Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow Reviews

News cruisers are parked-up and beaming pictures before 6am as the temperature hovers around minus 10 and snow flurries drift through the pre-dawn blackness.By 9am there are union workers carrying placards in support of the Big Three outside Cobo Hall in downtown motown, as the great and the good from the world's motor industry arrive for the first major event of 2009.The buzz is down from recent years, with less security and fewer journalists jetting in for the action, but still there are major unveilings, technology, important speeches and so much more over the first two days.The North American International Motor Show is more than just glitz and glamour for General Motors, Ford and Chrysler in 2009 - this is the day when they have to deliver for the first time on the promises in Washington which have earned a government-backed rescue package.That means GM opens the action with a rolling cavalcade of 17 models which promise exactly what the government wants - hybrids, electric cars and regular production models which do better than 10 litres/100km in fuel economy.The headliner once again is the Chevrolet Volt, except this time it is wrapped in Cadillac bodywork and called the Converj - with the added bonus of a plug-in connection to its onboard battery system.Lexus is next and does its number around the brand's first dedicated hybrid, the HS250h, which was originally only planned for America but will now go to more than 80 countries.Then Ford becomes the second of the Big Three to present its position for 2010 and beyond, with an all-new Taurus family car - perhaps a pointer to something on the Falcon front - and the promise of an all-new electric car with a 160-kilometre range by 2011.Company chairman Bill Ford takes the stand to deliver on the company's promises to Washington, even though it was the only local not to take a multi-billion dollar loan."Ford is heading in the direction America and our customers want us to go, which is a green, high-tech and global future. I think that is where society would like to see the entire industry go, and Ford is going to lead that charge," Ford says.Then Chrysler, which many American analysts believe cannot survive the global economic meltdown, gets its turn and does a top job with the great looking new 200C family car and a range of electrics which shows it has not given up hope.It's best looker is the Dodge Circuit, which is most like a battery-powered Lotus sports car."The Dodge Circuit EV offers an extremely fun-to-drive, expressive sports car without fuel consumption and with virtually no impact on the environment,” says the vice-president of design at Dodge, Ralph Gilles.By now, after just two hours of the first press preview day, the pattern for Detroit '09 is set.The home team is going big on the cars it needs to make - even if Americans are still buying BIG with the drop in pump petrol prices - but there is more sizzle than steak because they have started way behind the Japanese and Europeans.And Cobo Hall looks sparse. There are fewer brands, fewer cars and none of the bold-and-brassy unveilings - Chrysler has always led the world in motor show stunts - which have been a signature of the Detroit show.“All I know is we took about 50 per cent out of the cost of our stand,” says the car boss at General Motors, Bob Lutz.“We took away a lot of the structures, such as salad bowl-shaped Saturn stands, and towers with holographic displays.”But he still applies some positive spin as everyone talks up the chances for the Big Three, even in the face of a selloff of the Hummer and Saab divisions at GM.“The fact that we don’t have any of that stuff gives our stand a much more businesslike and cleaner appearance. I think they cluttered up the stand. I imagine it’s going to be much the same around the show," Lutz says.As usual, the 80-plus former fighter pilot is right.BMW joins the hybrid rush at Detroit with news of its petrol-electric X6, thankfully with the all-new Z4 sportster to provide some glamour, as Volkswagen provides the best looking car of the show with its Concept BlueSport.The gorgeous VW is most like a Mazda MX-5, but promises Prius-buster fuel economy in the 4.3 litres/100km range and, without any promise of production, it clearly could have a future.“The Concept BlueSport is evolving into a car that that is a lot of fun to drive and at the same time makes an unmistakeable statement in terms of sustainability," says Volkswagen.“The Concept BlueSport is evolving into a car that that is a lot of fun to drive and at the same time makes an unmistakeable statement in terms of sustainability.”The next big mover in Cobo Hall is Kia, which shows a funky pick-up built on its baby Soul. The Soul'ster is never going to be an Aussie workhorse but will hit the Gen-Y button for America, and California in particular.As the first day in Detroit winds into darkness and more frigid weather, Subaru kicks the action with a preview of its new Liberty - called the Legacy in the USA - Jaguar runs out its high-performance R version of the landmark XF and Volvo shows the most adventurous concept car in its history, pointing to the next S60."The sporty design gives visual promise of an enthusiastic drive and I can assure you here and now that the all-new S60 will live up to that promise," says Volvo boss, Stephen Odell.Ford goes again to start day two at Cobo, with its Lincoln-Mercury models, then its back to Maserati and then GM pushes the home game hard with an announcement that the batteries for its Volt will be built in the USA. It's a boost for local jobs, more hard news on the Volt, and just what Washington will want before the Big Three report back on their survival plans at the end of March.And then there is a shock - at least for the Americans - as Chinese cars make the mainstream in Detroit for the first time and little-known BYD confirms it will be selling the world's first production plug-in electric car by 2010.The last big event of Detroit '09 is the one everyone already knows about - the new Toyota Prius.The list of 'firsts' is impressive as the car is unveiled, from its drag co-efficient to more luxury and a more-efficient battery system. But Honda has already undercut the third-generation Prius on price with its Insight, which is headlining for the brand in Detroit, and there is no sign of a cutting-edge lithium-ion battery pack.But the Prius has solar-powered air-conditioning to cool the car when it is parked, is bigger and quieter inside, and is certain to become the world's best selling hybrid. The car comes with more than 1000 new patents on technology and a claim of 3.9 litres/100km economy."Prius is more than a hybrid, it’s a solution. No longer is it a second car or a passing fad. In many households, it has become the primary family car," says Bob Carter of Toyota USA.There is other stuff to see in Detroit, and some things are obviously missing _ the Mercedes E-Class was an invitation-only event and Rolls-Royce is holding its all-new RR4 for the Geneva Motor Show in March - but the overall verdict on 2009 is surprisingly positive.Cars are still big news, look good and make promises of a better and more enjoyable life on the road.But the big question remains. Did the Big Three do enough, and show enough in Detroit, to convince the American government that they deserve the support it will take to get them through the biggest crisis in the history of the automobile? 

It's not even that expensive an undertaking.Holden and, especially, Ford would be only too glad to sell you the means to do so for substantially under $50,000. So you needn't wear a white collar on a professional basis in order to afford this particular sensation, much less a crash helmet.But there is getting there and then there's getting there in unparalleled style and comfort without appearing to exert the least effort. That's a feeling only the several super rich Australians who will take delivery of the new $1 million plus Roll-Royce Phantom Coupe this year will come to know.And, of course, this obscenely fortunate Carsguider who has been given a sneak preview of the only Coupe currently on the continent.So what, I can hear a few of you murmuring? How is this automotive emblem of excess relevant to the other 99.98 per cent of us? For that matter, isn't this exposition bordering on bad taste during this time of encroaching austerity?Valid points - to which we'd respond that anyone who cares for cars (as opposed to those who claim to but whose enthusiasm goes no further than Holden or Ford) would care to know of what is arguably the world's best. The other point is the last thing relevant to the subject of Rolls-Royce is relevance itself.“No-one needs a $1 million car,” says Bevin Clayton of Trivett Classic Rolls-Royce, the man who will sell 22 of them this year. Indeed, for the approximate equivalent of the Luxury Car Tax on the Rolls - some $300,000 - you could buy a Maserati GranTurismo.“But once you have driven one, it's awfully hard to go back.”That's something likely to be appreciated by the first time Roller buyers that the Coupe is expected to attract. Clayton posits these would have been intimidated by the sheer scale of the Phantom sedan (to say nothing of the long-wheelbase version there of) and who also shrank from the exposure of the gorgeous Drophead Coupe.In reality, the hardhat Coupe is scarcely any less physically imposing on the road either in form or in sheer presence. In some respects, it's the most aesthetically pleasing of the three to date, combining the best attributes of both.From the front three-quarters it really couldn't be anything else on earth. The Spirit of Ecstasy emblem is as ever perched on a silver grille that fills rear vision mirrors and silently bids those in front to merge left. The bonnet is the now familiar polished metallic, contrasting in this case to deeply reflective Diamond Black paint.The lines are emphasised with twin deep red pinstripes, painted by hand with ox-tail brushes. The Coupe's individuality becomes apparent as you reach the small rear window and peer through at the cabin-long mahogany panelling that culminates in the traditional rear deck. If backseat passengers lack the amenity of the sedan, even the tallest have more than ample room while they stare at the ceiling in which dozens of tiny LED lights convey the impression of a brilliantly starlit night.Crack either of the rear-hinged suicide doors and all is as you would hope - expanses of mahogany hide, silver switches, and what Clayton says is an ever so slightly thicker version of that spindly, old-world steering wheel. Glorious.The third of the new generation of Phantom-based cars since 2003, after BMW rescued the hallowed marque from penury, offers something besides than two fewer doors than the sedan and a more solid roof than the Drophead. A hint is provided by those unique chrome exhaust pipes.“Sporty” is the most sorely abused term in the auto lexicon, but the Coupe's take on this notion is as departed from normal usage as Roll-Royce itself is from mere mortal marques. Engage the silver “S” button on the steering wheel, punch the accelerator and the Coupe's 2.6 tonnes and 5.6 metres consumes the landscape both with the Roll’s trademark “waft” and a newfound assertiveness.The damping seems keener and gearing calibrated to do the standard sprint distance in a claimed 5.8 seconds. When shoved, the otherwise almost silently purring 6.75-litre V12 permits itself a resonant timbre. Not a rumble. That would be uncouth.Mainly, though the driving experience - at least on our jaunt through the Coupe's natural habitat of Sydney's Eastern Suburbs, remains a case of effortless majesty, a nearly ethereal feeling that puts every pretender to the ultra-luxury throne firmly back in their place. ROLLS ROYCE PHANTOM COUPEPrice: est. about $1millionEngine: 6.75L/V12 338kW/720NmEconomy: 15.7L/100km (claimed)Transmission: 6-speed automatic RWD 

For the person with everything you cannot go past this $183,000 18-karat white gold Girard-Perregaux because it comes with the perfect accessory - a car. But it's no ordinary car, it's the Pininfarina Hyperion, based on the Rolls-Royce Drophead Coupe. The Italian design house built the one-off two-seater for European Rolls-Royce owner and collector, Roland Hall. The interior was largely unchanged, except for the commissioning of a special watch. The watch sits proud on the dashboard but can be removed and attached to a bracelet to be worn on the wrist. Girard-Perregaux personalised one of its sophisticated watches, a white gold Vintage 1945 Tourbillon with gold bridge, especially for the car. Pininfarina took the regular production Drophead and removed the body, designing and building the sleek Rolls, which is named after Greek mythological Titan, Hyperion. Hall has decided to dedicate the car to the memory of late Andrea Pininfarina, 51, who died in a motorcycle accident in August. Although the car has created quite a sensation, the regional director of Rolls-Royce Asia Pacific, Collin Kelly, says there is no chance it might make it into low volume production. “Our research has not shown there is not enough demand for such a car, Kelly says. He says Pininfarina had a history of designing exclusive cars, which Rolls-Royce applauded. “But there is a big difference between this and bringing a new series mode to market, with the high development costs that this implies as a vehicle manufacturer,” he says. However, Kelly says the company has left the door open to future one-off projects. “Rolls-Royce can't comment on Pininfarina's work but if we were approached on a similar unique project such as this we would certainly consider the possibility.” Pininfarina personally designed the car's custom carbon fibre body. The car made its sensational debut at the recent Pebble Beach Concours in California. The Hyperion is designed to pay homage to the majestic pre-World War II luxury cars like the Hispano Suiza, with long bonnets and lavish interiors. To repeat the proportions Pininfarina extended the roof and shortened the rear end, moving the driving position back 400mm and removing the rear seats. A team of engineers designed a new hood, which folds behind the seats under a wood-lined cover. In front of the windscreen two compartments were built to house sports equipment, including Hall's hunting rifles. The bodywork is made of carbon fibre, while the details are applied using a technology adopted in boat building. The doors are made of solid wood by craftsmen who specialise in luxury boats. The Hyperion follows the debut of the technologically advanced Pininfarina Sintesi concept car at this year's Geneva Motor Show. Next month the Italian styling house will unveil an electric car concept, the Ferrari California and the 2009 Maserati Quattroporte at the Paris Motor Show.  

I always thought the best way to tour Europe was in a first-class seat on the Orient Express.When I spend an all-too brief trip on the classic train from London to the English Channel, I wanted the journey to roll on forever.But forever is a long time and things change. I thought I would always be a Coke man, but now I prefer Pepsi. And my devotion to Allan Moffat and Ford eventually flipped when I became a friend of Peter Brock and drove the best of his hot-rod Commodores.Just this week my passion for the Orient Express was overturned by a car. But not just any car.As I wafted across France in the latest Rolls-Royce, the new $1.1 million Phantom Coupe, I honestly could not think of any better way to travel.And to put that price in perspective, you have to keep remembering that this car’s buyers are not slaves to any of the commitments of the life you and I live. A mortgage? Not likely.A Rolls-Royce owner typically has about $80 million available for a snap purchase, owns at least two houses and has a garage with four or more cars in the Ferrari and Porsche class. So we're talking about Lindsay Fox or Nicole Kidman or John Laws.To them, a Phantom Coupe — even with a seven-figure bottom line before you tickle it with rear cupholders at $8000 or custom paint at who-knows-what price — is just another nice car.To us, the wage slaves of the world, it is an unbelievable extravagance.Why would anyone happily pay $1.1 million for a car that does the same basic job as a $15,000 Hyundai Getz, with about the same cabin space as a $35,000 Holden Commodore and less performance potential than a $70,000 FPV Falcon F6 turbo?That was why I was sitting in the foyer of the Rolls-Royce factory at Goodwood in Britain as an $8 million cavalcade of Phantoms, from six new Coupes to a long-wheelbase limousine to follow with the baggage, was assembled for a small group of lucky journalists. This was an episode torn from the pages of lifestyles of the poor but influential.But do not think for a second that the Phantom Coupe is perfect. Or that life in this world is so far different from suburban Australia.The cupholders in the British beauty are useless and the first roundabout sent two bottles of water skidding under the pedals to give me a nasty fright.And not even the Spirit of Ecstacy on the bonnet can clear the early-morning commuter traffic on the road to the cross-Channel train.And when you drive a Phantom Coupe on to the tunnel train, you have to share space with trucks . . . because the Rolls-Royce is so enormous.Minutes later we were also sharing the new Coupe with a dozen schoolchildren, all excited at the sight of an amazing car. And that was a powerful reminder of the importance of Rolls-Royce and its place in the world. ON THE ROADThe next reminder came at the end of the day. We had been driving for close to 12 hours and had covered more than 600km, yet it felt as if we had been going for about an hour.That's the best thing about the Coupe. It is a little more lively than the four-door Phantom and noticeably crisper any time the road starts to wander, and considerably quieter than the Drophead convertible.But, compared with any ordinary car, it's a serene cocoon that crushes kilometres without any apparent effort. It gives the sort of regal ride the maharajas would have enjoyed on the back of an elephant in the days of colonial India.You can see and feel the serenity in a Phantom Coupe. The seats are armchairs, the car is so quiet you can talk normally to your passenger without strain, there is plush luxury in everything you can see and touch and smell and hear, and yet the car will easily twist the speedometer from 80km/h to naughty-naughty with one firm call on the throttle.As we motored along we struggled for words to describe the tour group. We were wafting almost effortlessly, just as the Titanic would have done before the iceberg. Not that we were thinking that way. Perhaps a cavalcade? Or a parade? Or just a flurry, a flock or a fantasy of Phantoms?But reality returned with a rush when the sky turned grey, then black as the first splatters of rain turned to an incessant torrent and the clouds became thick fog.This final run to Geneva should have been the time to discover if the Phantom Coupe really can be a sporty car and deliver on the brand's impressive promises. But there were too many trucks and turns, and the road was slick and a serious threat to a $1 million machine.So I was forced to look at what I had, and what I had learned. This runs to underdone cupholders and satellite navigation that is well behind the times, and a package of luxury knick-knacks that falls well short of a Lexus LS600h. There's a slightly sharper response, but not of the sporty feel of a Porsche or even a Calais V.The Roller also needs sharper steering, a smaller wheel, some form of manual transmission control and more-supportive seats to sustain its sporty claims. And the view out of the rear window is second worst this year behind the stupidly flawed BMW X6 four-wheel drive.But, as the sun broke through and we turned into another five-star refuge to complete the trip, I was still won over by the Phantom Coupe.You can apply all the logic you like, and ask all the hard questions you like, and be as cynical as I like, and rate the car as an overdone relic with a grand past and no real future.But some things in life exist only because they can. And because we have to have standards. The Phantom Coupe is not perfect, but is one of the world's best cars. I like it.And, at the end of the day, would you? I would, and you would too if you had taken the English express and also won the lottery. 

The world's only metallic white Phantom Pearl Rolls-Royce, one of 11 Rollers delivered to Australia last year, is being auctioned online.It is from the exclusive bespoke collection, with mother-of-pearl inlays adorning the dash and centre console.CEO of graysonline, Cameron Poolman, said it was the company's first world-exclusive sale.The car, which was part of a liquidation, cost about $1.1 million new and is expected to fetch more than $600,000, he said.“This is a business asset and so due to downturn in the financial markets the business is in liquidation,” he said. “It is currently registered in Victoria but will be sold unregistered.”Features include 21-inch chrome-vaned alloy wheels and the Phantom aluminium 6.75L, V12 engine.The vehicle has travelled fewer than 6000km and log books are included.“We are expecting mainly local interest, however, overseas parties are welcome to bid,” Poolman said.The auction closes on Friday.Visit: www.graysonline.com.au 

And, for them, it will be a relative bargain with a price tag of around $500,000A cut-priced Rolls-Royce sounds like a contradiction, but the all-new RR4 - with a final name still to be revealed - will be less than half the price of today's Phantom limousine.The British brand has just revealed the first sketches of its new 'baby', but they reveal very little beyond the basic outline.What is already known is that RR4 will be smaller than a Phantom but larger than a BMW 7-Series, which could be the donor vehicle for at least some of the car's components. After all, BMW Group does own Rolls-Royce.However a company spokesman says the majority of components will be uniquely Roller.“There is a sizeable amount of hand-built components along with a high level of individual skill required to build this new series,” says Rolls-Royce Asia Pacific corporate communications manager Hal Serudin“Also, unlike other brands, a vast majority of the componentry along with all significant parts – engine, chassis, wheels etc, will be unique to Rolls-Royce.“Although this car will be lower in price than a Phantom, it will be still one of the most exclusive cars available.”The car will have a new engine, expected to be a V8, a move confirmed earlier this year by outgoing RR chairman Ian Robertson.The sketches of RR4 come just a month before Rolls-Royce goes public with its third model, the Phantom Coupe. It follows the original four-door limousine and the Drophead Coupe, which has been a sell-out for close to a year despite a $1.2 million pricetag. 

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It's when you find yourself saying things like: “Beauty — a roundabout!” that you know the initial numbing awe of piloting the Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe is passing. Even something so mundane as a circle of concrete assumes landmark significance when its being negotiated in 2.6 tonnes of lovingly handcrafted land yacht — one that just happens to have been sold already for a not altogether negligible $1.25 million.Bevin Clayton of Trivett Classic gave Carsguide an Australian first last week, allowing us access to the only Drophead in the country not already in private hands — although it soon will be.This pristine example with low double figures on the clock is being shipped to Adelaide where a gentleman will become the first in that quaint town to own this model Roller.If membership of the Australian Rolls-Royce owner's club is gradually expanding — Clayton expects to sell eight Phantom sedans, eight Dropheads and three of the new hard-top coupes due in September — it's hardly in danger of becoming less than exclusive. Certainly the sense of occasion on simply approaching the Drophead is unlikely to diminish in a hurry.The sheer blackness of this example, set off by the distinctive burnished silver bonnet, to some extent disguises the Roller's imposing lines. The fabric roof is the longest of any modern auto, a bespoke, five-layered lid that insulates the interior from noise of the madding crowd almost as effectively as the sedan's hard top. Indeed, as Clayton says, it's clear that the Drophead remains “in the Phantom family”.Notwithstanding one client who bought a sedan to complement his new Drophead — as one does — the Drophead's DNA is immediately evident on opening the rear-hinged door.It's a sea of Indian rosewood and the creamiest leather set off with polished, to the point of reflectiveness, stainless steel fittings. A singular ambience almost seduces you as you take hold of the skinny, old-world steering wheel.The Drophead is, of course, hand-crafted using top-drawer materials to Rolls's exacting standards and is modelled on the J-class racing yachts of the 1930s. Indeed, the rear deck is teak.The bonnet is machine-brushed before being hand-finished to ensure a uniform grain.A picnic boot has a split tail compartment that opens in two parts, giving easy access to 315 litres of space. The lower tailgate provides a comfortable seating platform for two adults when folded, revealing a luggage compartment that's more lushly upholstered than the cabins of certain luxury sedans Carsguide has tried.Unlike almost all of them, but very much like its sibling sedan, the Drophead contrasts the immense power of a 6.75-litre V12 with an aural note that's entirely in keeping with the Phantom moniker. Indeed, attempting to start the thing after pausing near Clovelly for pictures proved to be superfluous. The engine was, in fact, running.Roof down in a tunnel, you might be driving a hybrid, so subdued and refined is the note, for all its 338kW and 720Nm. Almost no Dropheads are chauffeur driven, but sitting in the rear pews is easily the most civilised such experience that can be had in a convertible.As we've said of the sedan, the Roller is simply too enjoyable to be left to Jeeves.Such is the alacrity with which it leaves the mark and immediacy of response to steering inputs that it's impossible to believe the thing outweighs all but the heaviest SUVs.Where a lesser luxury car — that would be all of them — might float seasickeningly, the Phantom “wafts” in that legendary, almost patented Rolls-Royce fashion.If the Drophead costs more than a million, driving it is a one in a million experience.