Cost of ownership: Bentley Conti GT

With the economy in the toilet, I've seen some ostensibly great deals on the Conti GT. Some were low enough to force me to consider adding one despite further economic uncertainty. The one's that are most attractive have 25,000-30,000 miles, and are MY2004, which are around $75,000. My question is, what can I expect in terms of reliability and maintenance costs? Does the VW platform translate into increased reliability and lower ownership costs, or can I expect the opposite? This won't be a daily driver, but close to one.

Also, in terms of deals, can I expect dealers to be relatively desperate in this climate? If the car is being advertised at around $75-80k, what should a ballpark offer be that won't be considered insulting?

 

I had a GTC with zero issues and know a few people that have spurs and CGT's with no problems. I would advise to go with an 05 as 04 was the first year and although I don't know of any specific issues with an 04 I would assume the second year would be a safer bet. Great car a smoking deals out there right now.

 

Thanks for the feedback. Is regular maintenance relatively low cost?

 

Don't know if it helps or not but one of the writers for Car Magazine (Ben Oliver? Ben Whitworth?) is currently using a Continental GT as a long term test. Might check out the past few issues to see what he says. I believe it's been so far glowing remarks.

 

I had the 10k mile service at the local AD several months ago. I believe it came in right around $1100. I believe the next service is 17,500 miles but not sure what it covers/costs. No issues whatsoever except for tire pressure monitor going off regularly but this happened in all the cars I looked at when I purchased this one.

 

Thanks to everyone for the information.

 

TPMS sensors seem to be the weak link...on one hand that is a good thing (the rest of the car is very well built), on the other hand, it's also a $2k+ repair if needed, ouch.

 

What about the air suspension?? I could see them being like a Range rover with more miles.