The Rolls-Royce Cullinan | Chris Harris Drives

First of all, let's square this whole Rolls Royce off-road thing because it's not a huge surprise. Almost 100 years ago Rolls Royces were regularly driven off road because there were no roads and in fact the legend of the Rolls Royce was built on the fact that they were indestructible and could drive on gravel roads, does it feel wrong to do This in a Rolls-Royce? I'm not sure it's a car, is it? It's a massive SUV, it should be able to do this The refinement of this vehicle is extraordinary, we've been in it for 10 minutes and it is without a doubt the quietest SUV ever built.

I think in terms of engineering this is incredibly impressive, it is huge, quiet, so comfortable, the ride quality is yes, it has not been seen in However, there was a car of this type before and this is the subjective part of the rear three quarters. I can live with it from the front, I think it seems, is a technical phrase for this terrible little dilemma. Here I am at seven thousand seven hundred and eighty feet high. a mountain in this new Rolls Royce that's worth as much as a row of houses in, say, Martha Tidbill and um, there's a big puddle there, I mean, should you really cover the Rolls Royce for lack of a better word?

I guess you should, shouldn't you? So the windows are open and I'm going to smear mud on a steamroller. So Rolls Royce has built an SUV. It's not a big surprise. Actually, last night a man from Rolls Royce told us how the company had agonized for years over whether it should build an SUV or not, but I'm not sure I believe it was a commercial no-brainer, this vehicle was always going to sell because let's face it, As the world gets richer, the rich get duller and they want more and more SUVs and that's why Lamborghini makes one and Bentley makes one and Porsche makes one and I can't believe I'm saying this Ferrari is going to build one, so here we are in a Rolls Royce SUV.

Now I will do it. I put my cards on the table from the start I don't like SUVs I can't think of any situation where I would rather have an SUV to live in and use as my everyday roomy car rather than a family estate car Cars are better. I would prefer to be lower to the ground and not be as heavy or flashy, but I have to put myself in someone else's shoes and try to understand why someone might want to buy this car, so I'll treat it objectively. I promise the car is called Cullinan and named after the largest uncut diamond ever dug out of the ground.

I stood there last night as the Rolls Royce design team talked to me about the reasons why this line met that line and that pattern did this and that. I did that and thought to myself, it all sounds really smart, but it's a little strange. I haven't met a single person who says they think kalanin looks good, you know, it offers a positive reaction, some people will make excuses for it, so it's not too much. bad from this or that angle, but for over £300,000 you shouldn't justify yourself by saying it doesn't look that bad. Normally I avoid discussing subjective matters, you know, how things look, but with the cone I have to get involved because I just don't think it looks very good, it looks like a Chinese imitation of what they think a

rolls

SUV should be. -

royce

.

You know what I mean when you go to a car show. and you see something that looks a little bit like, that's what this car looks like, it's just terrible. I think the engineering that has been put into this is impressive. They've been doing it for about three or four years. It is on a custom-made platform. It is a high movement. around a ghost underneath, but it is a completely unique platform for this car, which is essential because if you go and look at a urus or a bentayga or a cayenne or a tuareg you know that they all have commonalities, this is not like that, this it's a stand-alone vehicle and that's very impressive and it means it's really very, very strong and when you have a rigid structure you have stability, you can have great suspension, so from the moment you get on this, the ride comfort is different level there is no other suv that gives you the feeling of serenity that you have in this car the mvh is incredible it has around 100 kilograms of deadly sound material trapped inside the wheel arches on the floor everything else is a quiet suv at times You're not sure if the engine is running, that's the ultimate accolade for a luxury vehicle when you keep trying to start it again, you turn it off.

I've done it three times today in this car. The low speed ride is very good when you return to medium speeds, it has that slightly magical carpet quality, but occasionally there is a big sort of transverse line, a scene between two surfaces that vibrates those air spheres a little and is not so worthy, I think it could be better, but overall. It does that job better than any other car of its kind that a well-made Rolls Royce has ever driven, so if you want to be quiet and comfortable, then this is the best SUV ever made.

Now it has a 6.75 liter biturbo engine, it has more power than the Saturn rocket and yes, this thing weighs, you know, no less than three tons, but when it lifts its skirt, damn it, it goes off, the old reserve needle of energy drops to zero and it just shoots, I have no idea how accelerative it is, but it's more than enough for something this big, I'll tell you why, because when you get to the first corner you have to stop the damn thing and it does that , but I wouldn't want it to be more powerful because it's so heavy that you get that feeling of inertia, trying to stop all that mass is really complicated and then there's the handling, there's body roll because it needs to be flexible to maintain that beautiful ride and Plus it just starts to understeer, it's a bit like the ghost in that sense it makes you think that all that mass is hidden and the moment it goes ah actually it was fooling you you're in trouble so don't bend too much in the corners don't think for a minute this can compete with vehicles like the urus or the bentayga or any of them in terms of agility, it's a much bigger beast, but I suspect the person buying it won't care if the owner of the Cullinan he

drives

it himself or if he is driven in it. they unquestionably drive it this is not a ghost what is it like to drive so is mastering the driving position is yes it is imperious I'm just putting down the poor people of the world I'm not that comfortable with it but I guess some people are the cockpit well , I'll tell you what, instead of doing that on the move, we'll talk to you about the cabin from time to time, we'll go back to some more details about how it

drives

and how it makes you feel, so here's the exterior. culinary I'm not going to walk around and describe this style to you because you can see it, so maybe we'll leave the outside alone.

I'm not going to go to the back, three quarters, you know where three quarters, now this is the only one. A bit surprising to me, the more time I've spent with the car, the more this sort of thing works for me, okay, it's a bit of a Range Rover, it's quite bulky, it's quite powerful and this sort of suggestion that there's a luggage compartment in the back, yes. It more or less works, but the trunk itself, come and take a look. It's not that big. In fact, it has those huge intrusions in the wheel arches because it has big air spheres.

It's a small trunk. If you have two Labradors, one will have to be dominant. what they have done is sacrifice luggage space four wait for it four realegrum and there is a lot of that, let me show you, okay and we see it, it is spacious, but I sent that there has been a kind of clash of consciences in

rolls

. -Royce on whether they needed rear legroom or trunk space and they came up with a solution that isn't necessarily what I thought it would be, but here we go, they know more about these cars than I do.

You have touch screens here, you have a USB to charge your devices, you control the radio, you have different heating functions and you have the glass roof, you know what is luxurious and there are so many different ones? Rear Seat Options This is the bench option so it gives you the proper family roles, but you can opt for individual rear seats and you can opt for the super plush ones that have extra padding and look a bit like airplane seats of first class. -powerful driving seat in front of me illuminates a world of people poorer than me, so the steering wheel has a rim thicker than a ghost.

I quite like the thin rims, twin wheels and rod tracks. This particular little baker is like one in ghost 7, but this one doesn't have I didn't get it, this is a rough leathery substance that looks like rubber. I don't understand it at all. The rest of the materials are beautiful. I mean, it's a step above a bentayga in terms of the materials used. I will grant you that the Ponzi word of ergonomics for where things are is quite disconcerting at times, these little buttons here control what your seats do in terms of fans because they will cool your butt or heating because they will warm your butt or your heated steering wheel if you want a massage okay, that should be in the same place, but that's down here, that's hidden down there, why is that down there and those are there and why are they so small?

I can not see them. This is the kind of twisted Rolls-Royce I drive. because ultimately everything comes from BMW and the stuff on the leeward side of where I'm sitting, I can't see this armrest here, it feels very cheap, you know, the rest feels expensive, that to me feels like there's a smell. from citroen picasso about that instrument package, nice, this navigation screen, I quite like it because it's quite small, however, it's crucial to look at this when you can't ask the culinary driver to lean there like I just can't I could ask you to reach that door.

They don't ask me, it's worth almost 330 grand alone, let's do it again, let's do it one more time. Look, yeah, I can't. They can't ask me to move six inches, so it's a mixed bag, it's not as expensive as a ghost and no. I feel it lacks opulence it lacks some of the quality the seat is really impressive in the front it is supportive and very comfortable and that, together with the lack of noise and harshness in the cabin, means that this is a very very place relaxing. and long trips will not be tiring. In many ways this is a car you won't want to get out of because it's so comfortable, the seat is so good, the ride is so plush and the overall feeling of silence and being in something that's designed to perfection is so powerful but also not you want to look at it because when you go out for me that illusion is shattered I just don't want to see it I want to park it and stay away from it the back three courses are getting better for me but it just doesn't show or I just feel a little embarrassed to be seen in it , which I know is sad and I'm sure there are many of you. out there who think it's beautiful and I've never allowed myself to have an opinion, a general opinion about the car so fundamentally influenced by its appearance, but I just don't want to be seen in this.

Not really though the new Phantom I have one of those so what I would say is if you can deal with the looks this is a great car, if you don't like it get a Phantom and if not just do it . world a favor and buy a family car that