2016 Rolls-Royce Dawn
2016 Rolls-Royce Dawn
First Drive Review
South Africa’s spectacular Chapman’s Peak Drive is bound by sheer cliffs
on one side and plunges straight down into shark-infested breakers on
the other. It’s more than 8000 miles from the Goodwood, England,
headquarters of Rolls-Royce. Yet the new Rolls-Royce Dawn,
the marque’s third convertible in 45 years, feels right at home—and not
just because people drive on the wrong side of the road here. Savoring
such dramatic scenes at moderate speeds in perfect late-summer weather
is exactly the kind of experience for which this day has, um, dawned.
Earlier, in the picturesque highlands east of Cape Town, we were better
able to focus on how well the 6.6-liter twin-turbo V-12 motivates the
Dawn. Churning up 563 horsepower at 5250 rpm and 575 lb-ft of torque at
1500 rpm, the engine’s impressive power is omnipresent, yet it might
take another 100 ponies or so to make the 5750-pound Dawn feel truly
quick. The transmission is the same “satellite-aided” eight-speed
automatic found in the Wraith, which uses GPS to select gears for
upcoming hills and curves, although with so much torque on hand we
hardly noticed the transmission shifting at all, regardless of curve or
hill or cliff or passing slower traffic. Don’t even think about shifting
for yourself: The Dawn offers no shift paddles or manual mode. It’s not
that kind of car.
Rolls-Royce claims that the Dawn can hit 62 mph in 4.9 seconds, which is a few tenths behind the 624-hp Wraith coupe (which Rolls estimates weighs about 265 pounds less). We think it’ll be quicker. But that 4.9-second figure is less important than the unflappable silence with which it is achieved. Sure, if you get on it a bit, you’ll hear the faintest tone of V-12 thrum deep in the background, but the deliberately subdued and frankly uninspiring exhaust note may not prompt one to dip a toe any deeper.
Although the Dawn’s thin-rimmed steering wheel is a bit reminiscent of
those found in buses, fortunately, the car doesn’t steer like one.
On-center numbness quickly yields to satisfying effort and feel as the
wheel is whirled farther from center. Predictably, the Dawn’s massive
steel body leans during hard cornering, yet it holds on heroically in
corners and the car answers inputs with remarkable precision. That said,
the formidable mass and the Dawn’s $340,000-ish price never strayed far
from mind during our time at the helm, keeping us from pushing hard in
corners. At one point on a particularly flat, lonesome stretch in the
highlands, we saw 135 mph—a rather windy affair with the top down and,
in the absence of much road feel, not an altogether pleasant one. It’s
just as well that top speed is limited to 155 mph; we wouldn’t want to
go faster.
Indeed, the Dawn is a beautiful creature best appreciated when the “Power Reserve” gauge remains close to 100 percent. Slower speeds allow onlookers to take in its curvaceous, proportionally perfect body while up to four adults are free to revel in its sumptuous interior without the distraction of a blurred landscape. No automaker delivers worldly delights quite like Rolls-Royce, and the Dawn is no exception, offering everything we love in the maker’s other models, including impossibly soft leather, vast swaths of aluminum trim and book-matched wood, and sparkling audio fidelity through the car’s incredible sound system. This is a car designed to help the leisure class do their leisure activities leisurely, whether scuttling from the golf course to the café or snaking along a scenic, cliff-side road such as Chapman’s Peak. Now if you’ll excuse us, we must get back to “work.”
Will. Not. Be. Hypnotized.
In this intensely romantic setting, we must constantly remind ourselves that we’re here to scrutinize an ultra-expensive and, for Rolls-Royce, an important car. Its maker believes it to be the sexiest Rolls-Royce ever, one that’s bound to sell extremely well to extroverted upper-crusters who find the Dawn’s platform-mate, the Wraith coupe, too confining and its closest competitor, the Bentley Continental GT convertible, sooooo last decade, and perhaps a little too affordable. We must not let ourselves succumb to the intoxicating scent of its many cowhides—dyed Mandarin Orange in the case of our test car. The heavenly seats and creamy ride shall not hypnotize us, but they’re trying.
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Rolls-Royce claims that the Dawn can hit 62 mph in 4.9 seconds, which is a few tenths behind the 624-hp Wraith coupe (which Rolls estimates weighs about 265 pounds less). We think it’ll be quicker. But that 4.9-second figure is less important than the unflappable silence with which it is achieved. Sure, if you get on it a bit, you’ll hear the faintest tone of V-12 thrum deep in the background, but the deliberately subdued and frankly uninspiring exhaust note may not prompt one to dip a toe any deeper.
The Silent Ballet
Raise the six-layer fabric top with its all-but-invisible, noise-reducing French seams, and you’ll be hard-pressed to tell the difference between the hardtop Wraith and the Dawn at speed. The so-called “silent ballet” of lowering or raising the roof requires a leisurely 22 seconds and is accompanied by absolutely no sound. Should the stoplight turn green midway through the process, the top can finish the task with the car in motion, at speeds up to 31 mph. Sadly, we had no opportunity to hear the pitter-patter of raindrops on the Dawn’s fabric roof, something Rolls-Royce avers is the most romantic thing ever, but if we did, we may have needed a 007-style listening device. This is one well-sealed top.
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Indeed, the Dawn is a beautiful creature best appreciated when the “Power Reserve” gauge remains close to 100 percent. Slower speeds allow onlookers to take in its curvaceous, proportionally perfect body while up to four adults are free to revel in its sumptuous interior without the distraction of a blurred landscape. No automaker delivers worldly delights quite like Rolls-Royce, and the Dawn is no exception, offering everything we love in the maker’s other models, including impossibly soft leather, vast swaths of aluminum trim and book-matched wood, and sparkling audio fidelity through the car’s incredible sound system. This is a car designed to help the leisure class do their leisure activities leisurely, whether scuttling from the golf course to the café or snaking along a scenic, cliff-side road such as Chapman’s Peak. Now if you’ll excuse us, we must get back to “work.”
