Can you buy an everyday car that will increase in value ?

[biggbn]

CAR reader since late seventies, it was a wonderful magazine with many fine writers, but setright was in a class of his own. A proper English eccentric.

[straightsix]

Autotraders full of everyday bentleys at rock bottom money ...You just can't give them away these days

[360beast]

You can’t give bentleys away because they are rubbish. I work on them every day and it is shocking just how badly they are made. Poor build quality (rust badly, engines leak like a sieve, electrical faults).

They are stupidly expensive to run, I drove a continental GT like a granny and got 18mpg.

We had a crashed mulliner thing in and it wouldn’t run due to a sensor in the wing. Bentley price nearly £1000 we looked up the part number, it was the same as in a Ford Fiesta, bought it for £25 from them and it ran.

I find them boring to drive, they have no spark and the Continental GT’s are so loud on start up it is horrible. The V8 ones sound glorious but the W12 sounds so boring.

Arnage’s rust like there is no tomorrow, same for the azure’s.

Basically you couldn’t pay me to own a RR/Bentley.

[Dtmorgan]

The only car I’ve owned which I know is worth more now than when I sold it is a Honda S2000. I sold mine 3 years ago for £8500 and they’re now going for for £11000+, depending on mileage. Thanks to the 240 bhp RWD, wet handling was always interesting and it means the S2000 gets rarer every winter. Lots of owners used them as daily drives.

[KerPLoD]

Originally Posted by 360beast

You can’t give bentleys away because they are rubbish. I work on them every day and it is shocking just how badly they are made. Poor build quality (rust badly, engines leak like a sieve, electrical faults).

They are stupidly expensive to run, I drove a continental GT like a granny and got 18mpg.

We had a crashed mulliner thing in and it wouldn’t run due to a sensor in the wing. Bentley price nearly £1000 we looked up the part number, it was the same as in a Ford Fiesta, bought it for £25 from them and it ran.

I find them boring to drive, they have no spark and the Continental GT’s are so loud on start up it is horrible. The V8 ones sound glorious but the W12 sounds so boring.

Arnage’s rust like there is no tomorrow, same for the azure’s.

Basically you couldn’t pay me to own a RR/Bentley.

My former boss (complete arse) took me out in his 2006 Continental GTC W12 and gunned it a few times. It sounded - I kid you not - exactly like my 3-cylinder Corsa does on the revs with its stainless steel exhaust.

Now I'll concede, my Corsa does not have 552BHP. But it does get 50 to the gallon, and costs a damn sight less to buy and repair. As for comfort... well, I deliberately own a Corsa so clearly I don't care very much about comfort. Build quality's probably on par though

[biggbn]

They always look hewn from granite the big Bentley coupes. A friend of mine has a brand new one in a beautiful bright metallic blue. I have not seen it in the metal yet but any time I have been up close and personal with one they have impressed me!!

[KerPLoD]

The newer Bentleys really aren't my cup of tea. Too vulgar and bulbous.

I like the statesmanlike boxy look of the older Bentleys and Rollers, even if they are hell to keep on the road.

[The Landshark]

I reckon the VW Corrados have to be worth a look. Especially the VR6 models.
I'm quite happy with the Mini Pickup Mk1 i paid €300 for a few years ago. Needed a bit of welding but they're making stupid money now.

[stephend]

Originally Posted by biggbn

Renault avantime?

A friend of mine who's a big Renault fan (he worked at a Renault dealership for many years) has an Avantime. Gotta say, I was very impressed when I saw it. To my eye, it looks far better in the metal than it ever does in photos. And sitting behind the wheel, I loved the commanding view and the feeling of being in the Captain's command chair.

Originally Posted by biggbn

Will track it down. You are right, Citroen had great ambitions for xm but they did not come to fruition. I loved mine. Worth tracking down a column Russel bulgin wrote for car magazine outlining why it failed here. He was a really good writer, though just short of Bishop, Llewellyn and cropley, and well short of the inestimable ljks, but then who wasn't?!

LJKS, I recall, was a big advocate of automatic transmission. As a recent convert myself, I find I agree with him!

[biggbn]

Smart roadster? I have owned four smart 450 for two, including a brabus, roadster still an itch that needs scratched. Maybe soon.