Ownership Costs After 1 Year | Owning A Bentley Arnage - Episode 15

hey guys I'm the backseat of Bentley today I want to talk about how it's been over a year since I accepted the challenge the imaginary challenge thrown down by Doug De Niro about the dangers the financial pitfalls of owning a Bentley Arnage that's well over a decade old and frightfully out of warranty despite the warnings of friends family a mechanic urban legends and countless internet commenters I decided to take the plunge with no regard for my middle-class income status I purchased this immensely depreciated 2004 Bentley Arnage T in the late summer of 2016 this would be one of the most life-altering decisions I've ever made first let's discuss the vulgar matter of the expenses now when new this car cost more than two hundred and fifty thousand dollars fortunately for me old man depreciation waved his magic wand and twelve years later the car's value was in reach of a mere mortal such as myself I purchased this Bentley Arnage with less than thirty thousand miles on the odometer for just under fifty thousand dollars all in tax title license and delivery so since I was able to afford the initial entry fee into the belly ownership club the next big hurdle was ongoing maintenance and repairs it's been over a year but I'm happy to say repair and maintenance costs have been surprisingly less than most YouTube commenters think to date I've only had two unscheduled trips to my local Bentley specialist the first visit was for a low coolant light on the dashboard I took the car to the shop to make sure there were no leaks or major issues because I plan to take the car on a 500-mile road trip the following week after a brief investigation by my Bentley expert it was determined that the low coolant light was due to low coolant there were no leaks no problems and it received a clean bill of health I also went ahead and did an oil change and cool and flush and got some miscellaneous parts while I was there all in this trip set me back about five hundred dollars the second unscheduled visit to the specialist was for a rough idle that triggered a dreadful check engine light the mechanic ran a diagnostic scan and determined that the engine was running rich or it might have been lean I don't know I wasn't paying attention I was too nervous about how much it was going to cost to fix his solution run a bottle of seafoam through the gas tank amazingly not only did that fix the rough idle but the car than the day and arrived the problem could have been due to moisture in the fuel system or dirty sensor the Bentley specialist cleared the fault code and the check engine light hasn't been on since the bill was for one hour of labor plus the can of fuel cleaner other than these two shop visits all other maintenance and repair items have been affordable DIY projects all wonderfully documented on my youtube channel using parts easily sourced from Bentley rolls-royce specialist shops online I've replaced the cars pollen filters and cabin filters for under a hundred bucks a dealership would charge over seven hundred dollars for that exact same project after getting a bit more confidence I even managed to repair a faulty coolant level sensor for less than one hundred and fifty dollars and you can check out the videos for all these maintenance items so for all you mathletes out there the total maintenance and repair costs on this car haven't even topped a thousand dollars that's on par with my 2006 Infiniti M 45 which needs about a grands worth of maintenance right now I do have a couple expensive maintenance items on the horizon that will put the Bentley back in the specialist garage but many of the Arnage owners that I've met along this journey have assured me that these two are also viable DIY projects so since we've established that this car hasn't yet ruined me financially let's talk about some of the positive aspects about owning this car yes it's fun luxurious powerful and exciting but this car is about a lifestyle experience the excitement doesn't stop once you shut the key off this car gives you a presence whenever you arrive at your destination sure we car guys know it's the same price of a nicely equipped Lexus es350 but the rest of the world is convinced that somebody important is probably behind the wheel but it's just me [Music] this brings me to the first aspect of the Bentley lifestyle that I've adopted this car is a confidence booster in the initial months of ownership I made the comment that I felt like an impostor when I was driving this car this car was intended for the super-rich and today it still carries that vibe but my salary is comparable to what the super-rich probably spend on pool maintenance it was never my intention to buy a car to portray some image of success I just wanted a truly exceptional automobile I mean what car guy doesn't want 450 horsepower and 645 foot-pounds of torque but somewhere along the way the lines of fantasy and reality started to blur don't worry I haven't become a jerk or anything my initial explanation for this newfound confidence was that maybe people were thinking that I was important because I was driving this car but on the other side of that argument people could also be thinking I'm a greedy no-good one-percenter jerk so that wouldn't be very confident inspiring this train of thought trying to guess what other people were thinking became exhausting once I stopped trying to guess people's assumptions good or bad I started to enjoy the experience more this eventual I don't care what you think mindset has led to a more confident and a more enjoyable experience another example of the Bentley lifestyle that I've adopted is the VIP valet experience now I know there's a divide among car guys whether valet is good or bad but I am now strongly and deeply entrenched into the camp that valet is good even though the car is well over a decade old it still commands a presence in front of a hotel or restaurant even when park next to the latest from BMW or Mercedes Benz it only took a couple visits to my new favorite restaurant before the valet attendant started to greet me by name the next time you want to impress a date boss a future father-in-law pull up to a nice restaurant in your Bentley Arnage and have the valet greet you with welcome back mr. krycek I had to struggle to keep my cool the first time that happened and it continues to happen perhaps the most unforeseen and damaging expense of my Bentley ownership is the increase to my dining out budget the VIP treatment is so addictive but so worth it maybe this car still has the potential to ruin me financially but in a way I never expected another nice factor of the Bentley experience is exclusivity sightings on the road are rare it recently dawned on me that before purchase the car I've only seen this car one time in the wild as an avid car watcher that's a pretty stunning admission now I've seen more examples of the modern Ferrari laferrari on the road than the well aged Bentley Arnage or her stablemate the rolls-royce Silver Seraph this exclusivity does have a downside though the online Arnage community is not as robust compared to other auto enthusiast groups but I predict this will change as the Arnage continues to depreciate and falls into the hands of more enthusiasts who enjoy wrenching their own cars without a doubt purchasing this Arnage has been one of the most exciting and rewarding things I have ever done and I'm not ready to give it up yet recently while sitting at a red light a Chrysler 300 crossed the intersection and my preschool aged child made this comment so clearly I still have a lot of teaching to do but Bentley Arnage has proven itself capable reliable and far less expensive to maintain than legend warns it has also been more immensely fun than I ever imagined in some of the most unpredictable ways when it comes to luxury style and yes even practicality I'm convinced that Bentley Arnage is one of the best-kept secrets in the automotive world for these reasons I'm doubling down on this gamble and I'm gonna keep the Arnage in my garage for another year it's time to see what year two has in store will the big one finally hit that catastrophic annika breakdown that destined to financially ruin me I'm betting though the days of letting a rational fear spurred on by exaggeration and misinformation are in the path we shouldn't let this fear us from driving the cars we are passionate about and I'll set out to prove this again in year two [Music] hope you guys enjoyed the video and the update be sure to subscribe the channel if you have not already I've got some more videos coming out I'm gonna answer some questions how to get about does the Bentley Arnage attract women and I've also got the buyers guide coming out soon so subscribe for that if you want to see any of the how to check them out on the channel thanks for watching give it a thumbs up and we'll see you in the next one

Channel: JoshsWorld.com

Views: 445,222

Keywords: bentley, ownership, arnage, cost, expenses, maintenance, repairs, DIY, finances, exotic car, arnage t, rolls-royce, silver seraph, depreciation

Id: JQo3SrCKFXM

Length: 8min 10sec (490 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 02 2017