Bentley Azure Buyer's Guide
The Azure is Bentley's full-sized four-seat convertible: a 6.75-litre turbocharged V8, a power hood the size of a small marquee, and kerb presence very little else can match. We have no hammer prices yet; our two active listings mark out the market cleanly, with a 1997 first-generation car estimated at £49,000 to £58,000 and a 2009 second-generation car at £80,000 to £100,000.
Know your generations
The first Azure (1995–2003) is built on the Continental R platform, with bodywork engineered and partly assembled by Pininfarina, 385bhp, and the classic Crewe interior. The second generation (2006–2010) moved to the Arnage platform under Volkswagen ownership: stiffer, more modern electronics, still the pushrod 6.75 V8, with the 500bhp Azure T of 2009–2010 as the run-out performance version. Both are rare; the first generation especially so in right-hand drive, which supports values for honest cars.
What to pay
Nothing has sold through our records yet, so the only figures we can give are the live estimates: £49,000 to £58,000 for a 1997 Azure showing 45,334 miles and three former keepers, and £80,000 to £100,000 for a 2009 car. The generational gap in those estimates is the market speaking: the later car's newer platform and lower age command a premium approaching double.
What goes wrong
The 6.75-litre V8 itself is close to indestructible if serviced, but its surroundings are not. First-generation cars carry the Crewe hydraulic systems: brake accumulators and hydraulic pumps age out and are essential safety items, and the self-levelling rear suspension leaks. Head gaskets weep with age and heat, and a proper compression and coolant history is worth more than shiny paint. The hood is its own budget line on both generations: the multi-layer power roof has many hydraulic rams and microswitches, and a lazy or misaligned roof can cost serious money to make right, so operate it several times from both states before bidding. Second-generation cars swap hydraulic frailty for electronic complexity: modules, sensors and air suspension components fail in ways that need Bentley-literate diagnostics. On both, check the wood and leather hard; retrimming an Azure interior is a five-seat sofa's worth of hide, and the cost behaves accordingly. These cars weigh over two and a half tonnes; brakes, bushes and tyres wear like it.
Our view
The Azure is bought with the heart and kept with a maintenance fund, and anyone pretending otherwise has not read a Crewe parts invoice. That said, the fundamentals for classic status are all present: rarity, a magnificent engine with limitless specialist knowledge behind it, and styling that has already aged into elegance. On our estimates, the £49,000 to £58,000 first-generation car is the classic pick, provided its hydraulics and hood have documented recent attention; the 2009 car at £80,000 to £100,000 is the easier daily proposition. Either way, buy the file, not the car.