“Where are we going, boss?” – every time I wanted to ask, sitting behind the wheel of a Rolls-Royce Cullinan, even if there was no one else in the car. The point is not only that it is much easier for me to introduce myself as a personal driver of this glamorous tank than its owner. But also that in the place of the owner, I would probably prefer the back seat with its limousine comfort.
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Firstly, there are all the pleasures available to front riders, including a massage in the pillows and a media system control panel, and in addition, a minibar with two refrigerators, two glasses for champagne, two glasses for whiskey and a decanter (there was a four-seater version with separate rear seats and a transparent partition separating the passenger compartment from the trunk).
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And secondly, you don’t have to look out the window all the time, so it’s not so insulting that when you see your car, almost no one feels any timidity or special reverence. Where, one wonders, squats with arms to the sides? Where, finally, three times “ku”? Moreover, these “Renaults” and “Skodes” do not even immediately let me into the next row!
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But I remember how anyone blows off the left lane when you drive up on the Gelendvagen. Yes, even on the Bentley Bentayga – although in this case it is not so swift. But the Rolls-Royce Cullinan, both bigger and much more expensive, is the most expensive SUV in the world, it was even named after a giant diamond, parts of which adorn the scepter and crown of the British Empire. The price of the test car is 34 million rubles. Is it really not visible? Or is there not enough rudeness in the appearance?
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No, it is not only monumental, but also brutal. Chopped forms, 5.34 m long and 1.83 m high, face, like all Rolls-Royce, with a brick, grille – chrome and temple, the back is rustic, but also weighty. Whatever side you look at – an obelisk on wheels.
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So here it is! He must be black! And our test one is wet asphalt.
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Having opened the gates (calling them doors seems disrespectful), you immediately realize that all the most expensive materials that can be used to build an automobile interior are used here. Thick leather of exceptional softness, massive wood panels – I want to touch everything again and again. One should stand barefoot on the rugs – obviously, it is assumed that the driver and passengers never touch the soles of the sinful earth, but walk only along the marble and red carpets, which are spread even in the mountains and in the woods upon their arrival.
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All branded retro parts of the Rolls-Royce saloon in the usual places – from the “poker” on the steering column to control the gearbox to the sliding air duct regulators. A new friendly thing is the buttons for closing the doors on the front panel at the front and on the racks at the rear: reaching for the handles is far and somehow solid, so I pressed it – the heavy gate smoothly arrived in its place (naturally, it will stop if it encounters an obstacle). It is doubly convenient that from the driver’s seat you can close the front passenger door in this way.
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With all this helpfulness, you do not get used to size right away. Many large cars visited our tests, and a sense of size almost always came in a few minutes. In the huge Cullinan, I was cautious for at least half an hour, nervous in the dense stream, for which the car seemed too wide.
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While mastering, I almost failed the champagne test, pressing the gas pedal at the start from the traffic light a little less gently than it should when sparkling drink is poured into elegant glasses. “Fired!” – it was heard from the back seats, of course as a joke, but I managed to understand how the personal driver felt with such a mistake, and drove the rest of the bottle without complaints. Like the Cullinan, to which there can be no claim for a smooth ride. At any speed.
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The insidiousness of any Rolls-Royce lies in the fact that you simply do not feel the speed in it, and the first SUV of the British luxury brand is no exception. According to passengers, 80 km / h and 160 km / h feel almost the same, that is, almost nothing: the Cullinan is not only very smooth and very fast, but also incredibly quiet. It does not hear a V12 engine with a capacity of 571 liters. with., no road noise. But you can hear how the steering wheel squeaks under the driver’s hands and the bubbles hiss in the passengers’s glasses. The acoustics of the media system with such sound insulation sound great, but in Rolls-Royce the best music is silence.
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Cullinan handling is best assessed using the same champagne criteria: the main thing in cornering is not to spill. And the air suspension does an excellent job of this task. Like the brakes that slow down the four-wheel drive vehicle weighing more than 2.5 tons with calm dignity. And if you still drive more actively, in the corners you can feel the pleasant steering of the rear wheels.
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I did not have time to check the off-road capabilities of the car in the snowless Moscow Region, but I still understood something about the specifics of outdoor activities with Cullinan. In addition to the carpet spread around, so as not to stain the shoes, when leaving for the open air, he needs an escort car. You have to carry luggage somewhere. And you can’t put much in Cullinan, at least in the version that came to our test: not only do the rear seat backs do not fold here (thanks to the minibar), this Rolls-Royce was equipped with the most important and most necessary off-road option, which one can only imagine – with two folding leather chairs and a cocktail table, which are installed on the hinged side of the back door, and when folded they steal a fair amount of the useful amount of luggage.
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Apparently, only true aristocrats will be ordering an option for a picnic, because this is no longer a whim, but a philosophy – there should be something in the car that is redundant in all respects, at the sight of which the average man will whistle: well, that’s already! This is not to say that a table with chairs is impractical, but it is such an excess that should bring down and finish off. As Rolls-Royce marketers explain, “going out is not a reason to give up familiar amenities.”
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Well, yes, and owning a car is no reason to give up champagne in the morning. And here, by the way, and traffic police officers are knocking on the window: “Have a drink?”
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Of course not, but to be honest, I did not expect this. Mr. Etselop, I have raspberry pants, Rolls-Royce Cullinan, three times “ku”! Alas, it doesn’t work like that – the traffic cop already stuck his nose into the salon and smelled something. Some thin trace of Moёt, the day before yesterday’s champagne dough. Yes, you would, captain, change the traffic police to the perfume department.
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“Is your car?” – “No.” Interest is noticeably declining. “Did someone drink in the car?” I want to point out the minibar with a broad gesture, but this is an inappropriate joke. “I!” – there is a wife, and we are leaving without humiliating procedures, but in considerable perplexity. Still, this obelisk must be black, otherwise we still do not understand it. But they will soon understand that image is a gainful business. Then Rolls-Royce Cullinan will begin to blow off the “Gelendvagenes” – from any strip.
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