Motorola

A 215-inch personal luxury land yacht convertible with a massive push-rod V8 (almost as old as the Chevy small block) with zero pretensions of sportiness as it wafts with waterbed springs, drenched with chrome trim and acres of wood and cow hides. It's ironic that it took a British brand owned by Germans to make the one car from the 21st century that's the closest to the Cadillacs of the 1950s.


Even when it was released in 2007, this car was a dinosaur from a different era. I expect that by the end of this decade, it will be considered a classic car alongside its coupe brother, the Brooklands.

Gojirra99

Really nice

SW17LS

Very cool!

Motorola

Apparently Doug made a review some years ago.

mmarshall

Interesting, considering that, on average, Bentleys are somewhat more sport-oriented than straight-luxury Rolls products, which are usually driven by chauffeurs.

SW17LS

Thats not really the case. Bentleys ride and drive great, there is nothing athletic about that Bentley.

mmarshall

Bentleys, on average, are more sport-oriented than a Rolls. But there are some exceptions (not many).

SW17LS

That doesnt mean that they aren't also huge cushy land barges. In the era of that Azure, they really were just the same car, thats just a Rolls Royce Corniche.

mmarshall

Bentley and Rolls products often do have roughly similar interiors, except maybe in some cases of special custom-orders.

SW17LS

They aren't just roughly similar in this era, they're excactly the same.

Nospinzone

In my opinion the Bentley interiors are the most luxurious in the car industry. Plus, I think the Bentayga is the most luxurious and best looking SUV. Unfortunately I've never owned nor ever will own any of them.

Well, unless I can pick up a nice used one really cheap.

Motorola

Ironically Rolls of the mid-2000s sat on top of more capable BMW platforms and had far more modern engines with better performance than the likes of an Azure. Azure is mechanically almost identical to the Arnage, which dates back to before Volkswagen even bought the company.

Even though it's more of a VW product, the Continental GT was more true to the ethos of Bentley than the Azure/Brooklands. Especially nowadays when it sits on top of a Porsche platform.

Striker223

I have repaired several of these, very nicely made cars but a little annoying since everything is hand made and you need to be very careful with some stuff. They ride extremely smoothly and have a very "solid" feel to the acceleration, like a steadily increasing weight sort of effect.

Motorola

What's amazing is that they didn't use air suspension, just normal steel springs to support these 6000 pound behemoths. That's unthinkable on any modern ultra luxury car, nevermind a Bentley or Rolls. No fancy aluminum or carbon body structure either. Archaic vehicles in every manner, in the best way possible.

I've got to hand it to Volkswagen for allowing Bentley to continue building these dinosaurs well into 2011. They could have been like BMW with Rolls and basically made Bentley use their corporate parts bin (which in a way they did do with the Continental and Flying Spur), instead they injected money into the brand to allow them to build essentially the same cars as they did 20 years prior but to modern quality standards.

By the way, here's an excellent video that deep dives into the mechanics of the Azure. What's truly bizarre is that these are mechanically solid and reliable vehicles, moreso than the modern Continentals- they just cost a fortune to maintain and find parts for.

Striker223

Oh it's not quite just solid springs, there is a nest of hydraulic lines and leveling cylinders and accompanying proportioning valves in additions to a HUGE amount of extemporaneous rubber that wears out extremely quickly and is only available if you order from England.