Bentley Azure review: a beautiful, complicated way to feel the Bahrain sun differently
3.4/5motorssouq Editorial Team
The Azure is bought with the heart, not the spreadsheet, and that is fine — it is genuinely one of the most special-feeling cars that ever wore a Bentley badge. In Bahrain, treat it as a car for cool evenings and covered parking, insist on documented roof-mechanism servicing before you buy, and accept that this is a low-volume classic whose specialist support here is thin. Buy it to enjoy, not to commute in.
Pros
- Genuinely rare, hand-built four-seat convertible flagship
- Same charismatic 6.75L twin-turbo V8 as the Arnage T
- Presence and road reaction unmatched by any modern convertible at any price locally
- Six-speed automatic is smoother than the contemporary Arnage saloon's four-speed
Cons
- Soft-top fabric and folding mechanism are highly exposed to Bahrain's sun and heat
- Extremely thin specialist and parts support in the Gulf for this low-volume model
- Considerably heavier and softer to drive than the Arnage T it is mechanically related to
- Values are unpredictable given how few examples exist regionally
The second Azure arrived in 2006 as Bentley's answer to a question few brands still asked: what does a true four-seat convertible flagship look like when cost is not a constraint? The answer was a stretched version of the Arnage platform, reinforced under the skin to compensate for the lost structural rigidity of a fixed roof, wrapped in bodywork that remains one of the most graceful shapes Crewe has ever produced. Roughly the same twin-turbo 6.75-litre V8 found in the contemporary Arnage T did the work, through a six-speed automatic rather than the saloon's four.
The roof, and why it matters here
The power-folding soft top is a genuine engineering achievement for its era — multiple layers, proper acoustic insulation when raised, and a mechanism that folds away cleanly into the boot. It is also the single biggest risk factor for a Bahraini buyer. Sun exposure this intense degrades soft-top fabric and the hydraulic folding mechanism faster than a European climate would, and a full roof replacement or mechanism overhaul on a car this rare is not a job many workshops in the Gulf have ever actually done. Any Azure under serious consideration needs the roof cycled and inspected before purchase, not after.
What it is like to actually drive
With the roof down, the Azure is theatre: the V8's turbo surge arrives with none of a saloon's insulation dulling it, wind buffeting is well controlled up to highway speed, and the sheer presence of the car parked outside Manama's better hotels draws a reaction few modern supercars manage. It is not a car that wants to be hurried through a roundabout — the extra weight of the convertible structure is obvious the moment the road stops being straight — but that was never the point.
Ownership here is a specialist's game. Bentley Bahrain's current dealership network is built around current models; an Azure owner is effectively running an independent classic-car operation, sourcing parts through UK specialists and choosing a workshop on trust rather than franchise agreement. That is not a reason to avoid the car — it is a reason to go in with real eyes open about what low-volume classic Bentley ownership actually costs in time and patience, not just money.