RIDE AND JOY

The area formerly known as the Brecon Beacons was visited T recently by the new Prince and Princess of Wales. Apparently their cavalcade of limousines wasn't quite as impressive as ours, though.
Standards matter - and if not the royal family, you can always depend on Autocar to set them.
Well, at least, as far as transport is concerned.
If this comparison exercise had been an owners' club meeting instead, none of us assembled participants would have even approached the expected dress code requirements. Luckily, we had a job to do - and it was thanks to a reader whose name you will know.
Formula 1 racer turned motorsport magnate Jonathan Palmer consumes his weekly issue of Autocar as avidly as you do, and at a recent meeting with us he bemoaned the state of ride comfort in modern cars - that it hadn't advanced as quickly as so many other dynamic facets.
"Why don't we get a bunch of the most comfortable and very best-riding new cars together, along with something much older," he suggested, "and take a considered view on the state of the art?" How could we decline? The standard-bearers we assembled, in descending order of price, were the recently updated Rolls-Royce Phantom VIII, Bentley Flying Spur V8 Azure, Range Rover P440e Autobiography and BMW i7 xDrive60 M Sport. Some 10 tonnes and nearly a million quid's worth of brand-new, super-luxury metal, then (and we were still upstaged, as Dr P arrived in his no-doubt-fine-riding Agusta helicopter).
Another reader and friend of Autocar, Joe Ward, generously brought along his recently restored 1964 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III as a yardstick by which to measure the accomplishments of the new boys.
Denne historien er fra May 24, 2023-utgaven av Autocar UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9500+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra May 24, 2023-utgaven av Autocar UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9500+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på

DACIA DUSTER
Is Dacia’s third-gen SUV really too good to be true? Let's find out

Vive la Renaulution
Fabrice Cambolive, a Renault veteran and now its CEO, has been pivotal in the brand's bold transformation plan.

BMW 1 SERIES
It’s true love, but some quirks have been giving the ick

SKODA SUPERB
Impromptu Euro tour confirms our big wagon's credentials

How long does an electric car battery last?
To find out, VICKY PARROTT has the battery of a 176,000-mile, ex-Uber Tesla Model 3 independently tested. So how much life is really left in it, how long can you expect the ‘average’ EV battery to last and what happens to it when it can no longer power the car? Some of the answers may surprise you

FIAT GRANDE PANDA GOES 4x4 TO REVIVE CULT STAR...
Spiritual successors to the Panda 4x4 and 4 Savane have been revealed

AUDI A6 AVANT
How does this big all-new exec estate cope on tight, battered UK roads?

ALPINE A390 SETS SIGHTS ON PORSCHE MACAN EV
Tri-motor SUV will hit the UK next year with 464bhp and a honed driver focus

GENESIS ELECTRIFIED GV70
Update for Audi Q6 rival as Hyundai's luxury brand goes electric-only

Matt Prior
‘A state of grace’: what an elegant way to describe having reached acertain peace of mind. One can imagine a cleric or a wellness guru talking about finding ‘a state of grace’, an inner calm, as a contemplative or meditative goal.