Faults:

Normal service only, no major work.

This motor car was well kept and well serviced.

Normal problems like brake pressure lights, minor leaks, half worn brakes, paint like new, inside and out like new.

The Brooklands is nice, fast and fun to drive from my Rolls-Royce Spur III 1995; a different motor car altogether with sharp looks.

I have removed the pin strips and the two tone color on the bumpers to match the complete body paint, giving it a race clean look, most outstanding. Since I specialize in Rolls-Royce and Bentley's, this was my eye candy for sure for me. With a rare paint color factory and perfect interior color to stand alone, fit and finish is a real head turner.

These motor cars are second to none, German car owners don't know what they are missing, and for the German motor car owners, let me just say Bentley's are not more to repair or service than a BMW or Mercedes-Benz; I have repaired Mercedes, and my Wife has owned Mercedes and drives a 7 model BMW; you think it cost a lot to repair a Bentley, but put timing chains in a 7 BMW or a transmission, same with a Mercedes, compare those costs, if indeed a Bentley or any other motor car is repaired to the book, they all cost money, and a Benz or BMW is not in those years even a car to compete or compare with.

Now for the new Rolls-Royce and Bentley; it's a different story, the Germans have taken it to the next level of motor car ownership, good job.

General Comments:

Sleek, nice, fast, fun, like a Purdey shot gun.

Good over the road car.

A different motor car.

Nice to own, a true complete hand built car.

Nice to know there is no mileage deduct on a Bentley.

Nice to know the engine is good for a million miles.

Nice to know the paint and rust control is not a problem.

Nice to know it's a true Crewe built car, not that I have a problem with the next level German owned models.

Faults:

The high-pressure front lamp washers stopped working at 10,000m.

Alarm triggered randomly around the same time.

General Comments:

The car is wholly unlike any other I have owned. Before buying, I liked the idea of a handmade car, despite very negative experience with TVRs; after spending time with the Brooklands, one does question the reason for continuing producing Bentleys this way. There are squeaks and rattles that you would neither expect nor encounter inside mass-produced German rivals (made all the more evident by the quiet ride), and the heavy-duty door-hinges, while no doubt a prerequisite given the weight of the metal they support, are industrial in appearance and operation.

That said, as any Bentley fan will tell you, the car oozes charm from the sumptuous interior to the surprisingly vocal V8. It is, as they say, far more than the sum of its parts. Ostentatious, yes, but with that comes simply unbeatable road presence. It is huge, of course, but it feels very airy and roomy inside, like you are travelling around inside your sitting room. You will find yourself holding conversations far more than in any other car, and you will arrive at your destination feeling as though you've not actually been anywhere.

Rubs and squeaks aside, the quality of materials inside is top notch. Name plates on the engine show that a lone craftsman put the big Bentley lump together by hand. Yes, this is a positive! The chromed organ-stopper ventilation controls poking from genuine walnut will have passengers coo-cooing at the other-worldly British charm of it all.

Handling is not the least bit yacht-like. People will tell you that Rolls-Royces handle like barges, and lean round corners like giant despatch riders. Perhaps this is true of the RR, but it is not true of Bentleys. The ride is surprisingly crisp - yes, read again, one might describe it as firm - and not the nausea-inducing wafting motion everyone expects. It can be hustled down lanes at surprising speed, but don't expect anything weighing 2,930kg sitting on whitewall tyres to handle like a sports car. Because it won't.

The only true downside is the cost of running the car. A £50 tank of unleaded fuel will take that vast, 40 year old, Rolls-derived 6.75 turbocharged lump around 220 miles if you drive like you're part of a cortege. If you hurry you'll see perhaps 8 or 9 miles per gallon which is enough to make anyone's eyes water.

It is expensive to keep that Bentley service history up to date, far more so than the Mercedes-Benz S or BMW 7. Major services start at a whopping £1,500, but in return Rolls and Bentley dealerships give you a truly premium service. In all the years of buying cars, they are by far and away the most courteous, helpful and honest people I have met. They are in no way "snooty" or "detached"; the service I received from Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar dealerships is in my experience so much worse for this.

In short, the Bentley is a car that has surprised me. I had a few sleepless nights immediately after buying it, wondering if I'd made the worst decision ever, but after a short while the car begins to grow on you. Slowly but surely you begin to realise why Bentley can't make enough of them to keep up with demand. Even now I still get that eager twinge before driving it. Can't say anything more.