[dclarke]

I'm shopping for an early 90's Bentley Turbo R. Any current or past owners out there with some advice? What should I look for? Any particular issues I should be aware of? I'm pretty much a Bentley/RR newbie so any info at all would be helpful. I've just started searching for a car and purchase prices look attractive - $30-40k for nice looking examples with < 50k miles. I'm expecting around $5k/year in maintenance costs. Realistic?

Also: I'm in Northern NJ. Any recommendations for a maintenance shop nearby other than the RR dealer in Parsippany?

 

[beemreatr]

With prices this low on such well built cars its hard not to get one!! I think you are right on point with your $5000 a year cost. Good luck with the search...there are some very nice Turbo R's on ebay right now.

 

[dclarke]

Hey beemreatr: Saw the photo of your new Turbo R in another thread. Nice looking ride. Did you buy it locally? I'm trying to decide if it's worth the effort and expense to shop for a car that's >500 miles away, or whether I should try to find one close to home.

 

[beemreatr]

I bought it from Cali. Shipping wasn't too bad so added to the price I paid I still made out. I'm not too crazy about buying a 15 year old car from the east coast with our snow, and salty air. This is the 4th car from cali I bought and they all seem to be preserved well. Good luck with you search.

 

[dclarke]

Paying to ship the right car doesn't bother me too much, but if you buy a car sight unseen you don't know what you've got until you've paid to ship it across the country. Did you fly out to CA first to check the car out? Did you hire a local guy in CA to check it out for you? Or did you just buy it, ship it and take your chances?

Sorry to pepper you with questions but I've always wondered about how you buy a car from far away.

 

[beemreatr]

I took my chances. It may sound crasy, but I have had great luck getting cars this way. I bought my Porsche and my BMW this way and they turned out fine. I looked at quite a few pictures of the Bent and decided I could handle whatever I may have missed. Plus with what I paid I could drop 40K into her and still be under NADA for her.
Now saying all that, I hope she arrives fine as she is still in the shipping process!

 

[dclarke]

That does sound a bit crazy but also pretty cool, and even cooler that it's worked out for you each time. Not sure I could buy a car without putting my hands on it first.

 

[ronbo]

Hi all, new member here. Considering a Turbo R.

dclarke, I realize this thread has been dormant for a while, but on the off chance you see this, I also live in Morris County and would be interested in knowing which shop you used (and what your experience was like).

Thanks,

Ron

 

[dclarke]

Ron: The repair shop I used is called Coachworks in River Edge, NJ, which is in Bergen County and a little far from me in Morristown but I am in Bergen County usually a couple times a week anyway so it turns out to be quite convenient. They are a RR/Bentley specialist and have been there since I was a kid so I'm pretty confident they will do competent work. I brought my Turbo R to them when I first bought the car for a bunch of things (I've listed them somehwere in another topic) and I'm happy with the care they took with the car.

I've had my Turbo R since last summer and already I've put over 4000 miles on it and I'm enjoying the heck out of it. It has some annoyances that you would expect from any 20-year-old car - sticky power locks, leaky power steering pump, jammed window mechanisms, etc. - as well as some issues peculiar to the model (dead accumulator spheres). But for the most part it's been very reliable and I expect it to continue to be.

Let me know if you're in Mo-town and you want to check out my ride (not for sale!) It would be good to have a fellow owner close by to compare notes with.