Should You Buy a Used BENTLEY CONTINENTAL GT? (Test Drive & Review 2005 6.0 W12 Mulliner)

All right guys, how's it going? Welcome back. Today is going to be one of those videos where I drive around with a big dumb grin on my face as if I've had a lobotomy, because I'm in one of my all-time favourite cars, the Bentley Continental GT. To be precise, and I can't quite believe I'm going to say this, this is my Bentley Continental GT. I'd never actually driven a Continental GT before so I had no idea what to expect. Anyway, I shan't string you along any further, I may as well just come out and say it, it is without doubt the best car I've ever driven. It's luxurious, quiet, fast, powerful, smooth, exquisite, soothing, imperious, imposing. You'll run out of breath before you run out of adjectives. I'll let you in on a little secret, I've always wanted one of these cars. I've spent more hours daydreaming looking at these things on Autotrader than any other car. It's a car that can pretty much do it all. I'll tell you how I came by these cars because I feel really lucky and fortunate to have been given this opportunity. A few weeks ago I got an email from a viewer down south asking me if I'd be interested in buying both of his fast cars because he just doesn't use them anymore. I won't tell you what the other one is, I'll just let you know that it's something quite special. I'll save that for another video. It was important to him that they went to a good home, he didn't want to just sell them to Philip Schofield. I replied straight away saying thanks for the offer but I think they're out of my league. Anyway, I did a bit of research, made him what I thought was a fair offer and he accepted. So I drove down there, picked them both up and this is one of them. It's a late 2005 Bentley Continental GT and it's only done 19,000 miles. He bought it from Bentley when it was just a few months old and he's only done 15,000 miles in 15 years. It's incredible, I'd never get the chance to buy something like this ordinarily. So if you're watching, thanks very much. So this being the Mulliner edition you get a nice leather interior and nicer wheels. Everything's just that little bit more luxurious. It's a beautiful car this, the colour accommodation is stunning. I know it probably looks black on most of the photographs but it's actually midnight emerald metallic, so it's like a very dark green. It looks black most of the time until the sun hits it and then you can see all the green flakes glistening and glittering, it's something else. Every time I've considered buying one of these cars before, I mean not seriously considered but just had the idea of buying one, they've always been a cheap example, a high mileage scruffy example with more owners than a struggling Premier League football club. And I've always thought, it's typical isn't it, I've always wanted one of these cars and now finally they're sub 20 grand. I thought now they're that sort of money, I don't actually want one. I don't want to go out on a limb and scrimp and save and then end up with a scruffy one that's going to cause me a load of headaches. It would just ruin the dream for me. Also because Bentley's owned by VW, I thought if I actually buy one of these and spend some time in it, it might start to annoy me when I recognise some VW parts re-trimmed. For example the steering wheel's out of a Touareg, the dash binnacles are out of a Touareg, the window switches are the same as a Mk4 Golf, the gear selector's the same as an Audi A8, the armrests are the same as an Audi A8. Loads of bits and pieces like that you will recognise and I thought that might annoy me. I thought it might feel as though I'm driving a VW Phaeton Coupe. It doesn't by the way, not at all. I've touched on this many times before, mainly in Range Rovers and Jaguars. I always say that they make you feel like a millionaire or make you feel like a lottery winner or a successful person. Well, the Bentley doesn't do that. It's way better. It makes you feel like royalty. You drive this and I feel like the Duke of Westminster. The way it picks up speed is remarkable. It's relentless, it feels more like a jet aircraft than a car. I guarantee you will run out of tarmac before you run out of power from this engine. It's a 6.0-litre, 12-cylinder petrol engine with two turbochargers strapped on it for good measure. So it produces just over 550 horsepower. Basically the two 3.0-litre V6 Audi engines welded together, so the formation's in a W, hence the W12. It's mated to a silky smooth six-speed automatic transmission, not some complicated jerky twin-clutch affair. This is perfect. This is so comfortable and smooth and all you have to do is just tap the accelerator and you are pinned into your seat. This is, that was just a speed warning by the way, I thought it was an engine light. False alarm. The Continental GT has been around since 2003 and it was quite an important car for Bentley to get right. And they nailed it. They knocked it out of the park. It really helped them turn around the fortunes after years of living off Rolls-Royce's scraps. After decades of making re-badged Rolls-Royces for the likes of Alan Sugar and music moguls in Beverly Hills, they actually made a car that would appeal to a much wider and younger audience. And it worked. It did just that. Every footballer and rapper and wealthy person from Tokyo to Tyneside had one. This is quite an unusual car in that it was designed for both Queen Elizabeth and Queen Latifah. Also, in fact I might be making this up but I'm sure I've read this somewhere, the Continental GT is featured in more MTV music videos than any other car. It was popular with everyone. And you can see why, it's a beautiful car. It'll do 0-60 in 4.5 seconds which is a remarkable feat when you consider this car's weight. This tips the scales like a Weight Watchers meeting in January at nearly 2.5 tonnes. But it never feels heavy. I assume because of its vast weight. I thought when you get this on a country road and start to get a move on it would feel like trying to push a grand piano around a go-kart track. But it doesn't at all. It never feels like a heavy car and I think that's down to two reasons. One, the steering's nice and light so it never feels like you're trying to wrestle with something. And two, it's so powerful you just have to tickle the accelerator and you're gone. And with its adaptive suspension it actually feels quite agile. It feels like a big Jaguar. You can adjust the suspension too but why? Why would you do that? You leave it in its standard setting it's supremely comfortable and it does its thing when you try and get a move on around the corner so leave it be. Thanks to its clever suspension there's not a huge amount of body roll, it corners quite flat for a car of this size and weight. It's very impressive. So it has supercar performance without any of the supercar drawbacks. The other day I saw a Lamborghini Huracan which looked mint to be honest. It looked gorgeous. It was so eye-catching. It was red with a load of black bits on it. It's exactly how I would spec one. But it was so low to the ground and the seats looked so difficult to get in and out of. I mean which is fine if your name's Simone Biles but I think the rest of us might struggle. Whereas this you just don't have to worry. You can outgun most supercars while you're sitting here getting a massage from your heated leather seat. This is my kind of car. I love the styling from the front and from the side. From the front it's so eye-catching and ostentatious. It's borderline vulgar I must admit. But it's just so classy and regal looking. And from the side you've got those haunches over the rear wheels. It looks so muscular and aggressive looking. It has the stance of a British bulldog. The rear end isn't my favourite angle of this car. I always thought it looked quite bulbous and quite bland actually. That was later corrected with facelift versions. Oh look an old E-Type. Yeah that was later corrected with facelift versions. But the back is probably its most subtle angle. The only downside really to its styling is the fact that you do feel like a terrible show-off. But that might all be in my head because people do let you out quite easily from side junctions in this. Whereas in a Range Rover or 911 you will be there all day. When you see one parked up they do look a little bit chubby in my opinion. But when you see one on the move they look all purposeful and muscular. Almost like a muscle car actually. So on to the interior. I think the interior is a masterpiece. It's so timeless and opulent and classy. You do have to cut it some slack though because I mean this car's 15 years old. And the design of this car is 17 or 18 years old now. So things like the sat-nav are laughable actually. I think it's still lists Germany as two countries. Obviously you can't stream your music via Bluetooth either which is a bit of a shame. Instead this thing plays something called ActDisc. I don't mean either. But the rest of it is fairly timeless. And the quality. I just I'm lost for words with it because everything you touch is just so much better than any other car I've ever been in. Obviously this one's the Mulliner spec so that helps a great deal. But every single thing is wrapped in hand-stitched leather. Even the headline and it's just even the sun visors. Everything is a work of art. I even read that the steering wheel takes up to six hours of somebody actually sat there stitching it together. And when you consider this car's 15 years old there's not a creak, rattle, squeak. It's impressive. I suppose that's what you get for £120,000 when it was new. But when you consider that you can pick these up from as little as £15,000. I just I can't think of anything else you could buy for the same sort of money that would be built to this standard. The clock is made by Breitling obviously and every single button has the the weighty feel of an expensive pen. You can change the gears manually too. You've got these two paddle shifters here which stick out like Shrek's ears. But most of the time you don't see them. They're exactly where you'd need them to be though so it's quite a clever design. Every piece of leather is finely stitched and it's of the highest quality. Every piece of metal is knurled or polished. It's such an event this car every time you step inside. Don't worry by the way about all the VW bits and pieces because it really isn't an issue. They've done well to disguise them by covering everything in leather, wood or metal. I do have a couple of gripes with the interior. Now I think you probably know where this is going don't you? Yes it's the cup holders. So the cup holders are here under these armrests which means anything that you put in that cup holder fouls on the armrest so you have to make the decision between a nice latte or a nice place to rest your elbow. It's like Sophie's Choice when you're spending £120,000 on a car. I don't have to make any important decisions like that. Also one other letdown with the interior. There's no heated steering wheel as standard. Now I think that's terrible on a car of this value. You might think a heated steering wheel is just a modern fad but I've had 2002 Range Rovers which have had heated steering wheels as standard and yet this Bentley doesn't. This car's also all-wheel drive which is really reassuring as you're throwing it into these bends. Interior space is pretty good, you've got plenty of storage, plenty of storage compartments, the visibility is pretty good. You feel like you're in something quite big and then when you actually get out and wander around it it's not that big. It's no bigger than a Jaguar XK really. You get two seats back there which are bigger than the seats you'd find in an XK or a 911. You wouldn't want to go on a long trip sat back there but they're better than most. The boot is very spacious too and it opens really cleverly, you just have to tap the Flying B logo and it pops open. The bonnet opens in a similar way actually. You pull the Flying B logo up and then all is revealed. Now just because you can buy a Bentley for the same price as a new Fiesta doesn't mean that you're going to get new Fiesta running costs. That kind of goes without saying. So we'd better talk about running costs hadn't we. I'm guessing if you're in the market for one of these cars you probably fancy one as a weekend car, just a bit of a toy really, just for going on weekend trips away, things like that. And that's fine, that's what it's made for. If you do 25,000 miles a year for work or you're thinking of doing a bit of Uber driving in your spare time then this obviously isn't the car for you. But so far I've actually been pleasantly surprised with the running costs. Seriously, I was expecting this to be terrible on fuel, appalling. I've read loads of reviews that say you'll get single digit mpg. That just hasn't been the case. It costs just over £100 to fill the tank with premium fuel. Don't ever by the way use cheapskate fuel because it will ping on an engine light. Spark plugs and coil packs are quite sensitive in this car. Round town you'll do 14-15 miles per gallon and on a motorway run, well on the way back from Devon recently, this thing averaged 22.8. I was quite impressed with that. It certainly isn't the single digit mpg that I was expecting. And if you're thinking of buying one of these cars then you need to know what to expect so please don't turn into one of those moaning minis about fuel. I see these kinds of people at work all the time. Is it a 16 or a 2 litre? Oh it's a 2 litre, oof. Oh no, I'm not going to touch one of those. You know my mate, he had a Granada injection 2.8. Oi, we're a thirsty bugger. You put your foot down, you can see the fuel gauge moving. Well, no you couldn't, so shut it and get off my forecourt. What happened there? Don't know where that came from. But all in all, in exchange for being able to drive a Bentley, I don't think 14-15 miles per gallon is that bad. I know we're in 2020 and that probably sounds terrible doesn't it but this isn't the car that you're going to use every day is it? You're just going to take it for a blast on a Sunday like this. Right we're going on a detour ladies and gents, never been down here before. This car is astonishing. Road tax is a bit of a bargain too because this is a pre-2006 model, it's only £330 a year, not the £585 that you'll pay for one from 2006 onwards. So that's not too bad, I mean you can set up a direct debit for that for £28 a month. Servicing costs aren't too bad either. Now I've booked this in with Bentley Manchester for a full service because although it's only done I think 3,000 miles since its last service, time-wise it's due one, so I thought I'd get it done by the professionals. What I'm about to say now will probably make me sound like one of those out-of-touch politicians who doesn't know the price of a pint of milk and you'll probably balk at the figure but for a full service at a Bentley main agent I'll just tell you the price, it's £1,195 which I thought was quite reasonable. Bentley are quite good in that they do fix price servicing for their older cars so for a minor service I think it's about £700 and for a full service it's just under £1,200. They'll come out and pick the car up for you and drop it back to you and so far everyone I've dealt with at Bentley have been so friendly and helpful they really can't do enough for you, quite opposite from the experiences that I get when I call Vauxhall or Citroen or Peugeot. Hello can I speak to parts please? What? You want parts? Hang on, they're not in it a minute. All right okay, could you ask them to call me back then maybe? What? I'm on my lunch in a minute. All right then, I'll try again later then shall I? Whereas at Bentley it's all hello Mr Goodwin would you like us to pick up the car from yourself sir or... Of course you could service this car yourself or take it to your local garage for a fraction of that cost but I just thought I mean this car is so nice I would just keep up the Bentley main dealer service history and eventually when I come to sell it it will help its case. On a 19,000 mile Bentley like this I didn't want to get it done on my driveway by Bob's Mobile Mechanic. Another positive is you only need to service these cars every 10,000 miles. This isn't some fussy princess that needs an oil change every 2,500 miles. Parts will be expensive I'm sure when something goes wrong but as I mentioned with the SL video that I filmed with the other day they've made that many of these cars and they've been around for that long that you'll be able to find most replacement parts in scrapyards or on eBay or there'll be replica copied parts on the internet so I wouldn't be too frightened by the cost of parts. Obviously if you go to a Bentley main dealer for every last little part then be prepared to spend a fortune but there are clever ways to run one of these cars plus when something does go wrong from time to time there are plenty of owners clubs and forums that you can join and they will guide you through every little situation. I'm sure it'll be nothing that other members haven't experienced before. I could go into common issues with this car but I'm not going to for two main reasons. One I could do a separate video on that to be honest couldn't I because I imagine there will be lots of common issues but secondly and more importantly I think it would be a little bit unfair because I mean the car's 15 years old now so parts will start to fail and deteriorate I mean it's just just part and parcel of owning a 15 year old car the same thing will happen with my M3 and anything else that I own you've got to expect that you know things like bonnet struts, window regulators, turbos even things like that they could go wrong but I think it would be unfair on the car to say oh I wouldn't buy one of those because your passenger side window regulator might fail and get one on eBay. My best advice really would be find a decent specialist and just stick with them they're likely to know the car like the back of their hand and they will be able to advise you and try and save you some money here or there but I certainly wouldn't let it put me off buying one. I mean this is a dream car for many and you don't want to find yourself at the pearly gates and think god I wish I'd bought one of those Bentleys but I didn't because well because Tyler Hoover bought one once that wasn't very good do you know what I mean if it's your dream car go and get one this is one of those cars this is a this is a YOLO car I mean fundamentally what you're in is a large VW with lots of VW and Audi parts so it shouldn't be all bad news should it you would expect the build quality to be pretty good. One thing to mention though one important thing now this is sort of a it's a victim of its own design or success really because this isn't the kind of car that you're going to use every day and when you leave them sitting and don't use them the batteries can go flat and they have two batteries so the best thing or the best advice I can give you is buy yourself a decent trickle charger and just leave it on a trickle charge because when the batteries run low it will throw up the odd error message and probably frighten you to death so it's important to remember that this is a YOLO car you only live once it's one of those things that you might just have to buy just to get out of your system and I get that I'm exactly the same it's not as if you're thinking right I need to buy a car should I buy a 15 year old Bentley or buy a brand new Toyota Yaris nobody's ever going to take that you're obviously after something a little bit special so you've got to expect the odd special bill now and then and if you're not prepared to deal with that then don't buy one there are lots of used examples out there from as little as £15,000 my honest advice would be steer clear of those cheap ones you're going to need to spend about £22 or £23 to get yourself a decent one that's true of all luxury cars never buy the cheapest you'd be surprised how many people ask me for advice and then two weeks later they get in touch they've bought the cheapest thing and they've been ripped off or it's just a complete lemon I think well what did you expect it's human nature at the end of the day people can't get it into their head that you're better off spending a little bit more so you don't have to spend as much in repairs rather than just buying the cheapest thing you can find a friend of mine was recently looking for one of these cars so he'd occasionally send me a message with a registration number for a Bentley GT that he'd seen and asked me if I'd HPI it to make sure that it hadn't been rolled written off or there was a load of finance outstanding on it and every single one I mean I presume he was looking at the cheapest ones all the time but every single one was just hilarious to report back because they'd always I mean some had had five colour changes another one that I'd seen had had 18 owners and then there was another one which was actually wanted by the police so if you only take one snippet of advice from me let it be that don't buy the cheapest ever because it isn't it's so short-sighted you need to buy the nicest one you can afford preferably from somebody with an OBE and electric gates rather than somebody that you meet in a Tesco car park well yeah but it was cheap Matt basically the most important question you can ask when you enquire about a Bentley is are you a member of the National Trust that will separate the wheat from the chaff quite simple really so there's my buying advice in a nutshell look for a low owner low mileage example with lots of Bentley service history or at least Bentley specialist service history preferably from somebody called Hugo Poshington Farquhar and also go for a Mulliner don't be a cheapskate this is a Bentley this might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity so buy a Mulliner you could also go for the Flying Spur the four-door saloon version but I think they look like a wedding car you could also go for a convertible which I think are gorgeous but you'll pay a 10 grand premium for one of those and I'm not sure it's worth it I just can't think of a better car that you can buy for around £20,000 a 550 horsepower four-wheel drive luxury opulent coupe this is as good as it gets I was going to say let me know in the comments if you can think of something better for the same sort of money but you're just wasting your time because there isn't anything with this you get supercar performance with Dorchester refinement a Savoy experience for Savoy money plus you have the soulful hum of a W12 which you just can't beat I'm fortunate enough to have had lots of nice cars in my lifetime lots of lovely cars in fact but well to paraphrase Sinead O'Connor nothing compares to this it's like flying everywhere your whole life in economy and then suddenly just that one time being able to turn left into business it's like being a fan of Stockport County your whole life and then suddenly going to see Manchester City play under Guardiola while we're on fire it is that good one last thing before I go if you do feel brave enough to buy one of these cars please I beg you don't refer to it as a Conti I've heard people do this it just makes you sound like a right Conti so thanks for watching I'll see you next time cheers guys