I'm looking for an 08-10 GTC and I'm hearing people stating to stay away as they are plagued with convertible failure issues which will result in a 25k repair off the bat. Can someone provide insight into this? It's taken me 2 years to find what I'm looking for and now to hear this is rather disappointing. I'm aware these are expensive to maintain but when the car is 50k and you have a 25k repair, it doesn't make sense to even proceed with the repair.

 

Had a GTC, biggest POS car i ever had. High cost to operate, many known engineering defects that cost $$$$ to mend, etc. Have you considered another brand of car, as am sure you know about the extremely high cost to fix things, maintain, massive depreciation, etc.

 

I agree with Steven.... stay away from older Bentleys. Judging by your user name you like to "save costs" so I would suggest another convertible vehicle to own.

 

I have a 20007 GTC and have had ZERO issues. The vehicle has 80,000 mile on it. Previous owner has never had any issue either. I have all the service records. I would suggest that you better know the car, find out how many owners and get all the service /warranty records on the car. My vehicle has had ZERO issues with the roof. It has had a battery issue, both were just replaced and the previous owner had the front struts replaced...all known issues on these vehicles.

 

What years would you guys recommend then?

Was yours a one owner? I've only seen one (one) owner car and it wasn't a GTC. They all seem to have at minimum 3 owners.

 

Mine was a two owner, the original owner bought brand new in Connecticut and had it for 7 years. The second owner had it up until October, when I bought it, he had it for 4 years. The reason the second owner sold his, he bought another 2007 GTC with 2,000 miles on it which was personally owned by the owner of the dealership. I have complete service history.

 

The newest one within your budget.

 

I have a 2009 and have had zero issues with the top - which is exactly what you'd expect with a coupe!

 

Here's a link you might want to seeTrouble with tops Bentley Continental GTC convertibles

http://robisonservice.blogspot.com/2...1-bentley.html

 

Thanks for the article, has Bentley fixed these issues? If so, on what years?

 

A safe bet is a warranty, expensive! Predicting the condition of the top is ??? The guywire design of the interior top lattice structure is prone to wear as the article states. This is a large top with insulation and a heavy window. The engineering department was hamstrung with the design. Probably a marketing decision. There are low mileage versions with bad tops and high mileage versions with perfect tops. A rarely used top survives. Not putting the top down wet, parking in baking sun and deploying the convertible top while moving helps protect the mechanism.

Possibility, as discussed customization of the vehicle creates a similar used value uncertainty as a GTc?

One of Murphy's laws is "what can go wrong will". Hope for the best expect the worst.

2cents please (:

 

 

Price out a new top from qualified shop. That will answer that, $$.

Honestly, these aren't the cars to try to get the deal of the century. The deal is the proverbial "wealthy Aunt in south Florida". Serviced the car at the dealer and put 20000 miles on it. One day she says it's yours, I'm too old to drive. So now you find out it needs a new top and new struts and a few other goodies. The repair shop says the total is $30,000. Sweet Auntie responds with "oh my better put that on my credit card".

In all due respect. You're going to get burned. These cars are very different than a Mercedes-Benz, BMW or a Cadillac for example.

You're asking for opinions, stay away from these cars. A Bentley GT/GTC is not inexpensive to own. Owner fatigue settles in quickly. The repair shops are not easily badgered into giving deals.

As Mr F. Gump once said, " that's all I have to say about that".

 

Adding to Mr. Eapplebaum's sage advice - All of these overly engineered luxo cars have a very distinctive point of no return in ownership. Even though the vehicle depreciates to an affordable level for many, the cost to repair stays the same. It becomes a "fool's gold" kind of affair and it becomes impossible for 95% of the general public to purchase and maintain. Purchase = YES; Maintain = NO. The older they get, more and more can afford the purchase but it progressively makes less and less purchase sense.

I've owned Jaguars, BMWs, MBs, for the last 30 years. I am able to buy and own used ones simply because I will make a point of learning and doing any maintenance/repair to reduce the cost of ownership of an older marque. But, this is not the average owner. If you know you cannot do much or any repair work yourself, and you have a failure of an expensive system, prepare yourself to add that cost to your purchase price up front and assume it has already happened. I know I couldn't purchase and R&R a convertible top on a GTC, so I personally would never shop used convertibles. I'm not afraid to do an engine out vacuum line repair, so that one made my list.

Part of a purchase inquiry must take into account the expected use. Are you buying because:
You want a daily driver you couldn't afford new?
You are buying a weekend car?
A project/hobby car?....etc.

Used luxo marques do not lend themselves well to daily driving. They make more sense used as a hobby or project car.

Used Bentley Continentals have some very identifiable major failures, so it is good to either add the full price of the repair to your purchase price on the bet that it will happen. If you cannot afford the new (real) purchase price, maybe prudent to walk away. I know the OP is doing that here by his thread (GOOD).

 

Well put Mr BWings. Archive these thoughts for anyone looking in from the sidelines.

Next week we'll cover McLarens. Oh wait there is a forum for those as well.