Should You Buy a (13-Year-Old) Bentley Arnage? YES!

This post is a response to the the following Jalopnik article by Doug DeMuro:
If I Buy a 13-Year-Old Bentley Arnage, Will It Destroy My Life?

Dear Doug,

I read your article about avoiding the Bentley Arnage and let me tell you: I accept your challenge. I know you didn’t offer a challenge, but I accept it anyway. I’ve been looking to purchase a Bentley Arnage for a while now and this article was the motivation I needed to pull the trigger. Let me start off by saying I’m not a rich guy who can just purchase a car like this without having to worry about the financial expenses. I have a normal job, normal income, 2.5 kids, and a nervous wife. But I’m willing to bet (and it’s a pretty big gamble) that your theory is wrong and that everybody needs to buy a Bentley Arnage.

These cars cost $250,000 when they were new and that they have suffered a major depreciation hit. It’s my guess that the value of these cars has near-bottomed out. Most of the depreciation has already happened, and future depreciation will be at a slower pace, a MUCH slower pace. After one or two years of ownership, I should be able to sell the car on for close to what I paid.

So far I’ve looked at a few Arnages. There have been three serious candidates. I found the first one on an eBay auction at no reserve; it was located in California. After I paid for and arranged a pre-purchase inspection (PPI), the seller ended up bidding on (and winning) his own auction. Strike one. The second car I considered was located in Minnesota. Instead of a pre-purchase inspection, I decided to look at the car in person (a plane ticket costs as much as a PPI). Unfortunately, it was in bad shape. It was a 2003 with 50,000 miles. The body was beat up, it had paint chips, dents, dings, and a funky smell. It also needed some serious mechanical work. The engine was leaking like a bag of mud. The previous owner had driven this car hard. Strike two. The most recent Bentley that I inspected was the exact opposite. It was a 2004 Bentley Arnage T-24 Mulliner. This car had almost 30,000 miles and was in almost perfect condition. This is the car I am going to buy.

I want to make the point that there’s a lot of bad information about this car and that service makes it unattainable for mere mortals. One of the things I really like about this car is that it is more car than computer. This is a car that you can work on. This is probably one of the last cars that you can work on. It’s a not a dying breed, it’s a dead breed. I can’t imagine the owner of any modern luxury car having the audacity to tackle a check engine light.

So while the horror stories on the internet are out there about the crazy repair costs, I would say they are mostly exaggerated. If you researched almost any product on the internet, you stumble upon a disproportionate amount of horror stories. It’s always the people who’ve had the bad experience that make the most noise. I am guilty of this myself. When I had a horrible experience using Uber, I felt compelled to make my negative experience known. Even though I have used Uber plenty of times in the past without any issues, it was the one bad experience that I spoke up about.

I also find it interesting that actual owners defend this car as reliable, yet few of the horror stories I read are from actual owners. The engine has been around since the 1950s. The transmission is a GM 4-speed found in hundreds of thousands of vehicles (maybe millions). This is a good recipe for reliability.

So what does this mean? What is the next course of action for me? Obviously, I need to buy a Bentley Arnage. I need to buy a 13 year old Bentley Arnage. And I need to let everybody know what a great car it is. I hope I’m right because the risks are high, but so is the potential for reward.

So, in the style of your Aston Martin series, I will purchase an exotic car, the Bentley Arnage, for less than $50,000 and keep it for a year or two and share my experience. When you posted your video requesting which type of car you should consider for your $50,000 purchase, I tweeted that you should purchase the Bentley Arnage. And amazingly, that tweet was liked by almost three people! So clearly, I have my finger on the pulse of what the public wants to see.

This week, I plan to take possession of a 13 year old Bentley Arnage T, and we will see how accurate your doomsday theory is. We will see how practical this vehicle will be. If this ends up being a total fail for me, at least I had fun trying.

Love Always,

Josh