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The Test Mule For Rolls-Royce’s Upcoming 4×4 Looks So Wrong, Yet So Right


The Test Mule For Rolls-Royce’s Upcoming 4×4 Looks So Wrong, Yet So Right

The second I saw this Rolls-Royce test mule, code-named Project Cullinan, I started smiling. Rollers are highly esteemed cars, exceptionally luxurious and eye-wateringly expensive. There isn’t anything wrong with them, provided you can afford one, and a driver who understands that he is to take the high road, keep it at the limit, and knows that if any of his actions cause me to spill my morning tea there will be hell to pay. Or, in other words, they aren’t something that we normally pay attention to here at BangShift. So what’s it doing here? Rolls-Royce is preparing to build either a four-wheel-drive or all-wheel-drive vehicle, so naturally they need a test mule. Not only do they have to shakedown suspensions and drivetrains, but they have to make sure that no matter what surface the car is driven on, that it still has the element of grace that Rolls does so well. So, this Phantom was shortened up to meet the expected wheelbase and bestowed with a rear wing we can only assume was swiped from one of parent company BMW’s GT3 cars and somehow it looks…well, it actually looks kind of badass! The four-door layout is retained but the back doors show where the wheelbase was cut. I’m not picturing a race car or even a rally Rolls…how dare you, those motorsports are for the peasants!…but instead it looks like a rolling gunship vehicle for 007 himself. This is the car you would expect to see hanging with Bond’s Aston Martin, all four windows down, gun barrels out of all of them, raining down lead. They would be the most comfortable mercenaries ever.

Naturally, purists and elitists have twitching eyelids, with many crying foul over the wing (which is meant to emulate the aerodynamics of an SUV), claiming that Rolls is purposely trashing it’s name and some asking if this was a mis-timed April Fools’ Day joke. Whatever. Fill it full of data acquisition software and a well-to-do gentleman in the backseat and it over to the lads at TaxTheRich and let them show you how off-roading a car that costs more than most homes is really done.

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(Courtesy: Car Throttle)


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6 thoughts on “The Test Mule For Rolls-Royce’s Upcoming 4×4 Looks So Wrong, Yet So Right

  1. Chevy Hatin' Mad Geordie

    I wish I could get a hold of the drugs you guys are on!

    This should have been posted on April 1 – you can’t be serious – this is an abomination of the highest order and should be cast back down to the fiery pits of Hell from whence it came!

  2. John T

    uh…..is it ricey crapola day at BS? Last thing I looked at was the poxy multi million Euro Trans Am… now this…..utterly putrid looking thing. I can almost cope at holding my dinner down but that spoiler is the riciest abortion I’ve seen in a very long time (excepting previously mentioned Trans Am) Are you guys trying to wear us down so that Fart n Furious 7 looks good? nice try but it didn’t work.

  3. mooseface

    I can’t wait for the day car manufacturers realize that rich old geezers actually don’t want AWD slabs with harsh-riding suspensions.

  4. Stickman

    I like it and I want to be the old mans driver, may only have the job for the day, but it will be a good day.

  5. Matt Cramer

    The only way it could have been better would be if they’d painted it flat black instead of gloss. It looks downright evil.

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