Buying a used Bentley Continental GT, GTC, Flying Spur - 2003-2012, Buying advice with Common Issues

You can buy a new Breitling watch for around 31 000 euro or you can also buy a smaller Breitling watch for less than 31 000 euro which comes with a handmade 560 horsepower used luxury car. Of course buying a used Bentley Continental GT can be one of the worst ideas ever. Mainly if you buy one which has no maintenance history, which had 6 owners and which traveled from US to Russia and back. We all know how this ended. There are 3 versions of this Bentley, but underneath they are basically the same and they share the same platform and some of the components with the overengineered VW Phaeton. In this video I will focus on the more affordable first generation cars. The interior of this Bentley consists of expensive and high quality materials. There is plenty of wood and a huge amount of leather everywhere. Plus it has some nice details like the expensive metallic air vents and the already mentioned little Breitling clock. On the other side, the navigation system graphics is hopelessly outdated and it's not very fast either. Plus there are cases of sagging headliner mainly above the rear seats. To fix this you have to remove and re-glue the headliner which is by the way made entirely from leather as well. You should definitely check properly the paint job which has to be flawless, because fixing the various scratches or the damaged body panels can be and it usually is extremely expensive. It's very important to check for water leaks in the interior, especially in the front footwell area. The water can leak in because of the clogged scuttle drain holes which are buried deep down under the windscreen plastic scuttle panel. These drain holes are located basically above the gearbox and it's very hard to reach or even to see them. They can be clogged by dried out leaves and some other shit which will cause water accumulating in this area which can cause a big amount of electronic issues, mainly in cars made to 2005, because these cars do have an important wiring loom located near these drain holes which can be damaged by this accumulated water. So it's good to occasionally remove the plastic scuttle panel and clean this area as much as you can. It's also good to make a long thin attachment to the vacuum cleaner to reach all that shit. All in all, if you find a car which has water or moisture in the interior or water accumulated under the plastic scuttle panel, then you should just run away. Quickly run away from it. I just felt like running. Problems with the tire pressure monitoring system can often occur, usually because of the batteries in these sensors, which lasts approximately 5 years. But there are also cases when the tire pressure monitoring system control module has to be replaced as well on cars made to 2005. Mainly the early GT 2-door coupe versions can have issues with the not working third brake light. The brake light itself is not very expensive for a Bentley, but replacing it at the dealer can cost a lot. There is no need to remove the big rear window to replace it, but you have to be careful not to damage it since it is a very expensive piece of glass. As always, check all the electronic features. Check the electrically operated trunk lid if the car is equipped with it. Check all the window regulators since they are expensive to fix. Test the electronic parking brake. And it's also important to check things like the speakers, because there are cases of failed speakers or failed amplifiers. Obviously, most of the spare parts are really expensive and the car itself is very complex indeed. But it's still just a car and not some kind of a special spaceship built from fairy dust by Oompa Loompas. You can even do the regular maintenance yourself. I mean, there are plenty of guides on the internet on how to change the oil, the spark plugs, the batteries, or even how to remove things like the door panels, headliner, or the third brake light. Definitely avoid cars without maintenance history and with any kind of more important warning lights on the instrument cluster. Keep in mind that this Bentley has two batteries and it's really important to have them in a good shape. I would not recommend buying the convertible versions of this Bentley unless you have the extra money to replace the complicated rooftop. Since there are cases of failed rooftop mechanism or sensors, plus if it's damaged, then you have to usually replace it completely. All these cars are standardly equipped with the adaptive air suspension. Over time, small cracks will appear on the rubber of these air struts, causing air leaks, and then you get a Bentley Lowrider. So if the car lowers overnight, then your air struts are leaking. It's important to solve the leaks as soon as possible, because if you don't, then the air compressor will sooner or later fail as well because it will work more than it should, and it simply wears out. In the worst case, the air spring can even blow out while driving, which can be dangerous. After 10 years, it's good to replace the air struts since after this point the chance of leaks increases. This Bentley is a heavy car, so you can expect worn control arm bushes and the worn suspension drop links are also quite common. The tires and brakes are also not the cheapest and sooner or later you will need to replace them. Because of this, I would avoid cars with the ceramic brakes unless you have more than 15 000 euro to replace them. All the first generation Bentley Continental models were available with only the more or less powerful variations of the big W12 petrol engine which has 2 turbochargers. It is definitely an awesome and a powerful unit, if it works properly of course. Because mainly the older cars can have often cracked plastic vacuum hoses which are located on the back side of the engine. These cracked hoses will cause misfires, eventually the check engine light will be illuminated as well. On top of that, cars made to 2005 and to early 2006 do have some of these plastic vacuum hoses located far behind the engine, specifically on the top of the transmission, so in this case, you have to remove the whole engine just to replace specifically these hoses, because there is no other way to replace them. On the other side, late 2006 cars do have updated position of these vacuum hoses, but you still need to remove the engine to change them according to the original Bentley service manual. However, a good Bentley specialist will be able to access most of the vacuum hoses by removing only the steering rack. The turbochargers are most of the time ok, unless the previous owner abused the car. The engines are equipped with timing chain which is usually ok. All these cars are equipped with the 6-speed regular automatic transmission which is usually reliable, but check it for leaks and it has to change gears very smoothly without any hesitation or strange sounds. To summarize things up, it's better to buy a car made from 2006 which was used regularly, it's better to avoid the convertible version and the models with the ceramic brakes, and keep 10 000 euro for the additional maintenance or possible repairs, which can occur. Yes, it can seem like a lot, but it's better to have too much than too little. As usual, check the car properly before buying, and if you have personal experience with this car or more information about it, then you can write it into comments. Thanks for watching.