My experience with Bentley in Dubai-

For over a year now I've been in the market for a new car. While I knew I wanted to upgrade my old Cayeanne Turbo (with the old shape) to a newer one, I was confused about what to upgrade my 917 Turbo Cabriolet to. As you can probably tell, I am a die hard Porsche fan. I've had my Turbo for 4 years now and before had a Carrera 4S Cabriolet for another 4. I decided though that it was time to test out something new and have been confused about what to change my car to for a very long time now.

 I'd written almost two years ago about test driving a Ferrari California and while I loved it, I just didn't quite love it enough to give up my Porsche for it. This year however I decided I really had to change my car and contacted my friends over at Ferrari again who handed me the car keys for another California for 4 days. "Talk about SERVICE!" I exclaimed to anyone willing to listen. They'd come over, handed the car with car keys to me, taken a signature and said, "call us when you want us to pick it up." That damn call was one of the hardest I've ever made.
I was still was going to go ahead and order it when a little birdy told me that the shape of the car was going to get changed in 2015. Since I'd be getting a 2014 edition, it just didn't make sense for me to go in for one now. I test drove the new Bentley V8 GT but despite its fantastic price (for a Bentley that is) I just wasn't convinced. I was going to test drive the Mercedes SLS but a visit to the showroom where I actually sat inside the car made me realize it's nose was way too long I'd visualized myself crashing into people all over Dubai. I've never been a fan of the Maseratis or Astons and the zippy Audi R8 was also rumoured to be getting a change of shape next year.

That's when a friend of mine pointed me into the direction of the Bentley GT Speed Convertible- I test drove it and it was an absolutely dream on wheels and after that there was absolutely NO doubt in my head that that was the car I needed to get. Maybe lacking the sex appeal of the Ferrari, it more than made up for it in driving pleasure, comfort and sheer luxury! Did I mention that this is the fastest convertible and probably the second fastest car in the world? This however is not a review of the car as I had it for less than half an hour. I grumbled about the short time I had to play with it but decided to order it as I was completely in love with it.

I was dealing with a gentleman by the name of Anas at Bentley and I have to say, this guy was fantastic. While even picking out which car I should get the guy had advised me to go for the v8 instead of the more expensive W12 as he said the performance of the car was just as good. Even while picking options for the car there were many add ons that he said were a stupid expense, like the 30K stereo system I was thinking of getting. And as soon as I'd finished placing my order, he then called me with a huge surprise- While my ordered car was only coming in November, he said he'd be happy to give me a brand new Bentley V8 to drive till then, absolutely free!! I was absolutely blown away. Mind you I was the last one in the family to actually get one as all my family are Bentley fans and I think my sister was even the first person to get one in India. I don't know about the type of service they received, but I must say, I am was one happy camper. What happened you ask?? Weeeeell, as luck would have it, without having a SINGLE accident in all the years I've been driving, someone decided to bump into and dent the loaner Bentley 10 days into me having it, that too while it was parked somewhere. While Bentley was great about it and fixed it at no extra charge and was happy to hand it back to me but I really didn't want the responsibility of driving the car just IN CASE something else went wrong. Paying for one of them was bad enough! Besides, I was scheduled to leave for my summer vacation a week after (still in Dubai however... don't ask!)

After driving the V8 for those 10 days, I was extremely happy I'd decided to get brand new Speed version instead. If you do get a chance, I really suggest you test drive the cars. And if you do decide to deal with them, I cannot recommend dealing with Anas enough. He was absolutely fabulous, and if sending me a car wasn't good enough, he followed it up with 2 bags full of Bentley swag. I can't rave about their cars and customer service enough!! While I'll review mine when I get it in November, here is a short instagram video I made of the loaner V8-


You can contact Anas at anase@bentleyemirates.ae. Thanks again Anas for the fab service! 
-