SPECS
ON SALE: November
BASE PRICE: $405,000
DRIVETRAIN: 6.7-liter, 453-hp, 531-lb-ft V12; RWD, six-speed automatic
CURB WEIGHT: 5,776 lb
0-60 MPH: 5.6 sec (mfr)
FUEL ECONOMY (EPA): 13 mpg (est)

What do I know about Rolls-Royce? I am landing at Heathrow to be whisked southward for a rendezvous with the new coupe version of the Phantom. That meeting will be effected in Goodwood, where the Rolls works lie hard by the old racing circuit (memories there), and thence to Folkestone and a Channel crossing, this time under it, and on to Reims in France (the memories roll in like clouds on a Weather Channel simulation). Finally, we’ll travel to Switzerland and Geneva’s airport. A few days of driving in upscale pretense. We are pros; do not try this at home.

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