How Much Does it Cost to Daily Drive a 33 Year-Old Bentley for a Year? - TheSmokingTire

Hey everybody, welcome to Westside Collector Car Storage, where it has been exactly a year since I sat in the trunk of my Bentley Turbo R and told you how I thought it was going to go. Well, it went worse. It went a lot more money's worse. Folks, this video is about one thing and one thing only. How much cash it took to keep a 1991 Bentley running perfectly for daily driver duty. First, let me frame this math for you a little bit. It cost me around $10,000 a year to lease a mid-level crossover. Now that was in 2021. It's probably a little cheaper now that EVs are, but that was my baseline. So $10,000 per year. Would it cost more or less than that to drive a much cooler car around Los Angeles every day? That was the question, and would I get stranded was the other. I'm going to take the second part first. No! I didn't get stranded. So ha! A lot of people thought I was going to get stranded, and I did not get stranded. My wife did not get stranded. As a matter of fact, over 4,800 miles, which it doesn't sound like a lot if you're from a lot of places, but here in LA, the time spent in your car is a lot, but the distance traveled is not that much. So a lot of our errand running was within a few miles, even though it took 20 or 30 minutes. That's why the low number. Now, just because it didn't leave me stranded doesn't mean it didn't cost me money. The Turbo R had to go to Charlie Agapu Rolls-Royce Bentley Limited seven times in 12 months. Fortunately, Charlie stocks parts, and so it didn't have to stay there for very long. I usually got it back within two or three days, which would be good for a Porsche dealer, let alone a vintage Bentley repair shop. That is quite good, and this is not an ad. I paid retail, but I love him anyway. So the first time it went there, we actually talked about in that original video. That was the major service. This car was a one-owner car and was driven and serviced very regularly until about 2021, when the original owner died or got too sick to drive it. He eventually died in 2023, and that's when I bought the car from his kids. So for two years, it kind of sat. So it needed a big freshening, which was $12,500. Then we started driving. A week later, the steering rack seals went, and I had to replace the entire steering rack, which was $2,600. Charlie said, and I quote, Be happy you don't have a Mulsanne, mate. They're 12 grand. So there's your consumer top tip. Be glad you have a Turbo R and not a Mulsanne when replacing the steering rack. A couple of months later, I got a light, faint smell of coolant while I was driving. There were no leaks, no drips. The level was fine. I checked it regularly, but the plastic coolant expansion tank, which was 34 years old, had a fine hairline crack around the cap. It bothered me, and I replaced it, and that was $1,249. Oh, no, the coolant tank was cheap. I did that, and I also had to repair the third power window. The power window motors have these rubber gears that make them run unbelievably smoothly. But as the car was of a certain age, all of them were dry rotted. So when I started using the windows, they all went. I had to go back a week later because the last window went, and that was $660. So I have now replaced $2,500 in window seals that you only have to do once every 30 years. That's good. It then went in for the 4,000 mile service, which was an oil change and filter, trans service, differential service, and also the rear gas shocks, it turns out, were leaking. So we replaced those. $2,180. Couple weeks later, I found two little drops of oil on my driveway. And my driveway is very light, and it's new, so you see oil. And I thought, that was weird. When I saw the third drop of oil, I took it to Charlie. Turns out, the brake booster was leaking. Replaced it, $812. Now, a few of these things, the windows, the crack in the coolant tank, the brake booster, which was working but leaking, the shocks, which were working but leaking, any one of those things could have been not handled immediately. You could have kept an eye on it. You could have been comfortable with drips, things like that, until they got worse. But the fact is, I put my wife in my car, who is a car enthusiast in terms of, she likes it, but not an analyst of what might be going wrong and whatever. As you might understand, I wanted the car to be 100% tip top at all times, because if it wasn't, and something happened where she was hurt, I literally would not be able to forgive myself. So no expense spared, because my wife's safety is worth it. Lastly, as we were preparing the car for sale, as we reached the very end of the year, I noticed something funny in the steering. It felt almost like there were little grains of sand in the steering that were creating a bit of friction. Steering worked fine otherwise, but there was a bit of friction. And I took it to Charlie, and as it turns out, there's a plastic bushing in the steering shaft. It's very old, it's cracked, little pieces came off, and were rummaging around and causing even more damage. Not only does Bentley not make the part, Bentley never made the part. In order to fix it, you have to replace the steering column. And that was $2,351. So, all these bullets I have bitten for you, or actually, for the next owner of the car. Because in the year 2024, I spent $22,931 maintaining this car. I also spent $519 on insurance, and $1,900 on gas. 12 miles a gallon. That's 400 gallons in a year of 91. Having said that, I think going forward, the next person who buys this car, because I have really done all the big things, can realistically expect $5,000 to $6,000 a year for the next five or six years on average with regular use. And that is the last thing. A turbo R does need to be used regularly. Otherwise, the brake and suspension systems, which are hydraulic, don't get pressurized enough and start to leak. So, I really recommend, if you own a turbo R, to drive it a lot. My 4,800 miles in 12 months should be a starting point, not an aspiration. These things work really well when they're driven a lot. And pretty much everything that went wrong in my car, went wrong because it was 30 years old and just would need replacing eventually. I'm sure there's more stuff that will, but it's stout, it's put together impeccably well, it's leather and wood and deep carpet and heavy-duty everything, and it's fine in traffic, it loves the highway, and it even turns pretty well. It's been a fun ownership experience, but my wife and I have decided to go back to an EV, which is why we are listing this thing at no reserve on Cars and Bids. In fact, its next stop is to San Diego, where Daddy Doug is going to review it before it goes up for sale, and you will be able to take it home. It's been a fun ride, and we'll see you in 2025 with a very depreciated electric Porsche Taycan. Thanks for watching. And remember, always fight your tickets on the off-the-record app available in the Android and iOS store, or go to offtherecord.com.