In the present day’s Good Worth 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 through the mannequin’s run. It’s now an old-school instance of British metal, and we’ll should 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 reality is, the traditional automotive market is presently within the doldrums. Hell, Tyler Hoover has even been capable of afford a Bugatti Veyron! That additionally signifies that vehicles just like the 1972 Volvo 1800ES we checked out yesterday now fall below an additional important eye. Our communal important 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 traditional automotive goes to tug its weight round right here, it’s going to want to actually provide 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 through the mannequin’s improvement, Rolls-Royce’s father or mother firm, Vickers, determined to purchase engines for the vehicles moderately 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 vehicles 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 received Bentley and a part of Cosworth.
Not eager to should 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 below the Arnage’s bonnet.
This was a giant deal for the reason that automotive was designed across the smaller, lighter BMW V8. Ultimately, nevertheless, the Cosworth-built single turbocharged old-school V8 makes 400 horsepower, which is 50 larger 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 normal Purple Label badges, traditionally denoting sporting Bentleys.
Contemplating its imposing dimension, weight, and luxurious trappings, one may not initially think about 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 components 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 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 aren’t 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 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 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 may, although, is the automotive’s $29,999 price ticket. That’s round 10 p.c 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 should see.
What’s your tackle this Arnage and that $29,999 asking? Does that really feel acceptable, given the automotive’s presence and objective? Or is that an excessive amount of money for even this a lot automotive?
You determine!
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