[pictures] Bentley Arnage RL vs. Rolls Royce Phantom vs. Maybach 62 S

[coolraoul]

Well in the MM you have lots of things everywhere, storage spaces, buttons you can push, all sort of things. The interior looks a bit busy sometimes, but you have the tables surging between the seats, champagne-holder and fridge between the seats, remote controls, phone for the chauffeur and phone for the exterior, the real center console contains a tissue-distributor and a newspaper-holder, the door panels contains multiple closable compartments....

In a MM you can live 2 months without usinf all the functions and pushing all the buttins. For a technology-freak it is unsurpassable.

You have of course the gorgeous seats with all functions plus reclining and the fabulous electrochromatic roof who can be transparent, translucid, or emit a soft light. The chauffeur separation is electrochromatic too, and can disappear electrically in the lower part...

I surely forget a lot of things...I was never in a Maybach!

No other car has so much things in it.

Keep in mind that the MM has 3 independant air conditioners to have 3 really separate climate zones unlike the Rolls which even lacks the automatic function, 8 (incredible but I am quite sure of that!!!) brake circuit (2 SBC plus 2 hazard systems and then 2 hydraulics plus 2 hazard hydraulics), and everythimng is like that in the MM.

Over-engineering like no other car ever. It also is based on the over-engineered W140 platform... It may not have a aluminium structure, but for everything else it is juste technically the best car in the world. No competition.

Look at the rear door in the Rolls Rob just posted, what is this naked door panel???

However, I agree that it lacks charm and character. But it is a technical masterpiece that is unsurpassed.

The Rolls, however, has not as much charm as the Bentley.

The exterior is too modern, with modern details subject to be outfashioned, as for instance the lights in the Drophead or the Phantom... And because of these details, it is not really "out of the time" like the Bentley.

When you go inside, well it has a lot of charm but ...not as much as the Bentley. The Bentley has a better wood work, the chauffeur separation with the glass and bottle storage is just so perfect and so charming...All the buttons, everything is really like in an old limo where every detail was important, and cost was no issue at all.

Thje Rolls does not completely gives this impression. The inside of some storage compartments are black plastic I saw, some details are not as lovely as in the Bentley.

For me the Bentley is really the British limo, even if it does not have that wonderful shape of the old Rolls it has something that the Phantom really lacks:

Elegance. Discreet aristocraty. Good taste. Understated assurance.
This Bentley is really a Lord.

The Rolls is not, it is not as elegant, not as discreet, too noisy, too shiny, too caricatural in its shape.

That is why the Bentley is the one, for me.

[PanterroR]

RR and Bentley for me. MM?

[Merc1]

Originally Posted by Rob

^^^^Oh no, you're not getting off that easily Marcus.

How is the Bentley more authentic than the Rolls or Maybach? ...you are beginning to sound like Raoul.

LOL....I knew you'd have something say about that comment.

Well seriously I mean just look at the thing. It is true to the old world luxury car ethic IMO. The Rolls is true also, but it looks made up at times, a caricature of itself if you will. The Maybach, well we know it is luxury by comittee and numbers, far less special than the others here. I guess what I'm trying to say here is that Bentley is the very definition of "old money" and just as snooty and stuffy as you can get, and I like this for this type of car. I've never seen this long wheelbase version in such a color scheme, just screams luxury and class to me. The others look like assembly line products.

M

[SDNR]

^^You two (Raoul and and Marcus) are definitely correct about the Bentley's "charm" and less "assembly line" feel -- the irony of course being that the Bentley has been produced in numbers the other two can only dream about.

I like all three of these cars ...but each one for a very different reason.

The Bentley is special, there is no doubt about that, I will be surprised if its successor will have the same old fashioned charm ...so enjoy it while you can.

The Maybach is a very impressive car with a very business-like persona ...everything about it is powerful, masculine, and serious. It is a product for the the new global aristocracy ...the self made billionaires, the new plutocratic class.

The Rolls-Royce Phantom is all about fantasy, it is all theatrics ...from the rear-hinged doors to the massive C pillar, the entire machine oozes style and pretense (in a good way). Sure, I know it is not what real Royalty is buying these days ...but really, who cares?. The Phantom is a celebratory car ...a vehicle for "arriving" in. It is a glamourous car for people with glamourous lives ...the Phantom is fun rather than business-like (like Maybach) or genuinely blue-blooded (like the Arnage).