Bentley Arnage T Mulliner

The Mulliner indicates that above popping into Jack Barclays and spending the thick end of quarter of a million quid, that the owner might want a few extras. The Naim stereo. The 20" LCD screen. The pop-up mini bar. The massaging seats. And all the exterior addenda, that just gives it that little visual....extra.

6.7 litre V8, with 500bhp and 738 lb.ft just a right foot away. In 5.2 seconds you'll be travelling at 60 mph, and would be stuggling to get 8mpg whilst doing so.

The more I see an Arnage, the more it makes sense to me. I suppose it's when the new Phantom came out that made me look at the Seraph/Arnage in another light. As a kid, I grew up with the Silver Spirit/Spur in the 80's and still saw plenty of Silver Shadow/Wraith II's carting around the bigwigs. But it was the Spirits/Spurs that solidified to me what a Rolls was.

Enormous dimensions, cavernous interior and clean, defined patriarchal lines. So I was a little lost when the Arnage/Seraph came out, I just didn't get the sloped, rounded off rump. But by the time the new Phantom appeared, the rear third of the car, I realised it recalled the past cars of the Marque. The Clouds and the Dawns. That rear carriage look. Basically the new Phantom made me appreciate the styling of the Arnage/Seraph more. However, it took the facelift of the Arnage in 2004, giving it the Continental GT front lamp facade, to really give it the correct presence.

Like this car, in Metallic Black, the clear gaze of the headlamps gives the car an uncompromising look and feel that it didn't have before. The Arnage/Seraph will always be looked at as stopgap models. The period before the curious split that saw VW and BMW both claim the spoils but leave all bystanders bemused as to who exactly had what. The badge or Crewe? However, the split has worked out. The Phantom, reared by BMW, puts RR exactly where it should be: whether you are New Money, or the lucky descendant of a man who's tent was approached by a representative of Aramco back in the late 30's...the Phantom fits if you want to let everyone know you've arrived. And with VW, they now, finally (coming towards the end of it's life in 2009), have the taut, but luxurious sporting saloon that the Bentley should always be.