Bruce
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Garlits would approve: Bentley builds a burled, consummately British burnout machine.
BY JARED HOLSTEIN, April 2007
The Arnage T’s traction control system is programmed such that, per Bentley, “You can drift the car with some wheelspin, but it never lets you get in any trouble.” That this statement it attached to a 5700-pound, nearly 18-foot-long cache of burl, Connolly leather and handcrafted pomp is reason enough to make us like it.
Bentley’s sales have increased six-fold in the last three years, due largely to the success of the new Continental, sold mostly to first-time Bentley buyers. “Old” Bentley buyers, however, are less interested in a 198-mph top speed and more interested in an ownership experience similar to that of their father and father’s father. The Arnage remains the classic Bentley saloon, available as a “standard” 450-hp R, long-wheelbase RL, or more-spirited, 500-hp T.
The T starts at $250,985, though if you throw in a champagne cooler, choose custom interior and exterior hues, and perhaps some factory grenade proofing, plan on fiddling with the number in the left-most column. If it helps paint the picture, where the average Continental buyer possesses a net worth of $3 million, the average Arnage buyer is worth some $30 million, and a popular option in the Queen’s country are sill plates emblazoned with the family crest.
Getting along in years
The nearly decade-old platform does show its age, especially when you hop from the T into the ultra-modern and capable Continental GT, but regardless Bentley will sell each and every example it builds. An all-new Arnage is coming sometime before 2010; we can assume it will have a stiffer chassis, brakes with shorter travel, more precise steering, and a better integrated electronics experience. But we hope the new car will still carry the old-world charm of the Viagra-fied Arnage T.
Nearly all Arnages are built to order. Bentley’s Mulliner coachwork division is able to handle just about any request, and the standard option list is so comprehensive that few duplicate cars are produced. Our T was swathed in quilted, rich brown leather; the interior is comely in a comforting way should your youth have been spent exploring drawing rooms, overstuffed chairs, and servants’ quarters of a Park Avenue or Mayfair residence. Think polished, knurled, burnished, and conditioned.
The huge, chromed aluminum dash vents, which rotate a full 360-degrees in their sockets, are of such mass that they could, in a pinch, be used as mortar rounds. Through these vents, the whoosh of conditioned air assumes three distinct tones for no good reason that we’re aware of other than whimsy, which is reason enough.
A single lot of wood is reserved for the book-matched veneer lining the interior of each Arnage; remaining pieces do not go into other cars, but are marked and placed in a giant humidor such that if repairs need to be made, the wood will match perfectly, otherwise an impossibility.
Follow the link for the rest of the article
First Drive: 2007 Bentley Arnage T - Performance and Craftsmanship - Car and Driver - April 2007
BY JARED HOLSTEIN, April 2007
The Arnage T’s traction control system is programmed such that, per Bentley, “You can drift the car with some wheelspin, but it never lets you get in any trouble.” That this statement it attached to a 5700-pound, nearly 18-foot-long cache of burl, Connolly leather and handcrafted pomp is reason enough to make us like it.
Bentley’s sales have increased six-fold in the last three years, due largely to the success of the new Continental, sold mostly to first-time Bentley buyers. “Old” Bentley buyers, however, are less interested in a 198-mph top speed and more interested in an ownership experience similar to that of their father and father’s father. The Arnage remains the classic Bentley saloon, available as a “standard” 450-hp R, long-wheelbase RL, or more-spirited, 500-hp T.
The T starts at $250,985, though if you throw in a champagne cooler, choose custom interior and exterior hues, and perhaps some factory grenade proofing, plan on fiddling with the number in the left-most column. If it helps paint the picture, where the average Continental buyer possesses a net worth of $3 million, the average Arnage buyer is worth some $30 million, and a popular option in the Queen’s country are sill plates emblazoned with the family crest.
Getting along in years
The nearly decade-old platform does show its age, especially when you hop from the T into the ultra-modern and capable Continental GT, but regardless Bentley will sell each and every example it builds. An all-new Arnage is coming sometime before 2010; we can assume it will have a stiffer chassis, brakes with shorter travel, more precise steering, and a better integrated electronics experience. But we hope the new car will still carry the old-world charm of the Viagra-fied Arnage T.
Nearly all Arnages are built to order. Bentley’s Mulliner coachwork division is able to handle just about any request, and the standard option list is so comprehensive that few duplicate cars are produced. Our T was swathed in quilted, rich brown leather; the interior is comely in a comforting way should your youth have been spent exploring drawing rooms, overstuffed chairs, and servants’ quarters of a Park Avenue or Mayfair residence. Think polished, knurled, burnished, and conditioned.
The huge, chromed aluminum dash vents, which rotate a full 360-degrees in their sockets, are of such mass that they could, in a pinch, be used as mortar rounds. Through these vents, the whoosh of conditioned air assumes three distinct tones for no good reason that we’re aware of other than whimsy, which is reason enough.
A single lot of wood is reserved for the book-matched veneer lining the interior of each Arnage; remaining pieces do not go into other cars, but are marked and placed in a giant humidor such that if repairs need to be made, the wood will match perfectly, otherwise an impossibility.
Follow the link for the rest of the article
First Drive: 2007 Bentley Arnage T - Performance and Craftsmanship - Car and Driver - April 2007
