As we speak’s Good Value or No Cube Arnage T Crimson 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 need to resolve 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 automobile market is presently within the doldrums. Hell, Tyler Hoover has even been in a position to afford a Bugatti Veyron! That additionally implies that automobiles 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 % No Cube loss.
If a traditional automobile goes to tug its weight round right here, it’s going to wish to actually 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 through the mannequin’s improvement, Rolls-Royce’s mother or father firm, Vickers, determined to purchase engines for the automobiles relatively 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 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 obtained Bentley and a part of Cosworth.
Not desirous to need to depend on engines from a rival with which it had simply gone by a really public and fairly brutal battle, VW threw an enormous wad of money at an effort to wedge the traditional six-and-three-quarter-liters pushrod V8 beneath the Arnage’s bonnet.
This was an enormous deal for the reason that automobile 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 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 obtained the standard Crimson 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 automobile, however these impressions will 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 automobile 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’ll additionally stand out from the group whereas whisking its occupants to their meant locations owing to its arrest-me pink paint, chrome-plated alloy wheels, and usually rarely-seen facade. These are usually not simply large automobiles; additionally they have a presence. That carries by 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 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 automobile’s $29,999 price ticket. That’s round 10 % of what the automobile price 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 automobile’s presence and goal? Or is that an excessive amount of money for even this a lot automobile?
You resolve!
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