Bentley Arnage Limousine: First Look

By Feann Torr - 24/12/2004

Hoping to deliver a king hit to the pair of current über-luxury limousine champions - the Maybach 62 and Rolls Royce Phantom - Bentley has entered the ring with its own heavy hitter.

Bentley's have always been seen as automotive heavyweights, figuratively and literally speaking, and with the advent of the new Bentley Arnage Limousine that quite literally spares no expense, the pointy end of the luxury car market is about to get very heated indeed.

Though Mercedes-Benz and BMW (respective owners of the Maybach and Rolls Royce badges) will be most displeased to hear that Volkswagen - who now owns the Bentley brand - will be selling 20 of their new super cruisers, fans of the British marque will be rather chuffed.

In the 1920s and 1930s customers could approach Bentley and commission the coachbuilder to create a car to their own specifications - and the modern day Bentley Arnage Limousine is no different.

According to Ashley Wickham, head of projects for Bentley Mulliner, "The Arnage Limousine is the epitome of Mulliner craftsmanship.

"Everything you can see – from the beautiful line of the new D-pillar to the stainless steel sills – was shaped by hand. That's why a Mulliner-built Bentley can take up to 6000 man hours to complete. It is a labour of love," reiterated Wickham.

So what do you get for your as-yet-unannounced price-tag? The Bentley PR types reckon you will get quite a lot, and that deliveries of the new limo will echo Bentley's "acclaimed past".

Like in the old days, says Bentley, when customers would commission a coachbuilder (like HJ Mulliner) to design a body that would be integrated to fit a Bentley chassis, the new Arnage Limousine will also represent similar levels of "creativity and attention to detail".

But "creativity and attention to detail" is nothing like getting a custom designed body fitted to a chassis, really.

The comparison that Bentley makes in reference to the 'old days' is more about stoking one's emotions of a bygone era to sell what is essentially VW's most prestigious model - and the same goes for Rolls Royce and Maybach. But still, you can't argue with hand made cars, and this they all still achieve, which has to count for something.

Like the Rolls Royce Phantom, the new stretched Arnage can also be optioned armour protection for those who have well-armed enemies, but more importantly the new Bentley offers passengers a huge amount of room to move.

"By widening the D-pillar behind the rear doors, the Arnage Limousine's designers have fashioned a deeply recessed seat area that provides a safe and shielding cabin for passengers, as well as significantly enhanced rear legroom. In addition, a smaller rear ‘privacy’ window adds to the feeling of seclusion and ensures back-seat passengers are kept well away from prying eyes," says Bentley.

As well as this rather chunky D-pillar that's now 200mm thicker than the standard Arnage, the rear doors grow by 200mm and front doors by 50mm. This extra room for rear seat passengers necessitates the lengthening of car's wheelbase, now totalling 3566mm, which compares well with the Roller's 3571mm wheelbase.

Bentley describes the appearance of its longer Arnage as "stately and imposing" while at the same time managing to steer clear of anything that could be construed as "vulgar or ostentatious". To better integrate the long wheel base limo into its range, Bentley has given the front a mild tweak over the 2004 Arnage, where double individual headlights more closely mirror those seen on the sporty Continental GT Coupe.

My thoughts? Well, I think it looks just like the Arnage really, which is quite a boring car to look at. But that's not why people buy them. People buy them because they offer an interior that's comparable to a penthouse suite in a ritzy hotel, a place where they can relax and be at ease.

As such, materials such as linen and burgundy leather and dark burr walnut veneer are used extensively, but Bentley prefers to keep its show models restrained, as customers can tailor the interior of their cars to their liking. Prefer cream coloured leather? Go for it. Want some dark red upholstery? Just ask.

In addition to providing occupants with a soft, supple feel to the interior, Bentley can also equip its Arnage Limousine with a high tech array of gizmos and comfort-adding features. Though the British-based marque will only build 20 of its flagship vehicles - ensuring a high degree of exclusivity - 'Number One' in the limited run (pictured) is equipped with plenty of extras to demonstrate one of the the car's possible outcomes.

While split rear seats are standard features, the media car is optioned with a rear bench, again like the Rolls Royce Phantom, and electrically operated rear foot rests can be added to allow rear seat passengers to recline.

A rear DVD system is also included in the show car, fitted with two rather large 12-inch screens mounted in the rear of the front seats (see interior image). Other options include LCD television screens, or even a wide plasma screen unit if you want, plus a cigar humidor, a fridge (or cooled refreshment cabinet as Bentley calls it) and even IT equipment such as a PC with Internet access.

Even chauffeurs and drivers have been factored into the Arnage Limousine equation, with new switchgear and Sat-Nav making the grade for the 2005 LWB model. And best of all, they are also in charge of a hefty 835Nm engine.

Powered by a big and thoroughly bad V8 engine, the long wheel base Bentley will speed from 0 to 100km/h in 6.7 seconds, which is pretty good for a car that weighs 22 tonnes. Well, that's a lie, but Bentley won't divulge the weight, so I threw 22 in there for good measure.

The twin turbocharged 6.75-litre V8 found in the Bentley has four less cylinders than BMW's V12 Phantom, but the forced induction more than makes up for this. Even with 294kW of power and a whopping 835Nm of torque, Bentley asserts that the V8 engine meets stringent Euro IV and US LEV emissions standards.

Though the new LWB Arnage is totally outclassed by the Rolls Royce and Maybach in terms of performance, it won't affect the cars desirability one iota. And even if the Bentley Arnage range was to upgrade its powerplants to Volkswagen's über-potent W12 motors (with various levels of forced induction) in the next few years, these luxo barges are less about going fast than going smoothly.

Even so, 835Nm of torque is not to be scoffed at, so in order to handle such copious amounts of shove the Bentley Arnage Limousine's chassis takes the standard Arnage's rig of double wishbone independent front and rear suspension and then adds uprated springs and a reinforced subframe.

A clever computer-controlled adaptive electro-hydraulic damping system (ARC) ensures that all but the deepest of pot holes are soaked up without the knowledge of occupants, and it can also adapt to provide increased grip in shoddy weather. The brakes have also been upgraded, with 8-piston front and 4-piston rear brake callipers clamping ventilated alloy brake discs.

Even though Bentley hasn't released a price for its new stretched super cruiser, the company expects all 20 units to be snapped up quickly by discerning buyers who want the best that money can buy.

And now that there are three players in the super-luxury stretched limo niche market - all of which wear prestigious British badges, but all of which are also owned and signed off by German automakers - things will definitely heat up as each tries to outdo the other with ultra-rare materials new fangled options.