First Drive Review
Rolls-Royce, in BMW's hands nine years now, continues its glamorous and flamboyant traditions—big and bazoomy, yet somehow stately, even while knocking over a cocktail table or two during a flashy entrance. But once upon a time, getting into a $412,000 Rolls convertible was cause for grown men to begin pawing at it like beered-up college boys, but now the wow quotient is down: There seem to be fewer chromed "organ knobs," colored leather appears not so exotic in the age of bling, and the little forest of lacquered woods and the elegant emblems aren't quite so glorious anymore.
This all-new convertible is yachtlike in length—220.8 inches, a foot and change more than the limolike Mercedes S-class. Indeed, the two rear-hinged "coach doors" are so long that from inside, they're beyond reach. Push a switch, and they come barreling shut with a regal thunk.
Everyone walks around back to run fingers over 30-some pieces of teak wood. This car has its own deck! It's an extra $8500 and requires a special oil, don't you know. You can have a brushed stainless-steel hood, but—so tacky to bring this up—it's more, too: $9750. (Buy both options, and it's just $17,000.) Choose any of 4300 colors (nine are standard), with 10 shades of interior leather, 6 hood colors, 6 types of wood veneers. The radio has 15 speakers and 9 amplifiers.
BMW has inserted its big mojo, a 6.7-liter V-12, under the hood, worth 453 horses and a torque index of 531 at 3500 rpm, propelling this smooth 5800-pound projectile to, it's said, 60 in 5.7 seconds and on to a governed 149 mph. For 412 grand, that's possibly underpowered. For that dough, why not jet power? The motoring press made naughty jokes about the car's interesting "sports lumbering" over Tuscan two-lanes, but its space-frame structure and a 50/50 distribution of the results of its Wellesian waistline, along with all the diligent engineering the company can rightfully brag about, make for a pleasant ride absent of cowl shake, although someone might have added a wind blocker. The soft top has five layers of material, some of it cashmere. Tradition rejected the idea of a folding metal top. It would have compromised the car's looks. The top goes up or down in 25 seconds.
Here's why you buy a Phantom drophead coupe: In Tuscany, dapper white-haired Italian men appear at road's edge to smile with sparkling eyes that say, " Good for you." And wave their walking sticks merrily at your success.
There are 94,970 people in the world worth at least $30 million, reason enough for Rolls to feel confident it can attract nearly a fifth of one percent of them, or 200 sales a year of this convertible. About 35,000 of those swells are Americans. The line began forming at Rolls showrooms last July.
