| Author | Message | ||
     Brian Vogel Grand Master Username: guyslp Post Number: 1963 Registered: 6-2009 |
I have to say that I agree with the writer for the Washington Post on 103EX. I know it's a concept car, and in this case one intended to get attention with no eye toward being a production model, but bizarre is the only correct descriptor. Brian | ||
| Vladimir Ivanovich Kirillov Grand Master Username: soviet Post Number: 532 Registered: 2-2013 |
What about "grandly horrid" Brian.The front of it really is a nasty affair.Just how it corners is a complete mystery. I think the concept of self driving cars needs to be trashed totally before people start getting maimed. A total nutty idea that reduces driving pleasure to the level of being in a cramped long international flight cat cage. If artificial intelligence does not croak us all then loon concepts like driverless cars will have a good shot at us. | ||
| David Gore Moderator Username: david_gore Post Number: 2083 Registered: 4-2003 |
Was this press release dated 1st April?? This could only have been an April Fool's day joke. | ||
| Brian Vogel Grand Master Username: guyslp Post Number: 1964 Registered: 6-2009 |
I like what a commenter using the moniker "yanapuma" had to say: It looks like an armored tank designed by Erte. Mr. Gore, would that this were a joke. The Rolls-Royce Home Page is prominently featuring, "Vision Next 100 - Witness the Future." | ||
| michael vass Prolific User Username: mikebentleyturbo2 Post Number: 197 Registered: 7-2015 |
Like I said ,proof bmw should not have got RR! Mike | ||
| Vladimir Ivanovich Kirillov Grand Master Username: soviet Post Number: 534 Registered: 2-2013 |
David its true - this monstrousity is lurking on the RR website!!!!! Kill it before it escapes!!! | ||
| Brian Vogel Grand Master Username: guyslp Post Number: 1965 Registered: 6-2009 |
Mike, If BMW had not "got RR" there would no longer be RR. The sale of the RR and Bentley marques to their current owners wasn't done because either was solvent enough to continue on its own as an independent entity. There are far worse fates than to be a British brand with worldwide status that now has German engineering mixed in. It could have suffered the same fate as Jaguar, going to a company where it remains very open to question whether they have what it will take to keep the brand alive over the long term. Brian | ||
| michael vass Prolific User Username: mikebentleyturbo2 Post Number: 199 Registered: 7-2015 |
Hi Brian The thing with bmw is they make such ugly cars like the 100 series ,fell out the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down! Where Jaguar make fantastic looking cars like the f type. Also it is said that when an Aussie was asked which car he would go into the outback with a BMW x5, Range rover or Toyota Landcruiser he said the Range rover will get you into the outback in style, the BMW will get you into the outback fast but the Toyota will get you back from the outback (or words to that effect)  . I think german engineering is grossly overrated, over priced and over complicated. I'll let you decide which you would buy.   just my opinion Mike (tried to edit the last post but timed out) Mike - have deleted your first post and reconfigured your later post to make it easier to read without having to scroll across the screen. David | ||
| Nick Adlam Experienced User Username: crewes_control Post Number: 38 Registered: 12-2015 |
Evening Gents Apologies if my my opinions raise eyebrows- no offense intended. Just my 2c worth. As an Anglophile and old-school/traditionalist, I'm opposed to Germany owning RR and Bentley. The 2 most hallowed names in Britain's car history have been completely devoured by the "old enemy"- as if Hitler himself had risen from his ashes and financed the purchases- a revenge of sorts. RR & Bentley have prided themselves on beautiful, time-honoured craftsmanship but now yuppie Germans are hell bent on transforming RR into some tacky, futuristic nouveau riche playboy's toy for the Middle-East. Completely against the grain of RR. Think Aston Martin Lagonda V2.0 Once again, no offense, but if this is the future of RR, I'd rather see them lie down and rest rather than continue down this path. | ||
| Nick Adlam Experienced User Username: crewes_control Post Number: 39 Registered: 12-2015 |
Apologies again Gents I just get a bit passionate about this topic. Also, I apologise for mentioning the Middle-east in particular- buyers are everywhere. Guess I read too many books.... | ||
| richard george yeaman Grand Master Username: richyrich Post Number: 527 Registered: 4-2012 |
This is a very complex subject and smacks of history repeating itself in 1936 when Rolls Royce bought what remained of the Bentley car company I am sure that the purists of the time didn't think a lot of the situation by that time both Rolls and Royce were dead. Volkswagen when they bought the business at Crewe bought everything except the right to use the Rolls Royce name it wasn't in the deal the Spirit of Ecstasy and the Rolls Royce grill was. The company then later sold the Rolls Royce name to B M W Privately for forty million pounds Volkswagen paid Four hundred and sixty Million Pounds. IF I were rich and buying a car I would lean towards Bentley rather than(Rolls Royce???) Sorry but its my own thoughts. Richard. | ||
| Brian Vogel Grand Master Username: guyslp Post Number: 1966 Registered: 6-2009 |
Richard, As far as preference, were I able to afford either a new RR or Bentley, it would definitely be a RR for me. Bentley has, in my opinion, become entirely too common in virtually every sense of that word. Here in the US, it's now pretty amazing how many Bentleys you actually see if you drive around the country for any distance, but RRs remain quite rare and exclusive. I don't really care for the styling of either marque at the moment. I have always thought the Goodwood Phantom to be vulgar and the Bentley Mulsanne is, to my eyes, just plain ugly. I've tried to warm to it, but I just cannot do so. The current Ghost and Wraith are sleek, but just too bland and "generic car" to do much of anything for me. The new Dawn just makes a Wraith convertible, but that is enough in and of itself to at least make me slightly interested. But it's still too generic in its overall look. The last designs I really cared for were the "last of the Crewe line" (but with some definite BMW parts): the Silver Seraph and the Arnage. When it comes down to it car companies ceased to be "national" in any real sense a long time ago. They're all international conglomerates now, and that's not going to change. Some are much better than others in producing distinctive and attractive cars that meet the strictures necessary to sell them in their various markets. 'Twas ever thus. Brian, who can pick out ugly examples from virtually any maker's current offerings (and sometimes few stunning ones - in the good sense of stunning) | ||
| richard george yeaman Grand Master Username: richyrich Post Number: 528 Registered: 4-2012 |
Brian I wouldn't buy either, the point I was making was the underhand way that BMW acquired the name Rolls Royce at least Bentley cars are still made at Crewe where the real Rolls Royces were made, I wonder what the general thoughts would be if ford had bought Rolls Royce Motor Company. Richard. | ||
| Brian Vogel Grand Master Username: guyslp Post Number: 1967 Registered: 6-2009 |
Richard, I don't know what you'd consider "underhanded" about the deal. I don't consider Crewe to be "hallowed ground" and Goodwood is just fine. In fact, South Carolina would be just fine. The character of a car is defined as much or more by the design ethos than the place of manufacturing or, these days, the underlying platform on which it's based. You can tweak a platform very significantly. I don't know many people who thought the Lincoln LS and Jaguar S-Type were at all similar, but what each was built on was substantially the same. I really don't understand the concern with "who owns it" when it comes to modern car manufacture. Like I said, there hasn't been a true X-ish/Y-ian car for a very, very long time now. The automobile business is multinational, shares supply chains, and shares substantial engineering, too. What defines the character of most modern cars is the sheet metal, interior, and tuning of the powertrain. This was not always so, but has been for a good chunk of my car buying life and I'm in my almost-mid-50s. No, I do not count the really tiny production number cars that are not mass market. Rolls-Royce, though small in production numbers, and Bentley, which has higher "small" production numbers, have both been mass market goods for a while now, though the "mass" of their markets is not the same as the mass of the market for a Toyota Camry or Tata Nano. When Ford bought Jaguar I heard no great hew and cry. And although the deal did nothing for Ford's bottom line it brought Jaguar back to prominence and reliability that had been missing for decades. Brian | ||
| Patrick Ryan Prolific User Username: patrick_r Post Number: 269 Registered: 4-2016 |
Wow, Huge topic. I'm going to have to go away for a while and think about this one. |
