German Car Zone

Impresses neighbors, intimidates SUVs.

Bentley’s flagship Arnage T is 5760 pounds of hyperbole. It’s longer than a Lincoln Navigator. It weighs more than a Toyota Land Cruiser. It makes more noise at idle than a Dodge Ram Hemi truck (with which, incidentally, it shares an identical number of valves and pushrods). It offers less skidpad grip than a Chevy Aveo. It attains 60 mph about as quickly as a Porsche Boxster S. It stops in fewer feet than a Volkswagen GTI. And for the as-tested price of our Arnage T, you could decorate your garage with a Honda Accord, an Infiniti G37, a Mercedes-Benz E350, a Porsche Cayman, a Mini Cooper S, a Cadillac SRX V-6, and a Lotus Elise, and you’d still have four grand left over for high-quality drugs.

If the Arnage is a rolling contradiction in terms, that’s also how it drives. You don’t so much steer this car as point and prod it. Pushing its brake pedal is like stepping into a bucket of golf balls. Around corners, the body first lurches, then leans, then begins to settle just as you straighten the wheel—which upsets it anew. And throttle tip-in is an exercise in prescience. For the first inch of its travel, the accelerator is apparently connected to nothing but someone’s imagination. Then, at about 2500 rpm, there erupts an explosive roar and the yowl of Pirellis and the clicking of the overtaxed traction control. When was the last time you heard of an automotive engine that produced 738 pound-feet of torque? When was the last time you saw a tach with a 4600-rpm redline? Awaken the twin turbos in town and you’ll want to be sure the lanes to the left and right are clear. At stoplights, the V-8 idles with the refinement of a U-Haul van, and on cold startups, it’s prone to stall. Lock the Arnage via its remote fob and you’ll summon four chirps sufficiently loud to frighten East L.A. gang lords. Did we mention we got 13 mpg?

Naturally, the cabin is a stunning mélange of leather, chrome, exquisite stitching, and trim pieces possibly lifted from the Grimaldi family’s yacht. On the other hand, the twist ring for the wipers is ridiculously stiff. Ditto the pushbuttons on the old-fashioned door handles. The single-sided ignition key can be inserted only one way and feels as if it were filing off small pieces of metal. And operating the nav system requires a remote control.

Folks gape at the Arnage, in awe of its size and your wallet. In the end, though, driving this car is less gratifying than lolling in its rear seat. Introduced for 1998, the Arnage is the past pluperfect. And we do mean past.



VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door sedan

PRICE AS TESTED: $266,745 (base price: $250,085)

ENGINE TYPE: twin-turbocharged and intercooled pushrod 16-valve V-8, aluminum block and heads, port fuel injection
Displacement: 412 cu in, 6753cc
Power (SAE net): 500 bhp @ 4200 rpm
Torque (SAE net): 738 lb-ft @ 3200 rpm

TRANSMISSION: 6-speed automatic with manumatic shifting

DIMENSIONS:
Wheelbase: 122.7 in
Length: 212.6 in
Width: 74.8 in
Height: 59.6 in
Curb weight: 5760 lb

C/D TEST RESULTS:
Zero to 60 mph: 5.1 sec
Zero to 100 mph: 11.9 sec
Zero to 150 mph: 31.6 sec
Street start, 5–60 mph: 5.7 sec
Standing ¼-mile: 13.5 sec @ 107 mph
Top speed (governor limited): 179 mph
Braking, 70–0 mph: 165 ft
Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad*: 0.74 g

FUEL ECONOMY:
EPA city driving: 11 mpg
C/D-observed: 13 mpg
*Stability-control-inhibited.


Tested: 2007 Bentley Arnage T - Short Take Road Tests - Car and Driver September 2007


Impressive numbers for such an old, heavy girl IMO.

M

He he ...funny review. I wonder what the sales figures for this relic are now.

I would think the Flying Spur has taken many sales from the Arnage.

Can't wait to see the replacement for this car.

I would guess the new model will be priced to compete against the new "mainstream" Rolls-Royce model. I would be surprised if Bentley decided to build a car as large and expensive as the Phantom and Maybach 62S.