2004 Bentley Arnage R Mulliner

Which means our next listing, a Bentley Arnage R, should be of interest to those of you who are unusually mechanically sympathetic and unfussed by having ‘only’ 450bhp under your right foot.

A 2004 model, it has the 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged engine under the bonnet and just 83,000 miles on the odometer. Having had just three previous owners and only ever having been serviced at the main dealer until last year, its maintenance record is so fulsome that it’s currently on its second service history booklet.

In the care of the vendor for a year, it is fresh from a £3,000 service last June. It also has a long MOT, which was, of course, gained with no advisories. Now fighting fit and looking glorious, it is only being offered for sale as the owner has a strict ‘one in, one out’ policy with his classic car collection.

So, if the current lockdown has you thinking that now might be the time to fulfill some of your long-held automotive fantasies, then this Mulliner-spec Bentley Arnage is exactly the right sort of car with which (and in which, if we’re straying from purely automotive lusting…) to explore them.

While the official colour might be Black Sapphire, it actually presents as a rich, deep metallic blue and, as you can see form the photographs and video, it has enormous presence and looks absolutely sensational.

Tight, even panel gaps, ripple-free flanks and rich, lustrous paint give it a heft and indomitability that reeks of Old World engineering. This impression is reinforced by doors that open and close with a deep-throated ‘clunk’, and the gleam from the paintwork and chrome has a depth to it you rarely see on anything more modern.

The Sundym glass adds a discreet, ever-so-slightly rakish look that we love, while the metal tilt-and-slide sunroof opens and closes as it should, allowing the owner to enjoy even the briefest glimpse of sun.

The 19-inch, 12-spoke alloy wheels are in a fabulous condition, and are shod with matching Pirelli P-Zero tyres, all of which have good tread.

As we will never tyre of explaining, our experience shows that matching high-quality tyres are an infallible sign of a caring and mechanically sympathetic owner who is prepared to spend the appropriate amount in maintaining their car properly. Their presence does not, of course, preclude the need for a thorough inspection - something the vendor would welcome, by the way – but do give you a shortcut into their attitude towards maintenance.

The Bentley also has little Mulliner-spec gems dotted around the exterior, jewels like the fuel filler cap, the bright headlamp trims, and the chromed mirror caps. It is utterly magnificent.

So magnificent, in fact, that there are only three blemishes that we can see: a small bubble of corrosion near the boot badge; a small parking dink on the nearside rear door; and a thumbnail-sized blister on the chrome grill.

The first and last are barely noticeable, while the parking dink not only looks worse in the photos than it does in real life but could probably be removed by a mobile dent specialist at little cost.

The Cotswold hide seats, complete with extra-cost embroidered headrests front and rear, are all heated. They’re also supremely comfortable yet incredibly supportive; few cars have seats that better balance luxury and security at speed than this.

With more burr walnut veneer than we have seen in one place before and heavily chromed controls, all of it in great shape, we might add, the interior takes opulence to a whole new level.

Witness, for example, the diagonally fluted door cards that are unique to the Mulliner-spec Arnage, and the deep-pile Nautic Blue carpet and lambs’-wool overmats. Or the rear picnic tables, walnut-framed mirrors in the C-pillars, ivory faced gauges, the fully trimmed door pocket for the remote control, and the Nautic blue leather dashboard top, all of which contribute to the car’s extraordinarily cossetting ambience.

The leather-trimmed interior mirror surround has even been colour-matched to the Cotswold hide interior. That’s a little stroke of genius, isn’t it?

Of course, it also has more modern accoutrements like a pop-up DVD-based satellite-navigation system, a CD/radio head unit and some decent speakers, and telephony preparation but you buy a car like this for its sybaritic feel, and sense of majesty – and this Arnage has them in buckets.

We’ve tried most of it, and it all seems to work. But then you’d expect that, given its service and maintenance history, wouldn’t you? In fact, the only issue we can see is the driver’s seat, which is lightly patinated and creased. It’s not damaged in any way, but we can see that the car’s new owner might want to get a specialist to freshen it up a little. Oh, and the heel protector on the driver’s mat is worn.

The boot is better trimmed than the interior of most modern BMWs or Mercedes-Benz, and it is very clean and beautifully organised. Home to the new Bosh service battery, the car’s back-up battery, fire extinguisher, wheel chocks, toolkit, spare wheel and handbook wallet, it is in need of nothing other than admiration.

The Arnage was most recently serviced by marque expert, friend of the business, and all-round good guy Chris Moroney. The work included a 12,000-mile service, new rear suspension gas springs, front and rear brake pads, and a replacement service battery plus some minor fettling. The bill came to just over £3,100; please see the attached invoice for the full details.

The engine, with its ‘Handbuilt in Crewe, England’ badge was built by S. Pritchard. It is partly hidden beneath a plastic shroud but looks to be clean and is neatly presented. It starts on the button, ticks over evenly and without fuss, and drives as it should, feeling tight and lithe when so many we see are starting to get a little tired and loose. Please see the attached video to check it out for yourself.

The underside of the car is built like the Forth Bridge, and solid and free of problems bar some light surface rust on the suspension components.

The Bentley’s MOT certificate expires in February 2021. Gained without an advisory (something it is starting to make a habit of) the online MOT history shows nothing of concern whatsoever and confirms the car’s mileage.

The car also comes with a number of expired MOT certificates, plus a typed summary of its service history in addition to not one, but two stamped service history books, showing 12 Bentley main dealer stamps in all: five at Bentley Birmingham; two at Bentley Glasgow; and another five at Bentley Harwood.

The final stamp in 2019 was from Chris Moroney, the well-known independent specialist. The owner tells us that the Bentley was also serviced in 2009, but didn’t get a stamp in the book.

There are no old invoices bar the last one from Chris but we have no doubt that the Bentley network could provide a printout confirming the work that has been done to it over the years should the new owner want one.

It also comes with two keys (one broken; please see photo for details), the original, beautifully bound owner’s handbook, and the OE storage wallet with various instruction manuals.

Please visit the documents section of the gallery of this listing where you will find photos of these to support our claim that this car has been maintained to the very highest standard.

If you’d like to inspect the car prior to placing a bid – something we would encourage – then please use the Contact Seller button to arrange an appointment.

NB. We know that many of you will be limiting your social exposure over the coming days and weeks, so if you’d rather not come to see the car in person, please give us a call and we can shoot a personal video of the car honing in on any areas you’d like us to concentrate on.

Or, even better, why not contact us with your mobile number and we can set up a WhatsApp video call? You get to direct us in real-time, giving you a virtual personal viewing experience while maintaining the lockdown. We like to call it ‘The Market’s 2020 Vision’…

Many of us have been using our enforced captivity to reconsider some of our life choices, and we’re sure we aren’t alone in wondering whether we have been placing an undue emphasis on fuel economy; after all, the greatest motoring cost is almost always depreciation, so if you can rule that out then the options open to you expand exponentially…

The fact that a Rolls-Royce or Bentley can be yours for the price of a new Ford Fiesta might be a tired old cliché, but it is true; and no motoring adventure is going to be downgraded by being undertaken in a Bentley Arnage.

As long as you pick the right one, that is: what you need is a money-no-object maintained, sensibly spec’d Arnage R – and if it’s got all the bells ‘n’ whistles of a Mulliner, then so much the better.

That you can pick up such a car for between £15,000 and £20,000 seems incredible to us, and is such a pitiful sum as to represent real value. With only gentle use over the past sixteen years, this example should be good for a quarter-of-a-million miles or more if you continue to look after it properly.

Best of all, its condition both inside and out, cosmetically and mechanically, means that you could probably get in and out without suffering any depreciation at all in the medium-to-long term, slashing your costs still further.

Viewing is always encouraged, and this particular car is located with us at The Market HQ near Abingdon; to arrange an appointment please use the Contact Seller button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.

If needed, please remember we have a network of trusted suppliers we work with regularly and can recommend: Classic & Sportscar Finance for purchase-financing, Footman James for classic car insurance Thames Valley Car Storage for storing your car and AnyVan for transporting it.

BORING, but IMPORTANT: Please note that whilst we at The Market always aim to offer the most descriptive and transparent auction listings available, we cannot claim they are perfect analyses of any of the vehicles for sale. We offer far greater opportunity for bidders to view, or arrange inspections for each vehicle thoroughly prior to bidding than traditional auctions, and we never stop encouraging bidders to take advantage of this. We do take a good look at the vehicles delivered to our premises for sale, but this only results in our unbiased personal observations, not those of a qualified inspector or other professional, or the result of a long test drive.

Additionally, please note that most of the videos on our site have been recorded using simple cameras which often result in 'average' sound quality; in particular, engines and exhausts notes can sound a little different to how they are in reality.

Please note that this is sold as seen and that, as is normal for used goods bought at auction, the Sale of Goods Act 1979 does not apply. See our FAQs for more info, and feel free to inspect any vehicle as much as you wish.