Bentley has long been near the pinnacle of luxury and performance, with pricing that also befits that position. Today’s Nice Price or No Dice Arnage is cheaper than a Camry but is it cheap enough to bring the power to the people?
So I just finished watching Mare of Easttown over on the HBO. Overall I was enraptured by the story and more so by Kate Winslet’s gritty performance. There was one thing, however, that took me out of the moment during a few of the show’s seven episodes. That was the choice to have the Dylan Hinchey character — a teenager living in a lower-middle-class town — roll around in a restored first-generation Ford Bronco. Either the producers don’t know what such a whip would cost, or they were trying to make some inscrutable plot point by the seemingly out-of-character choice.
We may never know the rationale behind the Bronco, but I think Dylan’s character would have been much more believable if he had driven instead, a truck like yesterday’s 1946 Willys-Overland CJ2A. Of course, with a $14,900 asking price, yesterday’s Jeep was also at the high end of a teen driver’s likely price range. Many of you felt it was out of your range too — at least for the truck as it was presented — and dunned it with a 74 percent No Dice loss.
Now, when you’re a teenager, what you really want as a car that stands out and makes a statement. That makes today’s 2001 Bentley Arnage Red Label such a good choice for a high-school-age driver’s ride. Seriously, you roll up to class in this silver over luscious red and grey super sedan people will finally stop talking about that time you sharted yourself in third grade. That’s right, you’d finally shed that shart kid moniker and would henceforth be known as either Bentley Boy or Arnage Girl, depending on what’s in your trousers.
Most teenagers have probably never even seen whitewall tires either so this Bentley’s meats — which appear to be Vogue White/Gold Custom Built radials — should have them flocking to the car for wheel selfies and Rim-stagrams.
It should be noted, however, that unlike Trix, this Bentley isn’t just for kids. With just a mere 24,839 miles showing on the odometer in the dash pic, it probably has a good bit of life left in it for whoever might like a fancy ride to go to Walmart.
Based on the rest of the pics, the car looks to have little evidence of even those few miles. The bodywork appears to be without flaw and is as upright and stately as a Tudor castle. The engine bay is likewise clean and shows no sign of absent maintenance or amateur wrenching.
This being a “Red Label” Arnage, that under-hood area is taken up by Rolls Royce’s own 6.75-liter pushrod V8. That’s what parent VW fitted rather than the smaller 4.4-liter M62 from BMW that was used in the 2000 model year “Green Label.” The big V8 is helped along by a pair of turbos and does its thing through a ZF five-speed automatic.
That transmission is shifted via a lever set in the console topped with lovely burlwood and lots of buttons. Wrapped around that is more leather and wood, all looking to be in very nice shape. The only slightly off-putting element in the cabin is the choice of light gray leather for the dash cap and steering wheel. Acres of room abound in both front and back, all complemented by a boot that can swallow multiple golf bags at a time.
The ad claims the car “[R]uns like a dream,” backing that up by saying that it has only been “driven on weekends and summer nights.” Ooh, summer nights tooling around in a big-ass Bentley sounds utterly decadent. The title is clear and the seller asks for either the trade for a ’60s — ’70s American muscle car, or $21,000 in cash should you presently be fresh out of those.
What’s your take on this Bentley and that $21,000 price? Does that seem like a fair deal for this luxurious sedan as it’s presented in the ad? Or, does that still feel too high for even so high-flying a ride?
You decide!
Seattle, Washington, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to David Atkinson for the hookup!
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