Ask 10 people to name the best saloon car in the world and it's a safe bet nine of them would say "Rolls-Royce."
Having sampled the latest Silver Spur briefly, I beg to differ.I concede that, for social status, there's still nothing to touch a Rolls-Royce (never, please, a "Roller," used only by those who eat peas off their knife).
As a car, though, a 1997 model Rolls-Royce is like the royal yacht Britannia - a unique piece of old England now overlong in the tooth. As I can sense already the rumbles of outrage from club armchairs in Pall Mall, I had better explain.
Many years ago, Rolls-Royces really did provide the financially well-endowed with more of motoring's good things than any other marque. Their suspensions subdued road surfaces that made lesser cars bump and jolt. Sibilant engines produced enough power to keep the hoi polloi effortlessly at bay, and the automatic transmissions - imported from the United States - were silky.
Interiors were trimmed in Connolly's finest hides, carpeted thickly and filled with wood veneer of such quality that Sheraton and Chippendale themselves would have approved. Elaborate air-conditioning kept driver and passengers comfortable in desert heat or arctic cold.
There was, of course, a down- side; flabby handling, feather-light but uninformative steering and a boozer's thirst for fuel.
Sadly for Rolls-Royce, it was first caught and then overtaken by the automotive world. Rolls-Royce last introduced a new design, the Silver Shadow, in 1965. The monstrous 6.75-liter, V8 engine still used in all Rolls-Royce and Bentley models has even older roots.
There have, of course, been regular small improvements and some modest restyling. But, to an untutored eye, a 1997 Silver Spur looks little different from a 15-year-old Silver Spirit. It does, of course, go better. Low-pressure turbocharging, introduced recently, makes it remarkably lively for a heavyweight; a top speed of 140 mph is claimed, with 0-62 mph acceleration in 8.1 seconds. No Rolls-Royce buyer can be concerned seriously with anything so mundane as fuel economy, but an average 16.2 mpg is said to be achievable.
Yet the Silver Spur I drove seemed to have become stuck in a time warp. The view along the hood was magnificent, but a shallow windshield and very high fascia made it feel beetle-browed.
At town speeds, the seats creaked, just like a horse's saddle. The suspension dealt nobly with speed bumps, but the ride could be quite fidgety on country roads, with a surprising amount of tire noise getting into the car.
When accelerating, the engine was far from silent. Putting the transmission selector into drive or reverse released the foot-operated parking brake with a loud clunk.
Some large cars seem to shrink after an hour or so but not the Silver Spur. Sheer bulk, plus roly-poly handling and the thought that I was driving about $210,000 worth of car, encouraged great restraint on winding roads.
The trunk is shallow and nothing like so roomy as it looks.