Bentley Arnage
February 19th, 2008
Another break from the past was to be found under the bonnet, for decades home to the same 6.75 L V8, a powerplant which could trace its roots back to the 1950s. The new Arnage was to be powered by a BMW V8, with Cosworth-engineered twin turbo installation, and the Seraph was to employ a BMW V12.
The Arnage is over 5 m (200 in) long, 1.9 m (75 in) wide, and has a curb weight of more than 2.5 metric tonnes. For a brief period it was the most powerful and fastest four-door saloon on the market.
Following the uptick in sales for all of Rolls-Royce and resurgence of the Bentley marque, then-owner, Vickers, set about preparing a new model to replace the derivatives of the Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit/Bentley Mulsanne which it had been selling since 1980. In a complete switch from tradition, these new cars would have bodies built at the Crewe factory with engines built elsewhere.
A number of potential engines were examined, including the GM Premium V engine and a Mercedes-Benz V8, before Vickers selected a pair of BMW powerplants. It was decided that the Rolls-Royce model, to be called the Silver Seraph, would use BMW's naturally-aspirated V12 while the more-sporting Bentley model would use a special twin-turbo version of the 4.4 L BMW V8, which was developed by Vickers subsidiary, Cosworth Engineering.
On its introduction in the spring of 1998 as a 1999 model, the Arnage was available as a single model with this 4398 cc BMW V8 engine, with twin turbochargers, developing some 350 hp (260 kW).
The basic BMW V8 Arnage was renamed the Arnage Green Label in 2000, its last model year.
During the bitter takeover battle between BMW and Volkswagen for ownership of Rolls Royce & Bentley Motors, BMW had threatened to stop supply of their engines if Volkswagen won the day. While the threat was later withdrawn in conjunction with BMW acquiring the right to manufacture the Rolls Royce marque at a new location, it was clear that Volkswagen could not accept the business and reputation risks associated with having their rival as a long term business partner. Volkswagen’s response was to hastily squeeze the old 6.75 liter 16 valve engine from the Turbo R into the cramped engine bay of the Arnage designed for the lighter and smaller BMW 32 valve V8 unit. This was not an ideal solution by any means and the old engine was not only extremely thirsty but also environmentally unacceptable from an emissions perspective without some modification ; that modification ultimately made the unit less reliable. The revised version of the car was launched as the Arnage Red Labelin October 1999.At the same time, but without the fan fare, Bentley made substantial modification to the original BMW engine cars and designated them as the "Arnage Green Lable" for the 2000 model year .As part of the modification process, both Red and Green Lable cars benefited from expanded leg room in the cabin, stiffer body shells, larger wheels and brakes and extra equipment such as integrated satellite navigation and park distance control systems. The PR department at Bentley pointed to customer demand as the driving force behind the reversion to the old two valve per cylinder 6.75 litre unit for the Red Lable. This was a less than honest explanation but surprisingly seemed to appear acceptable to all but a few of the motoring press who observed regression to the old technology without comment. The fact that the BMW-powered Arnage, was more modern, considerably more fuel efficient and had 32 valve, twin turbo and Bosch technology as opposed to 16 valve, single turbo and an old style engine management system was completely ignored. At the end of the day, the Red Label’s increase in power shaved less than a second of the zero to 60 mph (97 km/h) time, however the BMW twin turbo unit remained noticeably more agile and responsive from a drivers perspective and ultimately far more reliable from a long term performance perspective.
Vickers had outsourced to Cosworth the production of the old 6.75 L Rolls-Royce engine for use in the continued Continental and Azure models, so reverting to the old standby engine was a natural choice for the company. In fact, Volkswagen purchased Cosworth as well, so all the pieces fell into place to eliminate the BMW engine.
The Red Label model reverted to the old V8, which boasted torque of 835 N·m with a single Garret T4 turbocharger. This was the greatest amount of torque for a four-door car at the time. Also returning was the General Motors-sourced 4-speed 4L80-E automatic.
A long-wheelbase version of the Red Label was launched at the Detroit Auto Show in 2001. The Green Label ended production in 2000. The Red Label models were replaced in 2002.
For the 2007 model year, Garrett turbochargers were replaced with low inertia Mitsubishi units designed to improve engine response. The engine was mated to a version of the 6 speed ZF transmission found in the Continental range. Also, the capacity of the engine is increased from 6749 cc to 6761 cc. The new tunings give Arnage T 500 bhp (507 PS/373 kW) and 1000 N m, while the milder R having 450 bhp (456 PS/336 kW) and 875 N m. For the performance oriented T, 0-60 mph acceleration is only 5.2 seconds (Official record) and the top speed is 288 km/h (179 mph).
Arnage T
Max Power: 500 bhp (370 kW) @ 4200 rpm
Peak Torque: 1000 N m @ 3200 rpm
0-60 mph: 5.2 s
0-100 km/h: 5.5 s
Max Speed: 290 km/h (180 mph)
Arnage R
Max Power:450 bhp @ 4100 rpm
Peak Torque:875 N m @ 1800 rpm
0-60 mph: 5.5 s
0-100 km/h: 5.8 s
Max Speed: 270 km/h (170 mph)
Arnage RL
Max Power:500 bhp @ 4200 rpm
Peak Torque:1000 N m @ 3200 rpm
0-60 mph: 5.2 s
0-100 km/h: 5.5 s
Max Speed: 288 km/h (179 mph)
On January 17, 2005, the Arnage Convertible concept car, also known as the Arnage Drophead Coupe, was shown at the Los Angeles Auto Show. In April 2005, Bentley confirmed that the model would be produced at Crewe for Spring 2006 sales. Bentley also confirmed the new model will adopt the Azure tag, replacing the previous Azure as the company's large four-seat convertible.
The new Azure uses a 6.8 L twin-turbo V8 which produces 450 hp (335 kW) and 645 ft·lbf (874 Nm). 450 bhp (336 kW) and a top speed of 168 mph (270 km/h) The Azure is set to be priced at $320,000.00.
