well well,

I bought into Bentleys after a string of maseratis' and an even larger string of failures. When deciding to go with Bentley had some "honest conversations" with the dealership around relaiablity and my need to not have issues that meant the car spent more time in the garage than on my drive.

so after only owning the car since 28th December, it's now on it's third issue.

1. didn't start - was a result of a corroded cam wire
2. missfire - was as a reuslt of lose connection
3. tire pressure monitoring system failure - to be advised.

now here's the dielema, I'm off to the factory on Wednesday next week for a guided tour.... shall I be all happy and coridal or...not so happy?

Also planning to goto the Geneva motro show, I've got stand passes to Bentley...that could be interesting!

 

Robbiemac,

Wow, sorry to hear of those problems. What year car do you have and, perhaps, was it always dealer serviced and kept in good order? Sometimes bad things happen in 3's and seems that is what has happened to your car. Fully understand the Maser thing (and am an ex-Ferrari man myself). Just as an FYI, the 2006 CGT here sits outside in New England, no garage, has been rained on, snowed on, driven on salty roadways, etc and works great. As you can tell from this board, few people seem to have any major problems and maybe what you are experiencing is just a few niggles that needed sorting... and they came in the dreaded 3's?

PS: Wish i was going to the factory. Need to arrange that at some point because i want a few custom items made (amenities/'toys'). Please take photos if you can of the factory and post them here, am sure many of us would love to see them. As for how to act, if it was me i'd be very cordial as you gather more flies with honey than vinegar. It is not like the engine fully imploded or the tranny ripped a gear apart. Have had both of those happen to me on the race track in the Formula 2000 (both times costing me a race win no less ARGH! And believe me, you don't want to know emotional terror as the way a sheered gear sounds scrambling inside a Hewland LD200 tranny when you are going 120mph around a corner). Seems to me you have some electrical niggles that need sorting, so not like a major design flaw... like Ferrari 355 headers the factory refused to admit to for a long time or short-lived clutches like the early Ferrari 360 or the highly flexing chassis of the early Maser (Ferrari built) convertibles or....

 

thanks fella, it's a 2005 car with 20 k miles on it, I bought it as a factory approved used from a franchised dealer, car has been in their care since new, i'm it's second owner, the previous owner has just bought another (too many maserati issues to buy from non franchised). I'm hoping it is just niggles but it's the annoyance more than anything else having to take it back again and again. The garage have washed the car more than I have, I think the tech has his own seat setting now!

I'll see about taking photo's, but sometimes these places are a bit funny about that, I know maserati were when I went there last year.

like you my cars are stored outside, used as daily drivers and used for everything, from going to the local dump to drop off garden rubbish to throwing the mountain bike in and going out. ( although that does' take a bit of effort to get into the car)

you are also right, more flies with honey, I was just giving someone that same advice earlier in the week. I shall be perfectly polite and civil. hopefully I'll be going in my benny and not in my father in laws Citroen wally wagon!

I did have my gearbox implode due to the bearing that holds the drive shaft collapsing and dropping the driveshaft..... would have been ok, except I was doing 80mph, in lane 3 of a motor-way (freeway, I think you would call it)..... only 3 days after buying the car.... (it was a maserati).

I've not followed up on the DICE stuff you recommended yet, I'm loathed to touch anything till it's 100% sorted, I don't want it to be blamed for any issues with the car.

our car histories sound very similar...worryingly!

will update when it's sorted.

 

Flew over to do the factory tour last year and I mentioned a few problems I had with mine in the past. The tour guides are not in a position to do anything about it so It was not worth going into detail with them.

Tour was great though, no photography allowed except on lineage(museum) area.

 

Got it back from the garage, they have rebooted the systems.... more like an old windows 3.1 machine than a grand tourer... hopefully it's fixed!

 

got my father an 08 GTC 13 months ago, 3800 miles. Now has 5020 miles and has spent no less than 6 months combined at the Bentley store for a long list of issues.

He is terribly disappointed in the car.

 

a 6 year old car with a couple of minor issues? Does not seem out of the ordinary to me.

 

well I've been and done the factory tour today, very impressive and very interactive, spent a considerable time actually speaking with the people that put all the time and effort into building one of these cars. all the hand stitching, the hand polishing... truly awe inspiring. I got to take a few pictures. (hopefully attached to this)



a great day out and very enjoyable.

 

more

 

Nice and glad you enjoyed the tour. Colour me jealous and wish i was there.

Agree, MORE pics please

 

Finally I get to see a cutaway of the engine! Thanks! I've been trying to explain how this works to interested parties, but could never find a graphic that showed it as well as your photo.

Looks like an interesting trip. I might do it on my next visit to UK. What was the highlight for you?

 

the highlight was actually chatting to the guys and girls that do the build of the car. they have all been there for years (20+) in most cases, love what they do and are really keen to show you the level of detail and effort they go into for each car.

I bet you didn't know that if you look at the veneer on the passenger side of your car and compare it to the drivers side.... it's an exact mirror opposite match. same fo rthe veneers on the door panels... if it's on the left it's the mirror opposise on the right... now that's attention to detail!

very geeky, but a great day out, and got to meet some other UK bentely owners!

 

Not geeky at all, it is the level of refinement and detail that is lost on virtually every other marque. And this is what guys like me, who also enjoy many Patek Philippe watches, Hasselblad/Leica cameras, etc desire in life.

As an FYI, while taking off the passenger glove box and driver side panel as well to access some wiring, even parts virtually no one will ever see are made to such top levels.

 

Ah.. I see more common interested amongst car enthusiasts... Cars, Watches, Cameras and gadgets!

my wife will never understand!

 

I've copied all the pictures to this link...

http://cid-40609d69ef86f9a1.skydrive...69EF86F9A1!474

or try www.r70rcm.com