Mercedes S65 or Bentley Continental GT?

[Brad]

Get the S65. The appointments, on top of the raw performance, make it, in my opinion, one of the most attractive cars on the road.

 

[ccffm1]

Get the Bentley. It´s such a classy car. Paris Hilton has one, too:

 

[JayJay]

Originally Posted by Brad

Get the S65. The appointments, on top of the raw performance, make it, in my opinion, one of the most attractive cars on the road.
Yep, a complete package of luxury and high performance.

 

[wt888]

Originally Posted by JayJay

Yep, a complete package of luxury and high performance.

Wait and get the new Porsche Panamera. It will handle much better. Couple of good reviews:

http://www.panaoc.com/forums/early-r...ml?p=25#post25

 

[Southern-Nupe]

Originally Posted by wt888

Wait and get the new Porsche Panamera. It will handle much better. Couple of good reviews:

http://www.panaoc.com/forums/early-r...ml?p=25#post25
I'm sure it will handle fine, but it looks like a$$.

 

[JayJay]

Originally Posted by Southern-Nupe

I'm sure it will handle fine, but it looks like a$$.
I agree.

 

[zjpj83]

It looks worse than ass, it's one of the ugliest cars currently produced

 

[wt888]

Originally Posted by zjpj83

It looks worse than ass, it's one of the ugliest cars currently produced

No, that award would have to go to the Cayenne.

 

[ArMiXiA]

Get the Bentley such a nice mix of luxury, performance, yet the s65 will have more flash with tis bolder design IMO.

 

[dave]

Originally Posted by ArMiXiA

Get the Bentley such a nice mix of luxury, performance, yet the s65 will have more flash with tis bolder design IMO.


I think you have the 2 cars mixed up.

 

[Tidybeard]

My boss just straight-swapped his 2 year old S65 for a 12 month old Conti GT cabrio. I've driven both and they are excellent cars but at opposite ends of the spectrum.

Mercedes service/reliability (here in the UK at least) has improved markedly over the last couple of years - I drive an E320CDI and have put 70k miles on it from new with minimal outlay over and above standard maintenance. It feels like it will do another 100K easily, which is more than can be said for my previous car, an 04 Jag XJ8 which felt like it was about to fall apart at 80k miles.....

I happen to live about 3 miles from the Bentley factory in Crewe and have toured the place, as well as having a few friends working there. While the GT does share some VAG underpinnings they are extremely well engineered ones and the Contis have an excellent reputation for reliability. P1 (a supercar membership club local to me) rates the GT as the best option as an ownership package in this class with the lowest overall maintenance costs and highest reliability. In terms of depth of engineering, the DB9 and its offshoots are not in the same league, apparently.

The S65 is also a spectacularly engineered car and is unlikely to let you down. In terms of image it's an awfully long way away from the Conti and it's likely to be a higher depreciator (picture the potential market for a five year old S65 vs a Conti). Bentley is certainly a more aspirational brand but that's just one of the factors to be taken into account with a decision like this.

No bad choice to be made here, IMO - best of luck!

Edit - now that I have read some more of the OPs posts and I understand how much respect he clearly has for Europe and all things European, may I politely suggest that he looks to buy a fabulous American-made car instead?

 

[7even]

it should all come down to what the purpose of the car would be. continental as others have said is a classic with many days of spirited driving, can't go wrong. the S65 is nice, it's like a maybach but i see way too many of the S65s on the road these days, not as many GTs. good luck!

 

[JayJay]

princemarko, have you bought the car?