early 90's Bentley

Thinking about early 90's Bentley

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x200sxy

Original Poster:

515 posts

201 months

Thursday 6th August 2009
quotequote all
Gents,

Your help and advice will be appreciated.

Over the next few months I am thinking about moving on from my XJS (weekend/sunny day car) to an early 90's Turbo R/Eight/Mulsanne/Brooklands, or keeping the XJS and just adding the Bentley.

Obviosuly the Turbo R is what it says but what is the diference between the other three, is it specification level? If so, I guess Eight is the "basic" and which is higher of the others?

I've driven a 91/92 Mulsanne in the past. Is the Turbo R significantly faster?

Advice on specialist dealers? I'm in NE Scotland but happy to travel.

Thanks in advance.

Mark.

2woody

919 posts

211 months

Thursday 6th August 2009
quotequote all
you wouldn't be the only person to have both XJ-S and Bentley (winky-winky)

Turbo R is without doubt the best of the bunch to aim for, but in priority order, there's :-

Mulsanne, Mulsanne S, Eight, Mulsanne turbo, Turbo R

There are really five main differences that affect the desirability of the cars.

One. Suspension. Fitted to the Mulsanne and Mulsanne turbo, the standard suspension is just the same as the corresponding R-R. Think ride quality, rather than handling - and to be fair, the ride quality is eclipsed by most modern luxury vehicles - even the XJ-S perhaps. The turbo R suspension is vastly better in that it has much more roll resistance - this is fitted to turbo R, Eight and Mulsanne S. It is also possible to retro-fit turbo R suspension to an earlier car, although it's not just a case of anti-roll bars - there are also some complex rear suspension hydraulic issues to contend with.

Two Fuel injection. Early cars had carbs, whilst the later cars had fuel injection, which is unsurprisingly much nicer. the change-over was approximately 1989. This applies to both turbo and not. and then there's the electronic fuel injection from '94 MY. The SU carb set-up is to be avoided at all costs, whilst the turbo Solex carb seems much better once set up properly (and certainly produces the horsepower), but requires very regular fettling.

Three. Twin headlamps. it's a styling thing, but most people seem to prefer the twin headlamp style. This will also add about a grand to the price.

Four. Active ride. A further suspension development, this is the electronically-adjustable damper pack, which further tightens up the handling. Fitted from 1992 ?

Five. The turbocharger. This depends on your choice of priorities, but to me this makes the difference between a stately luxo-barge and a legendary performance machine. A turbocharged car really is like a cross between the Space Shuttle and a Chesterfield sofa and is the "main attraction".

And then there's condition. Two things to be really careful about :-

Rust. Same story as your XJ-S, and the same general cost to fix, although you could argue that the paint will need to be of a higher standard on a Bentley.

Hydraulics. These cars all have complex hydraulics, which are not tremendously difficult to fathom out or to fix, it's just the sheer number of components that makes the difference. A car in need of a hydraulic rebuild would not be a sound purchase.

Then there's also the parts costs. Most things are available fron only one source and cost a fortune. Think over fifty quid for each suspension bush, or 90 quid for the little plastic gear indicator in the steering column. The affordability of spare parts is the main thing that affects my use of mine.

The only other comment that I'd make is regarding the general condition. A Bentley is a very obvious statement and people like to buy them who really haven't the time or money to look after them properly. Hence they keep them for a couple of years until big bills loom and then move them on at what seems to be a bargain price. This puts them in the reach of buyers with even less time or money and so the downward spiral continues. I really wouldn't suggest that you buy one unless you're going to be willing do what's necessary to break that spiral.

All that having said, my Mulsanne Turbo is the one car that I would never sell (other perhaps than the Lotus Carlton), and it gives me huge entertainment. It will cover ground at tremendous speed, in sheer style, at the same time as being relatively easily-fixable. It's best feature, however, must be it's capability to turn a really bad day at work into a good day before I've left the car park - and there's not much that'll do that !

x200sxy

Original Poster:

515 posts

201 months

Friday 7th August 2009
quotequote all
Thank you for your long reply, very helpful. Sounds like FI is a must - in a Mulsanne S, Eight to Turbo R.

I reckon about a grand a year to keep my XJS in top fettle, I'd be happy enough to go to about £2k a year, is that about right?


2woody

919 posts

211 months

Tuesday 11th August 2009
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I'm probably the wrong person to ask because I do all of the work myself.

Certainly, mine has consumed about £2K's worth of parts this year, but I'm making a big effort to break out of the cycle I put in the original reply.

I shudder to think of the labour cost of some of the stuff I've done.

woodster