05.05.16 - Rolls-Royce Dawn

The Hypnotic Car You Must Drive

Think about the car you want to drive and how it might smell and feel. Can you picture it? What car is it? If you have visions of a high speed race car and the fumes from the exhaust that come with taking off on the track as you add burnt rubber to the mix, this won’t be the article for you. While many of us at a young age do love a fast car and want that excitement, the symbol of all things exotic and wonderful about the world would give you visions of a Roll-Royce model to cruise around the streets in and enjoy the country cruises.

The new Rolls-Royce Dawn has something going for it that most other products from Goodwood don’t; it’s a convertible. This is the third convertible from Rolls-Royce in the past 45 years and it shows up as the car you choose when the Wraith feels too confined and other brands just won’t satisfy you. This is a car that can give you the smooth ride you desire with every conceivable luxury to make for a car you want to drive every time you leave the house. Forget the chauffeur, this is your car and you are going to drive it and show it off.

Can the Dawn make waves on the track? I’m sure it could, it does use a massive 6.6-liter twin turbocharged V12 engine to give you 563 horsepower and 575 lb.-ft. of torque. There have been many semi-sports cars that have challenged Rolls-Royce models and lost, but the Dawn is a heavy beast at 5,750 pounds and it takes all that power to get this beauty rolling in a way that is fitting of a car of this class. With this engine attached to the eight-speed automatic transmission that uses GPS guidance, the Dawn knows when to accelerate and decelerate on its own without your inputs.

Although this car has a mind of its own and doesn’t give you paddle shifters or a manual option, it does what it’s made to do extremely well. It’s a large and luxurious ride to be the perfect car for you to drive. If you do want some speed the Dawn will entertain you for a minute as it is perfectly capable of reaching over sixty mph in less than 4.9 seconds which isn’t as fast as the Wraith but even making this speed run won’t cause you to hear the engine roar to life as this beast is made to be tame and offer you the controlled power output you desire in a large luxury cruiser.

Most convertibles offer a lot of noise when in operation because of the motors needed for the top and the not quite perfect seal when fully raised. The Dawn doesn’t have this problem. It raises and lowers the top silently so you don’t have to be impinged upon by noise from this roof. This silent top does take a full 22 seconds to raise and lower, but if you are in the middle of the operation and the light turns green, you can drive off while it finishes the task as long as you don’t reach over 31 mph before it’s done. Once raised the Dawn looks just like the Wraith and the cabin is completely silent, showing you that the seal of this roof is perfect.

From behind the steering wheel this is a car that is made to offer the cruising experience you want, but if you must push it through hard corners you can and the Dawn will hold on tight. With the massive weight the car offers you do feel some body roll in harder corners and taking this car to high speeds with the top down is only recommended for short periods of time, but it can reach as much as 155 mph which is the limited top speed of this behemoth.

As for the interior, there isn’t much we can’t say except to remind you this is a Rolls- Royce and every single stitch and detail of the car will remind you of just how much quality, and unfortunately how much money, has gone into this car. You can take along three other people in your Dawn and let them feel what $340,000 feels like in a car that has been crafted by the best in the business.

Is the Rolls-Royce Dawn the right car for you? Do you need air to breath and water to drink? Of course it’s the right car for you, but the question for a car of this class really is “are you the right owner for the Rolls-Royce Dawn?” If you think so you should get your order ready and figure out just how individual you want to make this car so that you have the Dawn that is the perfect driving car for you to love and appreciate like the high priced beauty it is.

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