On this episode of Ignition
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MotorTranscript
00:00 [ Music ]
00:13 >> This week on Ignition, we're driving the Rolls Royce Phantom II drophead coupe.
00:18 Carlos Lago, our regular host, is away this week, and so the duties have been left to me.
00:25 And that's just as well because Carlos is a guy, quite frankly, who wears T-shirts and jeans.
00:31 And he talks a bit too much about launch control.
00:35 And cars that are very, very fast that produce big numbers, this car produces one big number.
00:41 Its price, $517,000.
00:45 Now, unlike Carlos, I have the proper credentials for a car like this.
00:48 What are they?
00:50 I've got a collar on my shirt.
00:51 That's very important.
00:52 Another is I have a proper cap.
00:54 This one, no.
00:56 This one.
00:58 [ Music ]
01:18 So how does it drive?
01:21 Well, the first thing you need to know is that this is a very big car, and it feels like it.
01:26 It weighs about 5,800 pounds.
01:28 And given that it's fundamentally made out of aluminum, almost entirely aluminum,
01:33 there's a lot of structure here.
01:35 So despite being an open car, it's very, very solid.
01:39 I don't feel a wiggle or a vibration anywhere in this chassis.
01:43 Really an impressive chunk.
01:45 It feels like a train, a locomotive.
01:49 The engine powering this car is a BMW-based 6.75 liter V12.
01:56 It's a big engine, smaller in displacement than the 760 BMW.
02:01 It can be found in otherwise, normally aspirated in this case.
02:05 There's 531 pound-feet.
02:08 A lot of power, but a lot more weight.
02:10 So its acceleration is brisk, is appropriate, not fast.
02:15 But who wants to be fast on a Rolls Royce anyway?
02:18 It's coupled to an eight-speed automatic transmission.
02:22 The gear shifts, quite frankly, are invisible.
02:25 You don't detect them at all.
02:26 It is just a smooth, languid motion.
02:28 Partly that weight, the sheer inertia of the car is masking that, I suspect.
02:33 Again, it feels very, very solid.
02:35 Real solid chunk of a car.
02:38 I mean, really, I hardly driven a more solid-feeling car.
02:40 And the odd part is it's an open car, which ought to have problems with solidity.
02:45 The ride quality of this car, Rolls Royce describes as "lowering the pulse."
02:50 Where other cars are always striving to raise your pulse, make you more excited behind the wheel,
02:54 the ride of this is to lower it, to let you contemplate your riches and your wealth and your success.
03:01 It really is very, very smooth.
03:04 I do feel motions.
03:06 It does move around, bound a little bit.
03:08 But there really is a wonderful, exquisite quality to it, where they don't feel like bumps at all.
03:14 They feel like the world below you is being flattened occasionally as you roll over it.
03:18 There's a compromise between the car and the earth.
03:21 So it's a lovely feeling.
03:23 That right there, for instance.
03:26 The brakes, let me try them.
03:28 That's not a hard stop, but who would stop hard in a Rolls Royce?
03:32 Not much feeling to it.
03:34 But it worked well.
03:37 Stopped the car.
03:39 That's pretty good.
03:43 The handling is the wrong word.
03:46 This car doesn't handle.
03:48 It attacks.
03:50 It jives.
03:51 It's a bit of a process.
03:54 You turn the wheel and the giant inertia of the car has delivered the message.
04:00 And the little engineers down there begin turning valves and slowly the great vessel begins to rotate in the ocean.
04:09 It's an interesting experience.
04:12 It's not a driver's car one bit, but it's fun.
04:16 It's interesting.
04:17 You know, with the top up earlier driving this car, I wasn't so sure about it.
04:21 But with the top down now, you look at this dash, you look at this wood, it's gorgeous.
04:26 You look at that flying lady up ahead and the meaning and the symbolism of it all.
04:30 This car is huge and wonderful and magnificent and it makes me happy.
04:35 I'm happy here.
04:37 [ Music ]
04:50 Five hundred and seventeen thousand dollars.
04:52 That's a lot of money.
04:53 It's also the price of my house more or less.
04:56 But I could live in this car.
04:59 It does have good curve appeal.
05:01 Let's consider it.
05:02 And here we have the sitting room.
05:04 Lovely appointments, a very comfortable chair.
05:07 It reclines.
05:07 It couldn't be better.
05:09 A place to put the drinks.
05:10 A beautiful view.
05:11 I like that feature.
05:13 And also there's some obstruction here in case you want some privacy.
05:17 Back here is the kids room.
05:19 There's two seats.
05:19 That's perfect for them.
05:20 Enough room.
05:21 They're small.
05:22 But watch the crayons.
05:23 And here we have a beautiful teak deck.
05:25 It's not that large.
05:27 The furniture will have to be small, but we can make do.
05:29 And back here we have the garage.
05:32 Again, not the biggest garage in the world, but there's enough room for the Christmas ornaments and all that sort of stuff.
05:37 And then there's also a sun deck.
05:39 And here we have a parlor for my wife.
05:42 Very nice.
05:43 Plenty of room.
05:44 Also a closet for the clothes and a place for the shoes.
05:50 And best of all, we have a lawn gnome.
05:55 Of course, it's actually the Rolls Royce Flying Lady, which begs a bigger question.
05:59 Are these BMW designed and built Rolls Royces actually Rolls Royces?
06:04 So the Phantom is hideously expensive and preceded by a proper Flying Lady statuette.
06:13 But is it really a Rolls Royce?
06:15 To get a second opinion about this genuine Rolls thing, we visited Neil Kirkham, expert restorer and expert expert on all things Rolls Royce.
06:27 Amongst his credentials is this 1931 Phantom IIe reconstructed, including its nicely stocked front and rear bars.
06:34 And it's no mere Phantom II.
06:36 It's the actual yellow Rolls Royce that starred in the 1964 movie of the same name.
06:42 Do the names Rex Harrison or Ingrid Bergman or George C.
06:46 Scott ring any bells?
06:47 Well, go ask your parents.
06:50 So here we are.
06:52 We brought this car up to you today to check it out.
06:57 And we've had a chance to look at your car and investigate it and look at your photographs.
07:01 And what's your first reaction looking at this car, the Phantom II Drophead Coupe?
07:05 Well, it's imposing and it sets itself apart from other cars.
07:13 And how do you feel about, you know, is it really a Rolls Royce?
07:17 I mean, do you have an impression of amongst your peers or yourself as to whether this really is recognized and regarded as a true Rolls Royce,
07:26 a continuation of the heritage that that car has or is it, you know, a breed apart?
07:32 Well, to folks that are in love with old cars, it's a world apart.
07:39 And this design was so unusual amongst the other cars of its design time.
07:48 And it had to have been deliberate to set this car apart from everything else.
07:55 And they succeeded.
07:56 There is nothing like this in the market today.
07:59 I mean, absolutely nothing.
08:00 Maybe the Maybach, which is going away.
08:03 Right. But once that's gone, I mean, really what's left that...
08:07 Just the Bentley, as far as I know.
08:09 But even the Bentley, even the Mulsanne, a fantastic car.
08:13 I mean, really a fantastic car.
08:14 But just the sheer imposing mass and look of this thing, nothing makes an impact quite like this, does it?
08:22 That's correct.
08:23 Yeah. Much more so than the Bentley, which is more streamlined and aerodynamic.
08:28 It's a bit subtler car.
08:29 Yeah.
08:29 Fundamentally, what is a Rolls Royce?
08:31 Phew.
08:32 I don't have a good answer to that question.
08:35 They set themselves apart by design and quality and performance is always excellent.
08:43 Neil was a little evasive, so I'll ask it again.
08:46 Is this car's flying lady affixed to a pure blood Rolls Royce or BMW's most expensive whale scale ragtop?
08:53 After a few miles behind the wheel, it's a question mark that dissolves in the car's rearview mirror like brie with wine.
09:01 The drop head feels magisterial.
09:04 It moves regally and altogether convincingly like a Rolls Royce.
09:09 Before getting in, I worried that with this phantom fantastic, Rolls had descended into a frivolous bling toy for hip hop artists or worse, NBA players.
09:19 Well, they'll like it plenty.
09:22 But so do I.
09:24 After you become accustomed to all those eyeballs continuously watching you, you realize that the drop head coupe is powerfully addictive to drive.
09:33 To drive?
09:34 Let me explain.
09:36 When Rolls designed this car and specifically its teak decking, they visited the famous J-Class America's Cup yacht Shamrock for inspiration.
09:45 And there we detect this car's central addictiveness.
09:48 Behind the wheel, you start to become Thomas Lipton or Harold S.
09:53 Vanderbilt at the helm of a massive sloop.
09:56 Sails full, the sky bright, the wind solid at your back.
10:01 And all those cars crowding the road ahead, mere white caps to be split apart as you broad reach across the asphalt sea.
10:08 Is this a BMW or is it a Rolls Royce?
10:13 It doesn't really matter.
10:15 [MUSIC]