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The luxury vehicle is far from BMW’s only offering
At the time of the deal, the VW chairman faced a lot of backlash. The loss of the branding seemed like a massive oversight and many felt as though the victory had been stolen out from underneath them. Still, the leader insisted that he was happy with the outcome. In the end, both companies continue to see lots of success, so we’ll cut Ferdinand Piech some slack.
Consumer Reports lists the Volkswagen Group as owning Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche, and Volkswagen. It’s an impressive collection of luxury… with one key component missing. The BMW Group now owns Rolls-Royce and the Mini brand alongside their own BMW lines. Although the Mini Coopers have seen “mini” success over the past few years, all-electric models shook things up for the brand. Of course, they may also be responsible for the departure of BMW’s head.
What mileage does the tuxedo have?
Such an elegant external design of the Rolls engine was offered for an additional fee.
REGULAR servicing of both Rolls-Royce and Bentley should be carried out either after reaching a certain mileage or once a year. The latter happens much more often. The vast majority of owners of exclusive cars (regardless of their make and model) do not use their rarities every day, but only on exceptional special occasions – as prescribed by the rules of good manners accepted in high circles. That’s why their mileage is simply ridiculous.
For example, according to servicemen, the famous Moscow sculptor and monumentalist has consistently, for many years in a row, driven his Rolls-Royce no more than 500-600 km. And that’s quite normal. Previously, in the early 90s, when such cars were just appearing in our country, the newly minted rich used them in much the same way as they had recently used their Volgas and Zhigulis. When such units with an average annual mileage of 50,000-60,000 km came to Finland for service, local specialists simply fainted. They couldn’t imagine how one could drive such a car so much… It’s the same as walking around in a tailcoat or tuxedo every day.
The cost of average maintenance on a Bentley Arnage and a Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph is approximately the same. In Moscow it is about 2,000 euros. But once every seven years, according to the regulations, a “major maintenance” is required, which takes 29 standard hours (!) and costs the client 6,800-7,000 euros! You have to pay for originality and exclusivity even with a banal oil change in the engine. By the way, it is also supposed to be special, with the automaker’s logo on the packaging. And this is despite the fact that BMW’s own recommendations for choosing oil for its engines allow the use of products from most commercially available brands. The high cost of maintenance is also explained by the price of consumables. For example, an original set of front brake pads for a “Bentley Arnage Green Label” costs 600-800 euros in Moscow.
The consolation can be that, with the exception of routine maintenance, there are usually no other reasons for calling for service. According to experts, careful operation and short mileage contribute to this to a greater extent than the reliability of the main components and assemblies. However, no engine failures were actually recorded on either the Silver Seraph or the Arnage Green Label. Having strained their memory, servicemen remember that once someone had problems with the mass air flow sensor, but these are trifles.
Buying a Rolls or Bentley in Russia is cheaper than shipping such a car from Europe.
Another family disease of such cars is leakage of oil and other technological fluids. This is again due to short runs. The car sits motionless, the seals and gaskets dry out, and oil begins to drip onto the asphalt. However, not on the asphalt, but in a special oil pan, deliberately made in the form of a closed trough. If a driving Rolls leaves behind rainbow-colored oily stains on the road, this does not improve the image of its owner. To avoid this, they provided a special container for oil, which should be emptied during the next maintenance. By the way, old English engines suffered from this much more often than German ones. Then a common joke was even born: the bad English car is the one from under which nothing drips. But, as we have already found out, this unpleasant feature is caused not so much by design flaws, but by specific operating conditions and long machine downtimes.
Quite often, clients turn to the service immediately after a long winter stay. The on-board computer begins to produce a whole scattering of various errors. In fact, it’s no big deal. Usually, all of them mean nothing, but are caused only by a drop in the voltage of the on-board network due to the natural discharge of the battery. To combat this, the manufacturer even developed a special device that monitors the voltage and automatically recharges the battery as needed.