At first glance, you may consider this 1999 Bentley Arnage Green Label to be one of the riskiest cars you can buy. And it may very well be – but there’s a fine line between a solid driver and a potential problem that all comes down to maintenance. Did the seller spend the appropriate amount of time and money keeping this six-figure sedan up to snuff? Oftentimes, you have to be prepared to spend far more on the car beyond it’s selling price just in upkeep, so owning a Bentley like this does require a commitment. Find this Green Label listed here on craigslist for $19,999.
Of course, like so many other listings for cars with regular upkeep needs at the priciest of repair facilities, The seller includes no details about its maintenance history. For anyone selling a car like this, please consider how important it is to show potential buyers that you’ve been sweating the details. Of course, with a little digging, you may find some evidence that is maintenance expenditures haven’t been as high as you might think, as many enthusiasts feel the 1999s are fairly reliable, and certainly more so than the cars that immediately followed. The seller does confirm he has never driven it in winter, an important detail considering he’s in Illinois.
The interior is loaded with high-end materials that all contributed to an original MSRP of well over $200,000 when new. The Bentley is listed as having just under 74,000 miles, which is a reasonable number for a car of this vintage. The Green Label designation means this sedan came equipped with BMW’s 4.4L twin-turbo V8, which was good for a respectable 350 horsepower paired to a 5-speed automatic transmission that could thrust the heavy sedan to 60 in under 7 seconds. While this isn’t the cheapest engine to live with, it was used in multiple vehicles across BMW’s lineup so parts sourcing shouldn’t be too difficult.
The stunning dashboard is one of the big Bentley’s best features, and thankfully, the technology on board isn’t overwhelming. That’s not to say things still won’t break and cost an absolute fortune to repair, but it’s limited to things like parking sensors the complicated climate control. There’s a world where you can drive this car like a daily with the proper mindset about upkeep, along with a thick stack of invoices in hand from the previous owner. $20,000 is a lot to spend on a risky purchase, so hopefully there’s some room for negotiation to knock it down to $15K or a strong enough maintenance folio to justify the ask. Thanks to Barn Finds reader Barney for the tip.
I wanted a car like this.It’s interesting that you can
buy a car that sold crazy money new for less than the
price of a generic daily driver.
I always wanted an older BMW or Mercedes,but would
change my mind when I’d ask true mechanics about them &
they’d reply with costs of repairs.
And somehow “Buying a Bentley off of craigslist” just doesn’t
inspire a lot of confidence,or impress anyone.
As the old saying goes, “How the mighty have fallen”
Take it from someone from it’s homeland , overrated money pit .
You’ll spend less heating your house by burning money than running one of these.
The Bentley quit being a Bentley when they quit hand-assembling them, many years before. They’ve only been existing off of their name since. You could say the same for Rolls.
Looked like nice day when this was posted , yet too lazy to remove it from their garage ?Too lazy to talk about it’s history or the above mentioned service records. For $20,000 I will but a really nice Lexus LS430 instead.
I’ts a nice one but a money pit just waiting to happen. Many of these are on their third or forth owner that cannot grasp the fact that maintenance has an astronomical price so they ride it until it breaks and costs even more to fix. Anybody whom would buy such a vehicule brings it first to a qualified tech for a.complete check.right down to the last bolt