Bentley Brooklands review: 550 built worldwide, and one of the great sleeper collector Bentleys
3.9/5motorssouq Editorial Team
The Brooklands is not really cross-shopped against anything, because nothing else offers 550-worldwide rarity, a genuinely potent hand-built V8, and understated styling in one package. Buying one in Bahrain means accepting you are the custodian of a specialist's car — insurance, parts and service all need to be arranged with people who specifically know this generation of Bentley, not assumed to be available on demand. For the right buyer, that is exactly the appeal.
Pros
- Only 550 built worldwide — a genuine collector's Bentley, not just an old luxury coupe
- Most powerful version of the 6.75L twin-turbo V8 fitted to any car of its era
- Stiffer coupe body gives sharper handling than the related Azure convertible
- Understated styling that ages better than more flamboyant contemporaries
Cons
- Finding one for sale in the Gulf at all is genuinely difficult
- Parts and specialist labour realistically mean sourcing from the UK
- Insurance needs an agreed-value classic policy, not a standard comprehensive product
- Six-speed automatic and old-school switchgear feel their age next to any modern rival
Bentley built the Brooklands as a deliberately limited, deliberately understated flagship coupe — 550 examples worldwide, badged after the British motor-racing circuit rather than a place or a person, and styled with none of the visual drama its 530 hp output would suggest. It shares its stretched Arnage-derived platform with the second Azure convertible, but as a fixed-roof coupe it is stiffer, and Bentley used that stiffness to fit the most powerful version of the 6.75-litre twin-turbo V8 offered in that era — more power than the contemporary Arnage T, delivered through the same fundamentally old-school six-speed automatic.
A rarity that changes the ownership conversation
With 550 units built globally, a Bahraini owner is not managing a common used-car problem. Parts sourcing realistically means UK specialist suppliers who stock or can fabricate the low-volume components a car this scarce needs, and insurance should be arranged as an agreed-value classic policy rather than a standard comprehensive product that will undervalue the car in a total-loss scenario. Anyone shopping for one locally should expect the search itself to take time — genuine examples surface rarely in this region.
What the drive actually delivers
The extra stiffness of the coupe body over the Azure convertible is immediately obvious on the move: less scuttle shake over Bahrain's rougher back roads, sharper turn-in, and a chassis that lets the 1,050 Nm of torque do its work without the structure protesting. The cabin follows the same hand-finished script as every other car on this platform — hide, wood veneer and lambswool in an environment that rewards slow, deliberate use rather than daily hard driving.
This is fundamentally a collector's car that happens to be genuinely usable, not a daily driver that happens to be collectible. Treat it that way — careful mileage, covered storage away from direct summer sun, and a maintenance relationship built on trust with a workshop that has actually seen this generation of Bentley before — and it rewards its owner with a driving experience very few other cars in Bahrain can offer at any price.