Today’s Nice Price or No Dice Bentley shares its underpinnings with the Volkswagen Phaeton but offers something the failed VW halo car never did — a raisable roof. Let’s see if that, and appreciably low miles, can make its price something that gets a rise too.
Based on the comments, many of you had trouble wrapping your heads around the point behind last Friday’s 2002 Ford F-150 SVT Lightning. That whole idea of a “sporty pickup” was something few of you were willing to accept at face value.
I’m going to give you that, but in explanation of the model’s existence let’s just note that Ford will leave no stone unturned in its effort to keep the F-Series solidly in place as America’s number one selling vehicle. Over the years, those efforts have included fancy trucks, hair-shirt working trucks, and, as we saw on Friday, sporty trucks.
The F-Series has reminded the best seller, year after year, but at $17,500, last Friday’s Lightning couldn’t overcome your overarching animus with the result being a no-sale based on its 74 percent No Dice vote.
Ok, so the F-Series is the best-selling vehicle in the country. So what? Even though you can option them to the hilt and make them as fancy and expensive as pretty much anything out there, that still means you’re likely to see one on each and every corner, much the way Elmer Fudd sees “millions and millions of wabbits” in his Bugs Bunny induced nightmare. Who the hell wants to live in a world like that?
Instead, wouldn’t you rather drive a vehicle with a high-enough initial cost and low enough production numbers to make you feel a bit… oh I don’t know, exclusive?
This 2007 Bentley Continental GTC is a car that was really expensive when it was new. As such, you’re not going see one on every corner. Yes, you will see them represented in every country club parking lot and probably every other driveway in places like Beverly Hills and the Hamptons, but let’s not go nuts here, ok?
The Continental was Bentley’s first product under Volkswagen’s ownership and leveraged a lot of that brand’s parts department in its construction. In fact, this generation and the infamous Volkswagen Phaeton are more than just kissing cousins under the skin.
Popping the bonnet — which sadly, this car’s seller fails to do — will reveal the same six-liter W12 engine as in the top models of the Volkswagen. Here in the Bentley, however, it’s sporting two turbochargers and all the related plumbing necessary to make that 12 a capital W. With the turbos, it offers up a ground-churning 552 horsepower and 479 lb-ft of torque. With the standard AWD system, that engine can fling the GTC’s 5,478 pounds to sixty in just a hair over five seconds. It can further push the car to a 195 mile per hour top speed (or 189 if you’re brave enough to test that limit with the top down.)
This all comes at a price, the most obvious of which is really shitty fuel economy. On premium. The other is expected maintenance needs that will require a willing bank account and likely a shop that offers a loaner car.
This 51,000-mile GTC addresses that latter concern by having enjoyed recent maintenance that the seller says was to the tune of about $4,000. That work included A/C repair, the replacement of some worn suspension components, and new 275/35ZR 20 Cosmo MuchoMacho tires mounted to the Bentley’s chrome-plated factory wheels. And yes, there really are tires branded MuchoMacho. Who knew?
Another plus here, at least according to the seller, is the car’s color combination. The ad’s description says the dark sapphire blue over biscuit leather interior with a blue canvas top is “the best color combination.” While that superlative is debatable, there’s no questioning just how handsome the car underneath appears. I would further aver that this, the first generation of Continental, is the best looking. In my not-so-humble opinion, everything that has followed has gotten progressively more garish.
Along with that seemingly desirable color combo, the car appears to be in excellent shape, at least visually. There are a couple of clues in the ad that might rain on any prospective buyer’s parade. One is the seller’s recent reduction in asking from the original $52,900 to a fire-sale price of $49,999. The other is the ad’s admonition that the car is being sold “AS IS.” At least that as-is includes a clear title.
What’s your take on this best color combo Bentley and that recently reduced $49,999 price? Does seem like a fair deal to get your fancy on? Or, are just there too many questions that could color your decision?
You decide!
Miami, Florida, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to FauxShizzle for the hookup!
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