Hi this is Edward Loh, today we are here at Motor Trend Headquarters with a special treat. Behind me is about $2.3 million worth of vehicle hardware, that's the full line up of Rolls-Royce. We have the Rolls-Royce Phantom, Rolls-Royce Phantom Extended Wheel Base, Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupe and the Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe and we are about to go for a ride, so why don't you come and join us?
Okay, so we are now behind the wheel at the Rolls-Royce Phantom Extended Wheel Base and this is the top of the line vehicle in the Rolls-Royce line up. This bigger one is about $550,000m it is far the most expensive vehicle I have ever driven, powered by factor of about two, driving down Sunset Boulevard towards Beverly Hills suitably. And I got to say it's very easy to drive, for a vehicle that is this long, and this wide, and this intense looking. I had some reservations that I might be scraping into trucks and buses and running into stuff, but it is actually not the case, it is very easy to position on the road, and leaving the line, it's actually very, very easy to get up and go. It's not a huge or heavy feeling vehicle, and that probably has something to do with the engine, this car is powered by a 6.75 liter V12 Engine sourced from BMW and it makes about 453 horsepower and 530 pounds to the torque. I mean, I am barely touching the throttle and the vehicle is -- we are just cruising.
Okay so I am now being chauffeured in the back of the Rolls-Royce Phantom Extended Wheel Base and I would say this is a lot different, probably more special than actually driving the vehicle, we don't get a lot of cars here at Motor Trend that are this large, this roomy in the backseat, and this is very special indeed from the moment you actually get in. You know the door swings out with suicide style, and when you get in, you don't have to reach for it, you just hit a button right here and the door closes by itself. And then once you are seated in this vehicle, along with the room, you know, there is all sorts of really beautiful, really well made luxury touches in here, and of course, I can control radio and the HVAC system from the backseat. There is controls right here. In front of me, there is a tray that flops open and it has also an LCD screen, the seat itself is a very special option, it's a $30,000 option and it allows for all sorts of electric adjustments, you can raise it, lower it, recline it above my head, the starlight headliner, these little LEDs are behind the leather headliner and they look great, they are twinkling at me, deep shag carpeting, and again, this beautiful, this light ride as we go cruising down through Beverly Hills.
Okay, so we are now in the Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe, we are cruising on Sunset Boulevard, in and out of Beverly Hills, and I got to say this is quite a different ride than the Phantom Extended Wheel Base that I was just in, primarily, because of the shorter wheel base. The Drophead Coupe has a ten inch shorter wheel base than the standard Phantom which makes it about 20 inches shorter than the Extended Wheel Base version. So, again, through some of these turns on Sunset Boulevard, vehicle does seem to handle a little bit better, takes turns little bit tighter and smoother, that having been said though, the overall drive is still very much the same, it's very light on the wheel, I can just drive with my finger tips, steering is light, pedal up is very light because of all the torque, just a lovely drive especially on a day like this, you put the top down, blue skies, beautiful early day, of all a very gorgeous car I can totally see going to some sort of black tie affair, and the tugs of this car is just perfectly suited for that kind of event, and just really, just cruising on beautiful sunny days like this.
So that's it, we just finished driving Rolls-Royce's complete line up of vehicles, you know I had a little bit of feeling of dread this morning when I came into work thinking do I really want to do this? Do I want to get into something like this, driving around and then knowing that, that's it, I will never be able to afford something like this. In actual reality, I was quite surprised these cars are very user friendly, the are really not a lot different from a lot of the bigger sedans that we drive on a regular basis, that are within reach of the common man and they just happen to have a lot of luxury, well though out craftsmanship, and a beautiful vehicle, both inside and out and on the road.
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