2017 Rolls-Royce Dawn: 6SpeedOnline Review
Can the Rolls-Royce Dawn deliver for the traditionalists, as well as the Instafamous millennials? We get behind the wheel to find out.
The newest Rolls isn’t for the Sunday crowd but for the ripped-jean-loving, Yeezy-wearing, and selfie-adoring millennials. Suits and ties needn’t apply, or so is what the folks from Goodwood preach. But is that so?
“I daily my Rolls,” said no one ever. Rolls-Royce cars have almost exclusively been reserved for the elite, the well-dressed, the folks who exude flawless body posture at the dinner table — the crème de la crème. Well, the truth is that you still ought to be a one-percenter to drive a Rolls-Royce off a showroom floor, but some things have changed.
The Double-R recently tossed me the keys to their newest creation, a strikingly seductive drophead coupe named “the Dawn.” (Say it softly for the full effect.) Despite it being worth 38 times more than my personal vehicle, I set out to discover its highs, its lows, and even its quirks.
A Grand Entrance
The epitome of opulence awaited me outside the hotel lobby, along the marble floor hallway, past the double french doors, and under a vine-commandeered pergola. A 2017 Rolls-Royce Dawn in exquisite Jubilee Silver gleamed under the sunlight, while its 21-inch wheels wrapped in sticky, wide rubber made a powerful statement. How powerful? $375,000-dollars-powerful.
Hold on a second. (Queue in DJ-scratch sound effect.) There may have been marble floors, fancy doors, and a stunning driveway, but the Dawn had its top up, its wheels were dirty, and it was raining cats and dogs. To make matters even worse, it stood inches away from a rusty Grand Caravan which was being loaded with garden tools by the hotel’s landscaping staff. Rusty shovels and rakes were being swung near the $6,500 dollar Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament — had it been exposed, of course. It wasn’t because it retracted itself into the grille to avoid messy situations like this one.
The Review
After a not so grand entrance on the Rolls’ behalf, I proceeded to make my own entrance into the swanky cabin. Sadly, I found myself standing in the pouring rain while attempting to decipher the massive key fob. Unlike every vehicle I’ve ever driven, the Dawn’s tv-remote-sized key fob doesn’t have pictures of locked and unlocked padlocks on it. No, it has a square, a triangle, and a rectangular glass insert.
What a better way to test the solid metal door handles than by yanking on them repeatedly? There’s a sense of craftsmanship in the way the handle latches and unlatches. It’s precise, it’s smooth, it’s strong — just like the thundering above my head. Once I was able to ingress the Dawn and admire my surroundings, my initial thought was: “Damn, I’ve gotten the seats and lambswool carpets wet.”
I fired up the 6.6-liter V12 twin-turbo engine, which roared to life in the same way a lion would after waking up from a long nap, not too loud, but it commanded respect nonetheless. I reached the steering-column-mounted shifter, engaged forward gear, and made my way to the finest country roads rural Wisconsin had to offer. Like Ludacris once said, “Get Out the Way.”
Never before had I experienced such soft-yet-thunderous acceleration like I did when I buried my foot in the accelerator at a lonely intersection. Although road and weather conditions were far from ideal, the 563-horsepower, 5,776-lb drophead coupe rocketed to triple-digit speeds with ease. According to Rolls-Royce, the rear-wheel drive Dawn can achieve 60 mph in just 4.3 seconds. Even more mind-boggling is the fact that at no point did the traction control light flash nor the tires spin. Weight equals traction.
Once I felt at ease behind the five-foot-long hood, I began to appreciate the driving experience this caliber of a vehicle can deliver. Every surface my buttocks, hands, elbows, knees, and head would touch was either supple leather or first-class black veneer. On the other hand, the iconic thin-rimmed steering wheel was pleasant, but it was hard to get used to the relative lack of mass. And remember the steering-column-mounted shifter? Its buttons were cheap to the touch, and its operation made me feel like I was driving a Ford F-150.
Despite such quirks, the Dawn pounded the tarmac with confidence and class. Its movements through twisty back roads were fluid and even athletic. Whatever sorcery Goodwood (more like Munich) engineers worked with the suspension, it worked. Traversing the open road in the midst of a storm, or during a sunny day and with the top down was a truly first-class experience.
Perhaps what Rolls-Royce is preaching about their new-age product is true. The Dawn is a driver’s Rolls, and therefore, maybe for adventure-loving youngsters.
So Easy Millennials Can Do It
According to several sources, millennials were born between 1980 and 2000. If there’s one thing my generation is known for it is our lack of patience. We hate waiting, we hate lines, and we love instant gratification. Does the Dawn’s technology offerings provide instant gratification?
You bet your Instagram account it does, and you can thank the Germans for that. Again…
Manufacturers of all pedigrees have designed infotainment systems so complicated, that old and young customers alike simply don’t use them. We stream music from our iPhones and navigate via Google Maps. That’s it. Luckily, all the electronics under the dash are sourced directly from BMW.
“WTF! This is going to suck.” That’s what I thought after glancing at the buttons, knobs, touchscreen, and other controls around the cabin. A mother of pearl Spirit of Ecstasy laid inside the control knob of the Rolls’ infotainment system, which also serves as the center console’s focal point.
Rotating the knob clockwise and counter-clockwise allows for selecting from various options within a specific menu, while clicking it up, down, left, and right brings up different screens. Furthermore, seven buttons adorn the radius of the knob, creating shortcuts for the radio, CD (yes, so last century), menu, map, phone, as well as a back and option button.
It may sound complicated but it isn’t, it’s surprisingly simple. I found myself turning the knob for selecting satellite radio channels, and pushing the shortcut buttons to quickly pull up the navigation system or make a phone call. It took me a total of three minutes to comprehend how the system worked. Millennial-proof? Yes.
My favorite thing about the Dawn? Its magical ringtone. While most feature a brash, office-phone-like ring, the Dawn has a melodic tone that crescendos until the driver reaches a more whimsical state of mind — or at least until you push the beautiful, handcrafted answer or decline button on the steering wheel.
The Rolls-Royce Effect
When I asked you, our readers, what you’d do if you were given the keys to a Dawn for 24 hours, many of you showed an immense desire to hit up a McDonald’s drive-thru.
I was tempted to live out your fast food and vehicular fantasies, but I didn’t. Thankfully, I forgot my shaving razor at home, so I had to pay a visit to the local Walmart. Mind you, a Walmart surrounded by dairy farms, so in some way, it was kind of like going to McDonald’s.
Buyers expect many things when dropping $400,000 on a vehicle, but what they expect more than anything is status. There is absolutely nothing material-wise in the Dawn that’s worth its price tag. However, the looks you get from people, male and female, boy, are those worth some bucks.
Whether your life’s greatest accomplishment is to have partied with Tom Jones, or to have been Twitter-verified, the Dawn will take your fame to the next level.
#Goals
Rolls-Royce set out to build a different kind of machine, a Rolls that owners, and not chauffeurs, drive on a daily basis. A Rolls that doesn’t sit in the underground parking lot of a Biscayne Bay tower all week only to be driven to the golf course on Saturday.
The old-school wealthy or new-money millennials could drive the relentlessly beautiful and timeless Dawn every single day. Whether it’s to yoga class, Whole Foods, Starbucks, or even the school pick-up and drop-off line, the Dawn is in to please up to four lucky people.
Forget about when driving a Rolls was only for the stuffy upper crust, the baccarat crystal connoisseurs, and the monocle aficionados. Sure, the rear-hinged doors are still a pain to open, but you can close them at the touch of a button! The infotainment system not only makes sense, but it’s easy to use. Impatient millennials can operate the soft top at speeds of up to 31 mph, and the silent mechanical ballet only takes 22 seconds to complete.
What I thought would be an extravaganza of selfies under the sun quickly turned into a soaking-wet, humid, and muddy couple days in rural Wisconsin. Hey, at least I put the built-in umbrella to good use.
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