Satnav, electric front and rear seats and tilt/slide steel sunroof
The Appeal
The Arnage has a special place in Bentley’s history. The firm’s first all-new car for 18 years when it was launched in 1998, it was also the last fully hand built Bentley.
There were numerous iterations of the Arnage, with different engines and outputs, but it is this one, the Arnage T Mulliner Spec, that is arguably the most desirable. The most powerful road-going Bentley up to its launch, the Arnage T generated 450bhp from its twin-turbocharged 6.75litre engine, enough to whisk its sumptuously cosseted occupants to 60mph in just 5.5secs.
This car is one of the Mulliner Spec cars – it appears to be a Level 2 model – which delivered extra equipment and personalisation. It is finished in a classic royal blue metallic with cream interior and has covered a little over 57,000 miles. It has the all-important full service history – by Bentley main dealers or specialists – including a recent full service.
The Arnage is a very useable car, benefitting from much-improved Bentley reliability. This one is a well maintained, very well appointed executive express. If you’re after a motorised red carpet experience then this car surely delivers.
The History And Paperwork
Extensive history file with fully stamped service book
8 owners
MOTs indicate light, regular use
New brake discs and pads
New tyres
Will be sold with the number plate NR03 CAT
The Interior
Attractive pleated cream leather with dark wood veneers
Optional electric tilt/slide sunroof
Electric reclining rear seats
Satnav pop-up display system
Original factory Alpine audio system with remote control
Telephone set up
Leather headlining
Two factory-fit Bentley umbrellas in the boot
The sense of occasion that comes with driving a Bentley begins inside. You sit high in huge, Bentley-embossed pleated leather seats facing a traditional Bentley wood veneer dashboard, complete with hand-tooled ventilation ‘organ pulls.’ The seats are fully electric – even the pair of rear seats recline electrically.
Mulliner Spec cars like this one came with a high degree of personalisation and in addition to those electric rear seats this one has a tilt and slide sunroof, Satnav system with pop-up dashboard display and leather headlining. There are even two factory-supplied Bentley umbrellas fitted to the boot. The Seller states that plentiful electrics all work as they should.
The combination of cream leather and dark wood veneers on this car seems to work particularly well. The leather is in very good condition. The leather has creased slightly on the outer sides of the bases of both front seats but would likely respond to the application of some good quality hide feed.
The extensive dark wood veneer is generally in very good condition, the large swathe across the dashboard being unmarked. However there is a small split on the offside rear door capping.
The Exterior
Royal blue metallic paintwork
Recently refurbished 19inch wheels
Correct factory specification Goodyear tyres
Brake discs and pads recently replaced
This car is a standard wheelbase Arnage and looks particularly good sat on its optional 19inch alloy wheels. They have been recently refurbished and fitted with factory-correct Goodyear tyres. The wheels are unmarked.
The bodywork is generally very good, reflecting the very low mileage, with only a small number of minor marks around the car. The paint has flaked on the inside edge of the offside rear arch and would be worth remedying before it becomes an issue. There are a small number of chips on the edge of the driver’s door and a couple of touched-in chips on the upper part of the panel. The Bentley ‘B’ badge on the offside C pillar has also delaminated slightly.
Elsewhere two of the wheel arches have very slight scratches that may respond to the attention of a good valeter.
On the nearside of the car there is a slight scuff on the corner of the front bumper. The area on the passenger door beneath the door mirror appears to have a strip of corrosion, perhaps caused by a paint reaction.
The edge of the sunroof has some minor light bubbling that may be worth attending to.
The underside of the car looks very clean. There are a couple of areas of surface corrosion typical of the age and mileage of this car. A professional wire brush and undersealing regime would likely improve and recover the appearance of these areas.
The Mechanics
450bhp 6.75litre twin turbo V8 Arnage T engine
4spd automatic gearbox
Full Bentley and Bentley specialist service history
Disc brakes and pads recently replaced
The Arnage was originally conceived with power from BMW’s 4.4litre V8. Supply problems led to the re-introduction of the venerable 6.75litre handbuilt motor used in previous Rolls Royces and Bentleys.
This super-smooth unit was comprehensively made-over just before this particular Arnage was built so it benefits from this much-improved unit. Although it is essentially the same 6.75litre engine as those previous cars, it only shared 50% of its parts with them.
This car is one of the high performance Arnage T models. That means 450bhp and prodigious amounts of torque from its twin-turbocharged motor. The motor is fully hand built, as a badge on this car’s engine top attests.
As with any powerful, hand-built motor you will want to see evidence of a full service history, preferably either by Bentley or by specialists. This car has a combination of both, the photographs showing a series of regular scheduled maintenance stops throughout the car’s history.
The twin batteries in the car’s boot are both new and the car has also had new discs and pads. The lovely 19inch alloy wheels have also just been refurbished and fitted with new factory-correct Goodyear tyres.
There was one advisory on the last MOT for a slight exhaust leak: the photographs show that this has been professionally repaired.
Summary
If you’re after a cossetting, super-quick luxury saloon then they don’t come much more cossetting and much quicker than the Arnage T. Much-improved quality and reliability make these robust cars an attractive prospect, provided the service history has been kept up to date.
This 20-year old car has full service history covering its low mileage. That the work has been done by Bentley or Bentley specialists indicates it has been maintained properly without corner cutting. The combination of Royal-Blue paintwork with cream leather seems to work particularly well. It has presence and pace and appears to be in very good condition.
