Launched in 2005, the Bentley Continental Flying Spur cost £133,200. Today, you can have this sibling saloon to the GT coupé on your drive for just £17,500.
That’s what one private seller is asking for their 2005/55-reg Spur. It has done a healthy 97,000 miles, as distinct from an unhealthy 30,000 miles or so shuffling around London. For the past seven years, it has been maintained by a Bentley specialist and the seller has every invoice detailing work done. Recent jobs have included new front upper suspension arms and air struts.
With potentially ruinously expensive cars such as an old Spur, the trick to buying a good one is that it has not only full main or specialist service history but also evidence of obsessively careful stewardship. On that point, it’s reassuring to see that the seller of this Spur has gone to the trouble of renewing its two ignition keys, which, they say, were looking “tatty”. They also had the wheels refurbished and overmats replaced. Perhaps the most reassuring thing of all, though, is that the experience of owning an old Spur has been so positive that they’re looking to repeat it with a newer model…
It’s got to be worth a look if only to raise the bonnet and gaze upon its magnificent 553bhp 6.0-litre twin-turbo W12. It produces 479lb ft at just 1600rpm, a combination guaranteed to provide the smoothest, most unruffled progress. On the other hand, if you need to shake off the hoi polloi, it can spring to attention and hurl you from standstill to 62mph in 4.9sec on its way to 190mph.
Drive goes to all four wheels via a six-speed ZF automatic gearbox. The system favours the rear wheels, so with lightweight, multi-link suspension and self-levelling air springs providing poise and controllability, and huge 405mm disc brakes the stopping power, this 2.5-tonne leviathan can really cut some shapes.
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Follow Up Please...
Please please follow up with someone who actually buys one of these for £20K and then the actual running costs! My friend bought an M5 V10 as a 'bargain' . First month needed new pads and discs. £1750 later.......
Deputy wrote:
pads+discs, is that front and rear? Because in that case it is not expensive, for that kind of automobile. It is also consumables, and if your friend cant even afford relatively inexpensive consumables but buys a car of M5 V10 magnitude he is a real moron.
Well Said!
As Deputy says, lets get follow up. I like Autocar's idea with these pieces, if you 'love' cars then you probably appreciate the quality in a Bentley (on many levels) and the ability to buy one for say Mondeo or Accord money easily titillates. But why not have the 'expert specialist garage' provide some actual 3-4yr running costs from actual punters who took the plunge. Anyone can trawl through multiple online websites and see these cars can be bought cheaply, but as Deputy and others state - that's not the issue. A little more work and Autocar could be onto a winner?
Only if...
Only if a car like that comes with a driver.
I would never drive myself in a car like that, I would look like a hired driver.
Yes please and no thanks in
Yes please and no thanks in equal measures, assuming I could afford a new fiesta or focus, which I can't, I would love this as an alternative but affording to buy and affording to run and maintain are two totally different things, the next time you do a buyers guide on one of these you will probably mention that as they've fallen into an affordable purchase price look out for lack of maintenance by those that couldn't afford it.
So yes I'd love one but no I couldn't and wouldn't afford to run one.