there is no cooler car to cruise any street than in the brand new Extended Wheelbase Rolls Royce Phantom! Make no mistake; this is 20 enormous feet of the smoothest, most sophisticated, most elegant, most gorgeous, most best of everything automobile I have ever experienced!
While I’ve driven top models from Bentley, Bugatti, BMW, Jaguar, Ferrari, Mercedes, Lamborghini, Maserati, Porsche and other ultra-luxury brands, this was my first new Rolls ride. It turned out to be an absolutely marvelous five-day motoring marathon through my hometown streets.
My time with the Rolls was unlike any other press car evaluation I have experienced in my 20 years as an auto writer. For starters, the Rolls was personally delivered to me by Mr. Wayne Kung who arrived nattily attired in suit and tie. As Rolls Royce Product Communications Manager, part of his job is to deliver Phantom test cars to a very select number of auto journalists from across the nation for their personal evaluation. Why me? He said that I had been selected because an unnamed Rolls executive liked my writing style and that I had a reputation in the industry for writing fair and balanced features. Gosh, it sounds like in someone’s eyes, I’ve become the Bill O’Reilly of auto writers. Whatever the case, I was grateful for my entry into Wayne’s world.
Since only about 500 new Rolls models are brought into this country each year, the company has no dedicated press fleet. Wayne said that the Phantom I would be driving is currently for sale for at $473,970. In fact, I was told that two customers were very interested in buying this very car, so I was to use the utmost care when behind-the-wheel. It gave a whole new meaning to entering the no-spin zone. And yes, if I broke it, I would need an immediate bailout as I’d be suffering my own personal financial disaster!
Wayne told me that one of the perspective customers was from California were the Phantom I would be driving had just been displayed at the internationally famous Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. This is sort of an Olympics for multi-millionaire rare car collectors, where this year’s entries came from 27 states and 12 countries. Included were exotic cars from as far away as Hong Kong, Monaco, Germany and Brazil. With many entries valued at over a million dollars each, the combined value of all the collectable cars at the show ran way over $100 million. Included in that star-studded cast was Tonight Show host Jay Leno’s one-of-a-kind five-ton 1953 Chrysler “tank car” powered by a twin-turbo 1,600-hp M47 Patton Tank engine.
The extreme opposite of Leno’s tank car, the extended wheelbase navy-blue Phantom I would be driving has plenty of impressive credentials in its own right. It is powered by a massive 6.75 V-12 engine that pumps out 453 hp. Weighing-in at just less than three tons, this ultra luxury heavyweight can still turn in a 0-60 mph time of a quite respectable 5.7 seconds. Estimated EPA mileage is 13 city/19 highway.
Of course, Rolls Royce owners aren’t too terribly concerned about how fast their car goes or how much gas it consumes. To Rolls owners, the devil is in the details of what it takes to create pure perfection on wheels. As company founder Sir Henry Royce once said, “Strive for perfection in everything you do. Take the best that exists and make it better. When it does not exist, design it.”
Even with its monster V-12 engine, the Phantom had the quietest interior of any car I have ever encountered at highway speeds, or any speed, for that matter. And it is by far the smoothest ride I have ever encountered … a royal magic carpet ride. It took skilled craftsmen 460 hours to hand-build this beauty -- and that doesn’t include engine or structural body-building time. The body can spend up to seven days in the paint shop alone, receiving five coats of paint and clear lacquer, or seven coats for a two-tone paint scheme. Customers can choose from 15 standard colors or 45,000 different hues. After painting, each car is hand polished for five hours to give a finish of unrivalled depth and sheen.
Inside the cabin, the word “plush” doesn’t even come close to describing the luscious interior. Over 18 hides are used in the extended wheelbase Phantom and each one come from specially selected herds of cattle that are hand checked for any imperfections. Only bull hides are used so there are no unsightly stretch marks from fat cows to mar the exquisite seat surfaces. Over 450 leather sections are used in the car and each is cut with the help of a precision laser and stitched by hand. Even the leather-covered owner’s manual was from the same hides as used in the car. Up to 43 book-matched genuine wood trim parts are fitted into the each Phantom. Each wood part is made with up to 28 layers, interspersed with aluminum sheets to ensure strength in case of an impact. In fact, to conserve on weight, the extended wheelbase Phantom uses the largest space-frame chassis in the automotive world.
The rear passenger doors are engineered like no others I have encountered. Hinged at the back, they swing outwards from the B-pillar much like the famous 60s-era Lincoln limousine that President Kennedy was riding in on that fateful day in Dallas. These truly unique coach doors are designed to allow rear passengers to enter and exit the car gracefully, and can be closed with the touch of a button.
Teflon-coated umbrellas with carbon fiber shafts that are cleverly stored James Bond-style inside each rear passenger door are a nice touch, but a bit pricy at $500 a piece. And don’t even think of calling it a backseat – in Rolls Royce parlance, it is a “rear lounge seat that is curved at the outer edges, creating a social space where people can turn towards each other with greater ease.”
After explaining these and some other finer points of the Rolls, Wayne offered to take me to lunch at a restaurant of my choosing.
Where would you decide to go if the choice was yours? I chose to invite my boss along to join in the fun. When Wayne offered me the keys to begin our trip downtown, I deferred: “This will be my only time I get to ride in the back, the way a car of this stature is meant to be experienced.” In short order, I found myself being chauffeured into the city and I didn’t even have to bother with directions. I just said, “501 North Calvert Street, please” and my chauffer for the day dutifully entered the address into the Phantom’s navigation system.
During our trip downtown, Wayne pointed out that with a flick of a switch, the winged hood-ornament figurine could be magically lowered into the hood for safe keeping when parking in the hood. With the flick of another switch, the roof liner above my head was transformed into a starry galaxy featuring hundreds of little white LED lights that could be custom designed into any constellation of the customer’s choice. And if I didn’t care for stars in my eyes, the starry array could be configured into a corporate logo. The Sun, the moon, the stars … my own logo, hey, what could be better!
Bottom Line: It simply doesn’t get any better! As the newly crowned head of Rolls Royce bylines, riding in the seat of ultimate luxury really did make me feel like a king, even if my reign only lasted a few days. No matter where I drove, people noticed. Not only did heads turn, but whole bodies stopped dead in their tracks, eyes wide-open. Even while driving on the Beltway, a car pulled up next to me and a girl in the front passenger seat leaned out to take a photo of the Phantom with her camera phone. People of all ages, from all walks of life, truly appreciated this modern motoring marvel. Now that my fabulous Phantom experience is just a Fleet Street memory, here’s my take: Price of a Rolls Royce Extended Wheelbase Phantom: $473,970. Being able to chauffeur my family and friends around a la Miss Daisy: priceless.
No comments:
Post a Comment