Right now’s Good Worth or No Cube Arnage T Crimson Label is the final Bentley mannequin shared with Rolls Royce, as the 2 former flatmates had been cut up between VW and BMW in the course of the mannequin’s run. It’s now an old-school instance of British metal, and we’ll need to determine how a lot silver and gold it ought to take to personal.
Possibly it’s the onus of the vacation season that’s upon us, or maybe it’s the looming financial upheaval promised by the present political local weather, however the truth is, the basic automotive market is presently within the doldrums. Hell, Tyler Hoover has even been capable of afford a Bugatti Veyron! That additionally signifies that automobiles just like the 1972 Volvo 1800ES we checked out yesterday now fall beneath an additional crucial eye. Our communal crucial eye discovered the Volvo’s $21,500 asking to not be to our liking, a truth documented by its 56 % No Cube loss.
If a basic automotive goes to tug its weight round right here, it’s going to want to essentially provide one thing particular, and boy, does this 2000 Bentley Arnage T Crimson Label pull its weight—all 5,700 kilos of it.
The Arnage was launched in 1998 and is notable for being the final Bentley to get a reach-around from Rolls-Royce. It’s additionally noteworthy that in the course of the mannequin’s improvement, Rolls-Royce’s dad or mum firm, Vickers, determined to purchase engines for the automobiles reasonably than construct them. After testing a number of choices, the corporate settled on a pair of recent mills from BMW—a V12 for the Rolls Silver Seraph and a V8 for the Arnage.
With the event of the automobiles effectively underway, Vickers put the entire equipment and caboodle up on the market, together with its different holding, Cosworth. This instigated the well-known hair-pulling slap-fight between German marques BMW and Volkswagen over the possession rights of Rolls and Bentley and their manufacturers. When the mud settled, BMW took Rolls, and VW bought Bentley and a part of Cosworth.
Not desirous to need to depend on engines from a rival with which it had simply gone by means of a really public and fairly brutal combat, VW threw a giant wad of money at an effort to wedge the traditional six-and-three-quarter-liters pushrod V8 beneath the Arnage’s bonnet.
This was a giant deal because the automotive was designed across the smaller, lighter BMW V8. In the long run, nonetheless, the Cosworth-built single turbocharged old-school V8 makes 400 horsepower, which is 50 higher than the BMW mill might handle with its two turbos, and 619 ft-lbs of torque, which is greater than the planet Mars. To distinguish these Bentley-powered brutes, all of them acquired the standard Crimson Label badges, traditionally denoting sporting Bentleys.
Contemplating its imposing measurement, weight, and luxurious trappings, one won’t initially take into account this Bentley Arnage a sporting automotive, however these impressions may be erased by merely dipping a toe into the go pedal. That shouldn’t be an issue on this 65,000-mile instance, because the advert says the automotive has benefitted from skilled service and touts {that a} slew of very costly elements have been changed. It’s additionally claimed to have a clear title and, general, to be in wonderful situation.
It would additionally stand out from the group whereas whisking its occupants to their supposed locations owing to its arrest-me pink paint, chrome-plated alloy wheels, and usually rarely-seen facade. These will not be simply huge automobiles; additionally they have a presence. That carries by means of to the cabin, which is awash in blonde wooden, Connolly Leather-based, and thick wool carpeting. Packing all that in means it’s not as roomy inside as the outside may give on, and whereas fitted as a five-seater, the middle spot within the rear seat is little greater than a joke that solely the well-to-do can admire.
Different points to notice: the wooden trim is cracking on the console and middle stack, and one of many rear side-marker lights is lacking its lens. These defects mar what’s in any other case a strong presentation. Neither, it must be famous, would considerably affect the possession expertise.
What may, although, is the automotive’s $29,999 price ticket. That’s round 10 % of what the automotive value new, and on a cost-per-pound foundation, it ought to show a screamin’ deal. By every other calculation? Properly, we’ll simply need to see.
What’s your tackle this Arnage and that $29,999 asking? Does that really feel applicable, given the automotive’s presence and function? Or is that an excessive amount of money for even this a lot automotive?
You determine!
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