Sunday, December 1, 2019

Rolls-Royce Cullinan

Few luxury car makers who didn't made an SUV in the first place have been succumbed to the SUV craze nowadays. Porsche gave us the rather ugly but quick Cayenne, Maserati gave us the Levante, Bentley gave us the Bentayga, and now Rolls-Royce with their first-ever ultra-luxury SUV fit for royalty, or so they say. They called it the Cullinan and this 250,000 Pound behemoth is about as posh as putting Windsor Castle into the woods. So, what's it all about the Cullinan?

2019 Rolls-Royce Cullinan
The Cullinan wants to be Rolls-Royce's answer to the Bentley Bentayga and the Range Rover but because of such pricing, there's no argument that the Cullinan is more expensive than the Bentayga, which is more than enough to bleed the eyeballs of high rollers everywhere.

If you think the pricing is more than enough to leave a massive crater on their briefcases full of cold hard cash, that's just a piece of the story because there's more to the Cullinan's story than the heavy pricetag itself, which of course it can get too expensive because each Cullinan is custom-made for customers' preferences. Take a look at the styling. In cars like the Ghost, the Wraith, and the Phantom, they are elegant to look at with the signature Rolls-Royce look on its faces along with the retractable Spirit of Ecstasy ornament on the top but on the Cullinan, it just ruins the way it looks and if it was in the game of The Chase, it would fit for the role of The Beast because this beast is posh and bulky to scare off the 99%, unless you are smart enough to outrun this beast.

2019 Rolls-Royce Cullinan interior

While the exterior styling is somewhat "I'm not fat, I'm big-boned", the interior is definitely Rolls-Royce and because the Cullinan is custom-made, the interior can be tailored with various features such as the Viewing Suite on the boot, Partition Glass, Immersive Seating for those who are having an "out on a limo" experience, and many more, giving the Cullinan the same comfortable experience clienteles get from the Phantom or Ghost.

The Cullinan is the only crossover to come with a V12 engine, in the case of a 6.75L Twin Turbo one, at this moment in time and this engine produces 563HP of power and 850Nm of torque, which is somewhat less than the W12 engine from the Bentayga and because it is electronically limited to 155mph, it's pointless to compare it to the Bentayga. 

Shoving off comparisons, the Cullinan is all about luxury rather than performance because while it is essentially an luxury offroad that is almost as good as a Bentayga, even though it's not as good as the Range Rover, the signature Magic Carpet Ride comfort is still here, meaning you can take it anywhere without waking Boss Madam at the back, unless your name starts with Patrick and ends with Polkerson. Quite a joke, right? But the Cullinan has no time for jokes because it is a serious luxury offroader with a hint of swagger to make everyone turn heads for all the wrong reasons. What's even more serious is that apart from its comfort-focused dynamics and performance, the Cullinan comes with a wide array of safety tech that made this luxury offroader feels like it's in charge, not the driver. Crude, but who knows?

The Cullinan isn't the ideal alternative to the Bentayga in terms of performance and the Range Rover in terms of going everywhere and also not the best-looking SUV on the road but in terms of luxury, it possesses quite a swagger high rollers are looking for. They will be flattered if they own one for their own car collection but that's fine for them because the Cullinan is all about making a statement in the same way today's Phantom does with no explanations needed.

Photo: Rolls Royce

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