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Dr. Phil said:Think the Bentley has gotten too gangsta-hiphop-ish lately, altho that's nothing to do with the car - only it's more flamboyant owners.
Have u tried a similar RR?
...and when will u get this car delivered?
There is no "similar" Rolls anywhere near this price point.
I consider the car a very good value for what one gets. The GTC avoids being a member of the perceived "cheaper luxury car" set, yet is priced just barely above them. It's not so far above a Porsche Turbo cabriolet w/PCCB and power kit.
Here's an interesting article from Newsweek (click me) on the market position and the buyer pool for the modern Bentley (GT, Spur, GTC) <$200K cars.
If I can get official confirmation of the absence of IR-rejecting (metallic coated
) glass all the way around, my ordered GTC might be produced in late 2Q to 3Q 2007.
European manufacturers can be so arrogant when serving a market amounting to half their sales when they take a "let them eat cake" attitude about technical specifications that limit a vehicle's desirability in that market.
1) The USA simply does not have a universal GSM phone system standard with SIM-access-profile phones everywhere. Their metallic IR glass blocks pocket/purse/belt-mounted cell phone signals and their only solution to the problem is to force the customer to use a GSM carrier and a peculiar SAP-equipped phone. Dumb.
2) The USA doesn't have autobahns, therefore some good radar protection is required to occasionally enjoy a wee bit of their marque's performance potential. Metallic glass doesn't help this aspect at all.
3) Apparently non-metallic, non-IR glass is a Bentley standard in some other markets, but not available in the USA.
When I asked the Bentley-USA event rep "wazzup with dat?", he said that the English (Germans, too?) at Bentley are all mouth and no ears.
So, we'll see how this develops. My dealer is investigating whether the international parts system can find some non-IR (non-metallic-coated) spare parts glass from "foreign" markets to swap for the mandatory USA-market set-up after the fact.
The dealer is somewhat hopeful since Bentley did remove the IR coating from only the windshield in late-model USA production to reduce complaints from EZ-pass electronic toll transponder users, cell phone users, and radar detector users that found the IR coating to be a major life-style hassle. I'd like to see it go away in the side windows and the back light, as well.
I find this dismissive behavior so strange from a company that heretofore prided itself on the custom "commissioning" treatment that was so evident when I specified my Arnage, including my trip to the Crewe factory. Then, anything I wanted was available for a price.
With the newer cars, nothing can be changed apart from the pre-planned choices. Just like Honda and Toyota
Very weird