Yearly run costs associated with a ~1990 Bentley Turbo R?

i looked at an 84 rolls silver spur, and the main thing i was told with those older cars are electrical problems. be sure to get a ppi done no matter what. one other thing i was shown is that the wood on the front driver's side door panel tends to get a little shabby, from the seatbelt hitting it everytime you take it off.
have you found one that you're interested in?

 

no prob, imo, the turbo r is a great looking car, and if i can find one in my area, i may look into it.

 

Never owned one but I have a close friend who bought one and it was an absolute moneypit. His wife refused to drive it because it was so unreliable.

I'd be very careful.

 

Very costly to maintain electrical & mechanically, a complete pain in the arse and a money pit as stated. For such fine car has about the worst paint jobs form the factory. Take a look at some & you can see multiple cracking all around the pillar area for rust deposits. Rolls Royce / Bentley back the early 1990’s only offered a two year warranty on their paint jobs if I remember correctly. Great cars to look at, but other than that I’d would not own one.

 

I had a early Silver Spirit as a Daily driver for years (along with my Navigator), and I loved it. Never had any out of the ordinary problems. One of the most common issues and expensive is the power steering system and the car leveling system are one and the same and tend to leak. There is a special mineral oil (bright green fluid) that has to be used. Jags have require a similar fluid. The shocks need to be looked at also as a source for the leak. The engines are bullet proof, the trannies are GM, the A/C compressor is GM! I had a friend of mine a few yrs ago that both his parents had 87 & 88 RR's as daily drivers. Dad's 88 black on black had 200K on it before he upgraded. for the record mine was around the 80 something mileage when I sold.
I say go for it!

 

How picky do you want to be? If the car checks out mechanically, as stated previously, other than a couple well known weak spots they're pretty good running machines. However, if you're REAL picky(I am) I think you'll find yourself in a constant state of restoration and the associated costs. The real trick with these(I'm told), especially the older models is finding someone with actual experience working on them.

Beautiful cars, the B Turbo especially. Personally, I prefer the pre-airbag model.

 

What's the going price for these? And what are those well-known weak spots that you speak of?

 

Yearly costs are a hard one to pin down on any car let alone a 17 year old Bently Turbo R. I have seen head gasket issues with them, and that is VERY expensive to repair. I have also seen the silly electrical problems all british cars are knowen for. You could drive the car trouble free for 2 years, and then have a huge repair bill for somthing that broke or malfunctioned over night. The costs to keep one of these things on the road makes a Ferrari seem like a cheap car to operate.

They are very cool, but will empty your wallet quite fast if you get a lemon. Use caution and make sure you find a tech that knows the cars inside and out, and PAY his prices becuase it will save you money in the long run. Nothing is better then experiance when servicing these cars, it can save you a lot of money in diagnostic time if the tech know where to go for a particular problem that would drive most other techs (me included when it comes to these things)around the bend.

 

here's what one owner has to say about the car: http://www.carsurvey.org/review_41483.html

to answer your question henry, you can find one from as low as around 22-23k, or for a well sorted car, around 35-40k, although 40 is a little high i'd say

 

Because, you can get the 1990's now for under $20,000. Which seems insane. So - definitely curious if you got one and if it was a nightmare!

 

I owned a '91 from 2000-2002. Was a great car, but I could tell it would be expensive to fully sort/maintain.

I needed a new headlight $275, AC recharge, $350, tires. Also, I had to throw the trunk kill switch if I was going to leave it for more than 3 days... With the battery in the trunk and the motor upfront, even a slight drain and she would not start.

It was in need of suspension all around $5k - but I sold before doing that.

Another thing to watch us the brake system. They use mineral oil - I have seen reports that people have destroyed brakes by adding modern brake fluid to a system that has mineral oil in it.

Make sure the dual note horn works - this is one of the cooler features on this car. The air horn part is expensive.

I believe the 1990 still had the "automatic" seatbelt ('91 had regular seatbelts) so be sure that is fully functional... I could be wrong, but pretty sure '89 and '90 had the seatbelt that moved in a track along door jamb.

 

The Turbo R is an amazing machine. 1990 models had regular shoulder belt reels (no motorized belts) to coincide with introduction of the airbag steering wheel.