Bentley Arnage Car Review

The Arnage is the real, two-ton-plus wood-and-deep-carpet face of Bentley. It’s the car Volkswagen inherited when they took over the company, and although it’s been much modified since, it’s still recognisably from the Great British old school of stiff upper lips and family castles.

On The Outside

Although the Arnage has been modernised over recent years, it still has at its heart a look that can be traced back decades. There’s the sheer scale of the thing for starters – manoeuvring through traffic can feel like trying to sail a super tanker down the river Thames. But there is also that upright and imposing grille – ‘as straight as your backbone, young man’ – and the sheer bulk imparted by its flat front and sides.

Perversely, in recent years, the Arnage has added a new type of customer to its regular aristocratic and Middle Eastern buyers: the American rapper. The ‘blinged-up’ Arnage has become a regular phenomenon. What would founder W.O. Bentley have made of that?

On The Inside

There’s more timber inside an Arnage than you’ll find in some garden sheds; more leather than some smallholdings could provide after mass slaughter. Then there’s the deepness of the carpet – the way your foot sinks slowly into them and then rests on a cushion of sheer quality.

In many ways, the Arnage feels dated: the driving position is very upright, as is the dashboard. The steering wheel is large – very large – and the view down the bonnet deserves to be framed by the approach to Blenheim Palace.

Of course, the Arnage is equally sumptuous in the rear, but being a Bentley, it is the owner who should drive. The Rolls is for when one is to be driven.

On The Road

The

Arnage still uses the familiar 6.75-litre V8 that has powered Bentleys for decades. It’s a simple engine and, as you can tell, a very large one. With twin turbochargers to it, it delivers enough grunt to move this enormously heavy car at a rate guaranteed to raise a caddish smirk from the lips of any noble playboy.

Nothing can prepare you for the moment you flatten the accelerator, wait for a split second and then watch the nose rise as you tear forward with the energy of the Household Cavalry.

The Arnage is to respected through bends, as you might imagine, but negotiating traffic is another matter. It is a nerve-wracking experience, even once you’ve learnt to judge its size.

On Your Conscience

On Your Pocket

On Your Drive

Yes, we suspect your drive is very long if you’re even considering owning one of these. It can’t match something like a Mercedes S Class limo for ability, but there is no other experience quite like it. Good show, chaps.

via:motoring.sky.com