Bentley Continental R values: the convertible outsells the coupe by half
The open Azure sells for nearly half as much again as the coupe it is based on. Bentley Continental R, Continental T and Azure prices from 499 recorded auction sales, what a Continental T commands, and why this record has no cheap cars in it at all.
Built 1991–2003
What the Continental R sells for at auction
In 2025 the median Continental R sold for £36,450 across 39 sales, 19% down on 2024. In real terms, typical Continental R prices were down about 41% over the five years to 2025, once inflation is accounted for.
| Variant | Sold | Typical range | Median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Azure | 187 | £37,368 - £58,546 | £45,639 |
| Continental R | 175 | £25,903 - £39,288 | £31,088 |
| Continental T | 55 | £49,390 - £72,182 | £61,600 |
| Azure Mulliner | 34 | £50,852 - £64,457 | £56,582 |
| Continental R Mulliner | 30 | £46,724 - £82,264 | £64,805 |
| Continental R Le Mans | 9 | £81,300 - £102,300 | £96,055 |
Show the year-by-year mediansHide the year-by-year medians
| Year | Sold | Median | In 2025 money |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 (so far) | 28 | £42,932 | |
| 2025 | 39 | £36,450 | £36,450 |
| 2024 | 45 | £45,024 | £46,752 |
| 2023 | 26 | £50,454 | £54,142 |
| 2022 | 39 | £47,040 | £53,872 |
| 2021 | 37 | £39,200 | £48,473 |
| 2020 | 42 | £49,105 | £62,227 |
| 2019 | 24 | £43,984 | £56,306 |
| 2018 | 26 | £40,574 | £52,823 |
| 2017 | 25 | £49,280 | £65,643 |
| 2016 | 36 | £49,179 | £67,195 |
| 2015 | 32 | £38,241 | £52,773 |
| 2014 | 27 | £37,125 | £51,438 |
| 2013 | 13 | £39,100 | £54,947 |
| 2012 | 17 | £47,053 | £67,639 |
| 2011 | 9 | £40,914 | £60,322 |
| 2010 | 14 | £45,614 | £69,863 |
| 2009 | 9 | £48,936 | £76,828 |
| 2008 | 5 | £67,128 | £107,467 |
| 2005 | 3 | £85,977 | £149,431 |
| 2004 | 3 | £91,050 | £161,503 |
- £68,609Continental T
- £21,164Continental R
- £42,000Azure
- £22,197Continental R
- £78,019Azure
Strong evidence. 499 recorded sales and a dozen or more a year: the median and the range are well founded. Based on 499 sold results from public classic car auctions (2004 to 10 August 2026). Sold prices, not asking prices, and not a valuation: condition, history and specification vary from car to car. Inflation-adjusted figures use the ONS CPIH index, in 2025 money.
The Continental R is the last of the hand-built Crewe cars and the one with no bargain basement. Bentley Continental R values sit at a median of £44,013 across 499 recorded sales, with the middle half between £32,111 and £60,230. The lowest recorded sale in the whole record is £17,042, which is the highest floor of any car in this batch by a distance. Roughly three in four cars offered find a buyer.
The Bentley Continental R guide covers the coupe, the short-wheelbase T, the Azure convertible and what to check. This page is about the money.
The open car outsells the coupe by half
The Azure is the convertible version of the Continental R, and it is both the volume seller and the dearer car: £45,639 at the median across 187 recorded sales, against £31,088 across 175 for the coupe. That is nearly half as much again for the same car with the roof removed.
This is not a Bentley quirk. It is the single most consistent finding across this whole cohort. The Silver Cloud drophead makes five to eight times its saloon. The Rolls-Royce Corniche is the only car in the batch to hold its real value, and it is a coachbuilt convertible. The 1950s Bentley Continental holds while the S-series saloon falls. Open, hand-built cars keep their money and closed saloons do not, and the Azure is the modern instance of it.
For a buyer the implication is uncomfortable but clear: the coupe is the better value on the day and the convertible is the better value over time.
No cheap cars in this record
Every other car in this batch has a bottom end. The Silver Shadow’s lowest recorded sale is £488, the Silver Spirit’s £1,210, the Bentley Mk VI’s £2,401. The Continental R’s is £17,042, and the whole bottom quartile sits above £32,000.
Two things hold that floor up. The cars are recent enough that depreciation has not finished with them, so the tired examples are still working through the trade rather than sitting in fields. And the running costs are high enough in absolute terms that a neglected Continental R tends to be broken for parts rather than sold cheaply: a turbocharged 6.75 V8, a complex gearbox, 1990s electronics and air suspension on the later cars add up to a repair bill that can exceed what a rough car would fetch.
The practical consequence is that this is a market with no way in below about £25,000, and no prospect of one. It also means the usual advice on this site, that the cheapest car is the most expensive mistake, applies here with an unusually hard floor beneath it.
The performance cars above
Above the coupe and the Azure sit the specials. The Continental T, short in the wheelbase and 400 brake horsepower, is £61,600 across 55 recorded sales, roughly twice a standard Continental R. Mulliner-specified cars add a genuine premium in both bodies: £64,805 for a Continental R Mulliner and £56,582 for an Azure Mulliner. And at the top, the Continental R Le Mans at £96,055 across 9 sales.
Nine of the 499 sales sit outside these rows. The top recorded sale, £145,877, is a Continental R Mulliner.
Down 31%, which here is holding up
The yearly median reads £49,105 in 2020, £39,200 in 2021, £47,040 in 2022, £50,454 in 2023, £45,024 in 2024, £36,450 in 2025 and about £42,932 so far in 2026. In today’s money that is £62,227 falling to £42,932, a real-terms loss of about 31% over six years.
In isolation that is a decline. In context it is one of the better results in this cohort: the Silver Spirit is down 70%, the Bentley Mk VI 58%, the 20/25 more than half, and only the Corniche has done better than the Continental R. The pattern holds again within the model, too, with the Azure and the Continental T proving firmer than the base coupe.
Where Continental Rs change hands
Through the online platforms and specialist sales, and the summer of 2026 shows the spread inside a fortnight: a Continental R at £21,164 and another at £22,197 at the bottom, an Azure at £42,000 in the middle and a Continental T at £68,609 above them. Three in four offered cars sell, a healthy rate that reflects a market where sellers have realistic expectations. Whether a recorded price includes the buyer’s premium varies by sale, which is one more reason to read the usual range rather than any single result.
Insuring, buying, selling
Insure by badge and body: a coupe around £31,000, an Azure in the mid-forties, a Continental T at £60,000 and upwards, and a Mulliner or Le Mans car individually. On buying, the service history is the entire question at these prices, and the hard floor under the market means there is no such thing as a cheap way in worth taking. If you are selling, the Azure and the T are the badges the market wants, and the file is what turns a £30,000 coupe into a £39,000 one.
Related
The Continental R is the successor in spirit to the R Type Continental, which sells for more than ten times as much, and shares its running gear with the Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit era. Its open sibling in the Rolls-Royce range is the Corniche. For the period, see British classic cars of the 1990s. For how all the figures on this site are compiled, see what classic cars sell for.
