Rolls-Royce Seraph
Rolls-Royce Seraph Published: 20th Nov 2014 - 0 Comments - Be the first, contribute now!
Fast Facts
- Best model: Late Arnage Red Label
- Worst model: Anything neglected; it could bankrupt you
- Budget buy: Arnage Green Label
- OK for unleaded?: You’ll have to use it
- Will it fit in the garage? (mm): 5390x1930mm
- Spares situation: No problem – but it comes at a price
- DIY ease?: Surprisingly so, but not everything of course...
- Club support: Very good
- Appreciating asset?: Increasingly so
Subscribe to Classic Motoring Magazine and save over 20%
Subscribe NOWAvailable at all good newsagents including WHSmith
Modern Rolls and Bentleys made during their famous carve up by BMW and Volkswagen but essentially the same car. Tempting value although complex to keep and not really a classic, so values may fall further
THE FACTS
With its S-Class, Mercedes may build the best cars in the world, but it’s Rolls-Royce and Bentley which produce the most prestigious – the ones with the greatest sense of occasion. Nowhere is this more evident than with the Bentley Arnage and Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph – the last cars to be built in Crewe before the two brands split.
While the Silver Seraph was produced for less than four years and came with a BMW-built V12, the Bentley was offered with either a BMW-sourced 4.4-litre V8 (in the Arnage Green Label) or the company’s classic 6.75-litre V8 (in the Arnage Red Label). So while on the face of it these cars are all the same, there are actually three quite distinct variations on the theme and they’re all very different to drive.
While it’s the Arnage Red Label that gets all the plaudits thanks to that hugely torquey V8 nestling in the nose, don’t be too quick to dismiss the cars with BMW powerplants. They may not have quite the allure or cachet of their 6.75-litre sibling, but there are still few cars that can provide such a sense of occasion.
HISTORY
1998 The Arnage débuts in June, with a twin-turbo BMW 4.4-litre V8. This early edition was something of a disappointment as although the BMW powerplant was powerful and efficient, it didn’t offer the character – or effortless torque – of Crewe’s legendary 6.75-litre V8. But soon after the Arnage’s introduction, the Volkswagen Group would buy Bentley and quickly respond to complaints from potential buyers that a more muscular engine is required. Meanwhile, the Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph was also introduced in 1998, fitted with BMW’s 5.4-litre V12 engine and identical to the Arnage apart from the radiator grille, badges and wheels. 1999 The Arnage Red Label appears in September, with the classic 400bhp 6.75- litre pushrod V8 and at a stroke the Arnage went from being a good car to a great one.
PRICES
Paul Brightman runs Surrey-based Royce Service & Engineering (http://www.royceservice. co.uk), which specialises in Rolls-Royce and Bentley. He comments: “The Arnage and Silver Seraph can almost be treated as two distinct cars because the buyer who wants one of them probably won’t want the other. There’s a definite demand for each of the three derivatives, and sound reasons behind those purchasing decisions”.
According to Brightman, the Seraph appeals to Rolls-Royce traditionalists who don’t want to move up to a newer and costlier Phantom, which isn’t as user- friendly. In some cases, owners of Silver Spirits and Shadows might trade up, but with many owners tending to hang onto these cars they can be hard to track down. The result has been a steady increase in values recently, although you can still buy a high-mileage car from around £25,000. If you’re lucky enough to home in on a late, low-mileage car (a Last of Line) you could pay up to £50,000 for it, although few cars sell for much more than £40,000.
If that sounds too rich for you, there’s always the Arnage Green Label. Brightman continues: “Cars with the BMW 4.4-litre V8 can be picked up from about £15,000 with the best examples going for up to £25,000. This model tends to appeal to those who are money-conscious as the fuel economy is relatively good – the chances are that the Green Label buyer has never owned a Bentley before and isn’t au fait with the classic V8 engine so they don’t home in on it from the outset.
“Many of these cars have now had their looks improved with the fitment of bigger wheels, clear indicator lenses and Red Label badges – relatively minor things, but doing it properly would probably have cost the original owner a lot of money”.
The daddy of them all though is the Red Label, which is the only edition that Bentley purists are interested in. You can buy an early high-mileage Arnage Red Label from £15,000, but you need to raise your sights to £20,000 if you want much choice. Most Arnage Ts are priced from £25,000, but if you increase your budget to £30,000 you’ll be able to buy pretty much any derivative you want from the original series. However, if you fancy a face-lifted car with the 6.8-litre engine (launched in 2006), you’ll need to spend at least £35,000; for this money there are plenty of cars that have covered less than 40,000 miles. The newest Arnages are still fetching anywhere between £50,000 and £75,000, but for this money you can expect something with numerous options, it’ll be in as-new condition and it’ll have few miles on the clock. Even better, it’ll be one of the sought-after Le Mans or Final Series cars – the variants that are also likely to be worth the most in the future.
Brightman concludes: “The choice of derivatives can be confusing, with several versions of the Red Label sold over the years. The Arnage T is noisy and aggressive but very powerful with a sharp throttle response, while the Arnage R is more refined. The key is to try before you buy, to make sure you like the driving characteristics”.
DRIVING AND PRESS COMMENTS
When the Red Label was unveiled to the press in autumn 1999 it was inevitable that direct comparisons would be made with the Green Label – which is exactly what James May did for Top Gear. Or as he put it:
“The Green Label requires a good kick with the old jackboot to extract real performance, but in the Red Label one merely has to curl one’s toes inside one’s best Jermyn Street brogues and the Bentley rockets to 60mph in just 5.9 seconds.
“In truth, the BMW version is still more refined and quieter. The noise in the 6.75- litre Arnage would cause a few monocles to fall from fanatical Prussian eye sockets were it found in a Rolls-Royce (his article focused heavily on mentioning the war…), which is why this engine won’t be making it into the [Rolls] Seraph.
“The Red Label is a fantastic motor car and the best thing Rolls-Royce/Bentley/VW makes. At £149,000 it is a mere £4000 more than the BMW-engined Green Label, and that’s a premium well worth paying”.
David Vivian performed precisely the same exercise for Autocar, concluding that: “The scale and quality of acceleration served up by the Red Label never stops feeling surreal and is deeply addictive, almost to the point of being overwhelming. It begins with a low, almost menacing rumble from under the bonnet which signals the onset of grunt that almost sucks the moisture from your eyeballs before slurring into another viscerally challenging surge of barely diminished intensity. All with no perceptible effort.
“By comparison, the BMW-engined Arnage feels and sounds frenetic, if somewhat smoother and sweeter revving. The harder you push, the more like a BMW its exertions become. Gearchanges are faster, slicker and, of course more frequent, but the impression of extra energy expenditure is an illusion. On any straight, the Red Label can home in on its rump as if attached by elastic without ever having to wind on more than 4000rpm. Apart from the accelerative forces involved, the experience is almost unimaginably laid back. In short, it’s a superior way of travelling and, as far as we’re aware, unique”.
In classic circles it’s the Arnage that’s remembered, but what about the Silver Seraph? When Richard Bremner drove a launch model for Car magazine in 1998 he pronounced: “While the Silver Seraph – big, regal and pretentious – looks every bit the traditional Rolls, it turns out to have a surprising hidden character. And once unearthed, it makes the Seraph an oddly endearing device”.
Bremner continued: “The ride is smooth and quiet. The engine pulls us along effortlessly. The steering seems accurate and well insulated from the slings and arrows of the road below. The gearbox is changing ratios by stealth. And we are getting along pretty quickly too. Eventually there’s a car ahead of us and I sink the throttle to launch us past it… Encouraged, I up the pace, to see whether the suspension has a similarly athletic side to its nature – after all, it was conceived by Lotus”.
IMPROVEMENTS
The idea of upgrading a Bentley or Roller should seem rather pointless – and in most respects it is. You won’t need any extra power while the brakes are strong and the suspension is pretty well set up as long as you accept that the focus is on comfort rather than handling – there’s only so much you can do to tame well over two tons at high speed.
With the most luxurious cabin in the world when it was new, interior upgrades are also unnecessary, but the original factory-fit sat-nav is now hopelessly antiquated so it’s worth modernising that. Your best bet here is to talk to RR&B Garages (http://www.rrbgarages.com), which has devised a way of installing a modern TomTom or Garmin system into the original navigation slot on top of the dash.
Some also like to indulge in a few cosmetic tweaks, such as bigger wheels and vents in the front wings. The latter were standard on the Le Mans, but with just 50 of these built, and with them being among the most desirable of the breed, you’ll have to dig deep to buy one. Or you could just add some wing vents to a more prosaic model…
Prices
Paul Brightman runs Surrey-based Royce Service & Engineering (http://www.royceservice. co.uk), which specialises in Rolls-Royce and Bentley. He comments: “The Arnage and Silver Seraph can almost be treated as two distinct cars because the buyer who wants one of them probably won’t want the other. There’s a definite demand for each of the three derivatives, and sound reasons behind those purchasing decisions”.
According to Brightman, the Seraph appeals to Rolls-Royce traditionalists who don’t want to move up to a newer and costlier Phantom, which isn’t as user- friendly. In some cases, owners of Silver Spirits and Shadows might trade up, but with many owners tending to hang onto these cars they can be hard to track down. The result has been a steady increase in values recently, although you can still buy a high-mileage car from around £25,000. If you’re lucky enough to home in on a late, low-mileage car (a Last of Line) you could pay up to £50,000 for it, although few cars sell for much more than £40,000.
If that sounds too rich for you, there’s always the Arnage Green Label. Brightman continues: “Cars with the BMW 4.4-litre V8 can be picked up from about £15,000 with the best examples going for up to £25,000. This model tends to appeal to those who are money-conscious as the fuel economy is relatively good – the chances are that the Green Label buyer has never owned a Bentley before and isn’t au fait with the classic V8 engine so they don’t home in on it from the outset.
“Many of these cars have now had their looks improved with the fitment of bigger wheels, clear indicator lenses and Red Label badges – relatively minor things, but doing it properly would probably have cost the original owner a lot of money”.
The daddy of them all though is the Red Label, which is the only edition that Bentley purists are interested in. You can buy an early high-mileage Arnage Red Label from £15,000, but you need to raise your sights to £20,000 if you want much choice. Most Arnage Ts are priced from £25,000, but if you increase your budget to £30,000 you’ll be able to buy pretty much any derivative you want from the original series. However, if you fancy a face-lifted car with the 6.8-litre engine (launched in 2006), you’ll need to spend at least £35,000; for this money there are plenty of cars that have covered less than 40,000 miles. The newest Arnages are still fetching anywhere between £50,000 and £75,000, but for this money you can expect something with numerous options, it’ll be in as-new condition and it’ll have few miles on the clock. Even better, it’ll be one of the sought-after Le Mans or Final Series cars – the variants that are also likely to be worth the most in the future.
Brightman concludes: “The choice of derivatives can be confusing, with several versions of the Red Label sold over the years. The Arnage T is noisy and aggressive but very powerful with a sharp throttle response, while the Arnage R is more refined. The key is to try before you buy, to make sure you like the driving characteristics”.
What To Look For
RUNNING GEAR
* Alloy wheels don’t age well, with peeling lacquer par for the course. Many cars aren’t sitting on their original rims any more; refurbishing what’s fitted needn’t be costly, but fitting new wheels could easily cost in excess of £2,000. Be wary of split-rim wheels as they’re easily damaged and very costly to overhaul.
* The suspension and brakes have to work hard; check they’re not tired, as they often are. Cars that are used only sparingly might be suffering from corroded brake discs – and increasingly, these cars are used only on an occasional basis.
If sceptics had doubted Volkswagen’s commitment to the true values of the Bentley brand, they were soon silenced. From this point on, the BMW-engined Arnage is known as the Green Label. With its £4000 premium over a Green Label Arnage, the Red Label proved an instant hit. At this level, such a small premium was a tiny price to pay for such effortless cruising; capable of generating a massive 619lbft of torque, there was a hefty 58 per cent more twist action available, so it’s no wonder the BMW-engined option was disregarded by buyers from this point on.
2000 For two years the Red and Green Label Arnages were offered alongside each other, but in 2000 the BMW-engined model was quietly dropped and nobody noticed.
In this year there was a raft of changes, including improved rear seat space, the fitment of standard sat-nav, speed-sensitive power steering, clear indicator lenses plus bigger (18-inch) wheels.
2001 There’s now a long-wheelbase Seraph, for those who want even more rear seat space. The car is stretched by 250mm (10 inches) and called the Park Ward. Production lasts for just a year, with 127 being made. Also, Rolls-Royce gears up for the end of Silver Seraph production with the Last of Line. Priced at £169,000 (£10k more than the regular car), 170 examples are made, each with a two-tone paint scheme inspired by the Silver Cloud I – the first car to be built in Crewe following the company’s relocation there in 1946.
Meanwhile, Bentley cashes in on its Le Mans heritage with a special edition of that name. Launched to celebrate the company’s return to the legendary 24-hour race, 154 examples of the Arnage Le Mans were built.
Each featured four exhaust pipes, vents in the front wings, flared wheelarches and beefier bumpers, plus red brake callipers. Inside, there was unique instrumentation and a raft of details that incorporated the winged ‘B’.
2002 A long-wheelbase version of the Red Label is now offered, and despite the Red Label’s massive performance – it was limited to 155mph and could do 0-60 in just 5.9 seconds – there was still plenty of scope for more. First came the Arnage T (in January), then in March the Arnage R was launched, an updated Red Label.
The Arnage T was a serious Q car – if you can ever think of a Bentley as being understated in the true sense. With a 450bhp engine in the nose, the Arnage T was capable of 168mph, making it the fastest model ever to wear a Bentley badge.
While the Arnage continues to go from strength to strength, the Silver Seraph is killed off as Rolls-Royce splits from Bentley, moves factory and prepares to launch its own luxury limousine. Since Silver Seraph production got underway, just 1570 examples of the car rolled out of the Crewe factory.
2003 For those who found the standard Arnage too cramped, in March, Bentley responded with a car even more enormous: the Arnage RL met a need which few would have thought existed. The Arnage in standard form is one of the most spacious and luxurious limousines available anywhere. However, for those who needed even more space the RL offered a wheelbase stretched by 9.8 inches, with the same twin- turbo 450bhp V8 as the Arnage T; never before had there been such an effortless and luxurious limousine.
2006 The V8 gets an overhaul in November, with its displacement rising to 6761cc and power jumping by 50bhp.
2008 The run-out Arnage Final Series goes on sale in September. Bentley announces that 150 cars will be built, but just 96 are made, each with a 500bhp Arnage T powertrain.
BODY AND CHASSIS
* That bluff front easily gets damaged by flying debris, so check for paint chips. If the radiator grille has suffered from any damage, it could easily cost £2000+ to put things right.
* Serious corrosion shouldn’t be an issue, although some earlier cars can suffer from rust in the wheelarches and sills. It shouldn’t have spread though; if it has, assume that the car has been neglected and walk away.
* Early Arnages didn’t have a very stiff structure, so on the move they can creak and groan more than you’d expect. Later cars are much stiffer though; these shouldn’t make any untoward noises.
ENGINE
* The Bentley V8 is a fundamentally strong unit, which will swallow 250,000+ miles without murmur, although it’ll be happier if the right anti-freeze concentration has been maintained. Internal corrosion is unlikely, but engines can overheat through broken fan belts or leaking hoses. The pistons will knock on an engine that’s been allowed to overheat, so listen carefully for these.
* Some early Arnage Red Labels could suffer from head gasket failure. It was thought to be a reaction between the anti-freeze and the silicone in the gasket. Most such cars have been dealt with by now and once the work has been done you can expect the engine to just keep working.
GENERAL
* Check who has serviced the car; independent specialists are fine – but it needs to be somebody with a decent reputation. Don’t buy a car that doesn’t come with a decent wad of service history.
* These cars are big and heavy, so parts costs tend to be steep. A set of front brake pads costs £300 alone for example.
* Be wary of wacky colour schemes specified by first owners with more money than taste. Buyers like subdued shades, with dark exterior colours and light interiors the preferred option. The wrong colour scheme can knock thousands off an Arnage’s value.
* Bentley made a raft of changes in 2002 to improve the chassis, the result being a big improvement in roadholding. Earlier cars can be (expensively) upgraded, but these later cars are the ones to go for.
* Interiors don’t necessarily age well; look for sagging leather, delaminating wood and tatty carpets. Unsurprisingly, if any retrimming or refurbishment is needed it’ll cost plenty to put right.
* The differences between the Arnage and Seraph aren’t restricted to the outside; the Bentley features more dials than the Roller and the gear selector sits between the seats in the Arnage. In the Seraph it’s on the dashboard.
* With so many variations to choose between, each of the various models is different to drive. Even the various iterations of the Red Label are different to drive thanks to an array of suspension settings, power outputs, engine set-ups and wheelbases/ weight distribution.
In classic circles it’s the Arnage that’s remembered, but what about the Silver Seraph? When Richard Bremner drove a launch model for Car magazine in 1998 he pronounced: “While the Silver Seraph – big, regal and pretentious – looks every bit the traditional Rolls, it turns out to have a surprising hidden character. And once unearthed, it makes the Seraph an oddly endearing device”.
Bremner continued: “The ride is smooth and quiet. The engine pulls us along effortlessly. The steering seems accurate and well insulated from the slings and arrows of the road below. The gearbox is changing ratios by stealth. And we are getting along pretty quickly too. Eventually there’s a car ahead of us and I sink the throttle to launch us past it… Encouraged, I up the pace, to see whether the suspension has a similarly athletic side to its nature – after all, it was conceived by Lotus”.
Three Of A Kind
BMW 750IL
Who are we trying to kid? This is no match for the Arnage or Seraph, despite the fitment of the German’s fine V8 and V12 engines respectively. Offering nothing like the sense of occasion of the Crewe cars, the 7-Series is comfortable, fast and superbly built, plus it’s better to drive as well if you fancy something sporting. But it offers nothing like the effortless comfort of the Brits, and frankly, neither do the other cars mentioned elsewhere.
JAGUAR XJ12 (X308)
Far cheaper to buy than the British saloons – as are all three of these alternatives – the Jag offers sublime refinement and eye-watering performance. As you’d expect, running costs are going to be high – anything with a 6.0-litre V12 will always cost plenty to feed and service, and it’s not as though the XJ has a great deal of investment opportunity on its side in the medium term. But what a way to blow a few grand...
MERCEDES S600
Often hailed as the best car in the world, the Merc is rather clinical but it’s also a phenomenal piece of kit. In typical Mercedes fashion it comes with a mind-bendingly long standard kit list and it has the build quality of a bank vault. Despite its complexity the big Merc is also pretty reliable, but as with all of the cars here you can’t expect low running costs – although for a 6.0-litre V12 it can be surprisingly frugal if driven thoughtfully.Verdict
You can still pay strong money for these cars – especially the Arnage Red Label. But you can also pay surprisingly little for one. The key thing to remember is that even if you manage to bag something of a bargain, you can reduce the running costs only by so much. Independent specialists will help keep your wallet intact, but parts prices will always be on the steep side. However, if you want to drive something with the ambience of a gentleman’s club there’s no substitute for one of these cars – whatever rival car makers might say.
Share This Article
Share with Facebook
Tweet this article
Share bookmark with Delicious
Digg this article
User Comments
This review has 0 comments - Be the first!