At the moment’s Good Value or No Cube Arnage T Purple Label is the final Bentley mannequin shared with Rolls Royce, as the 2 former flatmates had been break 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 must resolve how a lot silver and gold it ought to take to personal.
Perhaps 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 reality is, the basic automotive market is presently within the doldrums. Hell, Tyler Hoover has even been in a position to afford a Bugatti Veyron! That additionally implies that vehicles just like the 1972 Volvo 1800ES we checked out yesterday now fall beneath an additional essential eye. Our communal essential eye discovered the Volvo’s $21,500 asking to not be to our liking, a reality documented by its 56 p.c No Cube loss.
If a basic automotive goes to tug its weight round right here, it’s going to wish to essentially supply one thing particular, and boy, does this 2000 Bentley Arnage T Purple 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 growth, Rolls-Royce’s mother or father firm, Vickers, determined to purchase engines for the vehicles slightly than construct them. After testing a number of choices, the corporate settled on a pair of contemporary mills from BMW—a V12 for the Rolls Silver Seraph and a V8 for the Arnage.
With the event of the vehicles nicely underway, Vickers put the entire package 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 acquired Bentley and a part of Cosworth.
Not eager to must rely on engines from a rival with which it had simply gone by means of a really public and fairly brutal battle, 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 for the reason that 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 may 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 Purple Label badges, traditionally denoting sporting Bentleys.
Contemplating its imposing dimension, weight, and luxurious trappings, one won’t initially take into account this Bentley Arnage a sporting automotive, however these impressions might 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’s going to additionally stand out from the gang whereas whisking its occupants to their supposed locations owing to its arrest-me crimson paint, chrome-plated alloy wheels, and usually rarely-seen facade. These will not be simply large vehicles; 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 would possibly 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 recognize.
Different points to notice: the wooden trim is cracking on the console and heart stack, and one of many rear side-marker lights is lacking its lens. These defects mar what’s in any other case a stable presentation. Neither, it needs to be famous, would considerably influence the possession expertise.
What would possibly, although, is the automotive’s $29,999 price ticket. That’s round 10 p.c of what the automotive price new, and on a cost-per-pound foundation, it ought to show a screamin’ deal. By some other calculation? Nicely, we’ll simply must see.
What’s your tackle this Arnage and that $29,999 asking? Does that really feel applicable, given the automotive’s presence and goal? Or is that an excessive amount of money for even this a lot automotive?
You resolve!
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