watched a vlogger who buys cars and he got a 06 bentley gt) (over 100k miles) for $12k.says it is cheapest GT in the us. been thru a dozen owners and was in russia for awhile. seems motor is shot. only running on 6cyls so he bought a used motor for a “crazy” low price. i looked on ebay and the motors are in the $5-9k range so he will have about 20k into it. and it has about 50+ codes which means each subsystem has about 5-8 codes. which might be an issue.
i found this local car continental flying spur. with 74k miles for $28 asking price. seller says it has zero issues. no codes. everything works. might be a better deal? no russian mob ownership to deal with?
My rule of thumb for car buying is can I get the oil changed at Walmart? Not that I would… but it also eliminates any exotic cars that can’t be maintained near where I live.
I’d advise you to check into how you can get it maintained…and more importantly, how much both routine and major maintenance will cost.
If either or any of those numbers cause you any grief… I’d stay far away from this car. Good luck.
oddly enough, i was behind a bentley last night. well, actually thats why i made this post. dont see many bentleys in mn during the winter. or summer. i bet if i bought a used bentley with no codes, something would break while it sat in the garage not even running/moving. so, a car with no issues should not create any new ones while it is sitting still?
As usual, if you feel you have to ask about the wisdom and affordability of buying a Bentley (or any high priced and rare auto) then you can’t afford one. A car like this was never meant to be a practical choice.
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each response lets me refine my line of questioning. sort of editing on the fly.
a car that is cheap to buy and needs XX repairs could end up costing the same as a 2nd car that has no issues but is higher priced initially.
but the vlogger exists to get viewers to his website as that is how he makes money. the point of his being is to generate traffic. he needs to do something.
it is car related. this site does let posters comment on things. vs being a repair only site?
It’s an exotic car, and you know that they are expensive to own and operate. If you like it enough and can afford $1000+ repairs, then buy it. It won’t be a daily driver, and maintenenace intervals will likely be one year.
Are Bentleys more or less reliable than, say, a Mercedes?
Or a Range Rover?
It’s true that they have a lot of very expensive parts that can go wrong,
but that doesn’t automatically mean that it’s an automatic money pit.
I’d put Bentley and Mercedes ahead of Range Rover. Range Rover is on my “never ever buy a used one” list. The other two, with a thorough PPI by an expert, and $10,000 in the bank for unexpected problems, would be fine. (cheaper MBs would be much less of a risk).
Well, the modern ones were engineered by the folks from VW…
Reliability is tough to assess for the Bentley since there are not enough sold to show up on any reliability recap.
As for the Rover, James Healey, retired auto journalist, said that if he could afford a Range Rover Sport, he would buy it in a heartbeat. He said that the positives were so many that poor reliability was of little consequence. It all depends on your priorities.
I’ve heard nothing but horror stories about Rovers. A friend bought one, had the dealer buy it back after they couldn’t fix it. Car and Driver is having similar problems:
About 6 years ago, one of my neighbors bought a brand new Rover of some sort. Within a couple of weeks of taking delivery, he had to begin taking it back to the dealership at least once a month–and frequently more often. Of course, because it is a luxury brand, the dealership gave him a loaner car each time, and that led to the neighborhood joke: What color is Tom’s Rover this week?
After a couple of years, he dumped it and bought a VW Tiguan which spent a bit less time at the dealership.
There is a saying about buying cars like a used Bentley or Rolly etc. It goes something like this. “If you cant afford a new one”… then you certainly cant afford one out of warranty".
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It’s possible to make good money flipping homes or cars. Success requires you to be savvy about the tecnical aspects and a bit lucky too. If you can do your own repair work, that helps broaden the prospect list. Just like any TV show of this ilk, the ‘vlogger’ is catering to people who are either already doing it and successful or people who are armchair wannabes and think it might be easy way to score some bucks.
As @Cavell says, there are lots of vloggers on YouTube buying, fixing and selling the oddest range of cars to fill their YoueTube channels with content.
One of my favorites is Doug Demuro. Doug is famous for buying a 2006 Range Rover from CarMax and spending $3899 for the 6 year extended warranty. The warranty spent $22,000 on his behalf to keep the Rover repaired.
Others are Tavarish, Cleetus McFarland, Aging Wheels or Hoovies Garage.
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tavarish has the bentley. and 54 systems codes. i did see some pics another used motor siting on a skid. looks like a nuclear reactor. about 300’ of piping and tubes and bypass hoses. would be curious to see why 1 bank is “dead” on current motor. could be electrical? bad headgasket? bad pcm? bad turbo? bad cat? i think he has only had the car for a few weeks
the 06 near me is 28k? and there is a 09 for 50k, quite a steep curve there. and a bentayaga for 140k?
A high tech low production luxury car seems to be the worst of all possible combinations. An old Dodge Omni would likely be a more reliable ‘classic’ to keep running.
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But where is the fun in that?
And who’d want to drive an old Dodge Omni? I remember them being tin manure boxes. Even the GLH version with a turbo. Under boost those things would torque steer into the nearest curb or ditch.
When you consider miles of reliable driving to dollars spent the Omni would likely be the winner hand$ down.
But anyone wanting a great old car the “largest car museum east of the Mississippi” is auctioning everything in a few months
https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2018/12/18/tupelo-automobile-museum-to-close-sell-off-collection/
The man behind the collection had very deep pockets. Comcast-Xfinity began with his Community Antenna Corporation back in 1958.
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