How the Queen Rolls

"Steve in Manhattan" (blogenfreude01) 02/06/2016 at 21:03 • Filed to: None

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Wrote this post about a year three and a half years ago, and running it here because now it’s time for I just recalled another annoying display of royal indifference:

And believe it or not, it’s not in a Rolls.

My interest in the Royal Wedding ™ Diamond Jubilee ™ is limited, so of course I wanted a car or cooking angle. Elizabeth II rides around in a heavily-modified Bentley, the donor chassis probably related to a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . HRH likes a royal purple exterior and cloth seats, so that’s what the car has. Note also the high roofline and large windows – the Queen is an expensive indulgence, so the Brits should be able to see her as she passes by. More on the car !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > Steve in Manhattan 02/06/2016 at 21:36

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Nonsense, she likes a Land Rover

djmt1 > Steve in Manhattan 02/06/2016 at 21:39

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It annoys me to no end that the Bentley isn’t green like the rest of her fleet. Also she is fantastic value for money. You guys spend so much money to look at her houses.

Steve in Manhattan > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) 02/06/2016 at 21:40

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Saw a video of her once downshifting a Defender like a motherfucker - and she was a mechanic during the war. Props where props is due!

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > Steve in Manhattan 02/06/2016 at 21:44

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Oh yeah, I bet she is a lot different in private

ranwhenparked > djmt1 02/06/2016 at 21:54

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She’s self funding, the government keeps $295 million out of the $350 million in profits her estates generate every year. The monarchy’s total annual budget is $55 million, the President of the United States costs $1.7 billion a year.

Amoore100 > Steve in Manhattan 02/06/2016 at 22:02

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High roofline for her hat. I remember when she went to France they had to pull their ancient Vel Satis out of storage because the current DS5 and C6 are too low for her headwear.

Steve in Manhattan > Amoore100 02/06/2016 at 22:03

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I’d love to be driven in a Vel Satis. One of the most interesting cars ever, along with the Avantime.

Amoore100 > Steve in Manhattan 02/06/2016 at 22:13

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And the C6. And the Clio V6. Early 2000's French cars aren't so bad after all...

Steve in Manhattan > Amoore100 02/06/2016 at 22:34

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I have said in this space that if I somehow was required to move to Europe, I’d get a C6. I love the look of the thing.

Svend > Steve in Manhattan 02/06/2016 at 22:41

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Expensive indulgence? The Royal family receives less than $1 for every man woman and child in the U.K. Note the money is to host state events such a banquets (for hosting foreign guests to welcome and promote the U.K. and inward investment), security, travel and maintenance of the royal estates. Also of note that all the royal family have paying jobs from Prince Charles and his estate, his eldest son flying helicopters for the air ambulance service, etc... the vast majority (near all) of the royal family see non of that money (£35.7m compared to the billions of pounds of inward investment, finance and tourism it generates).

The royal family either take economy flights where possible or military flights. Compared to the U.S. president who takes a massive fleet of vehicles and aircraft where ever he goes. Granted the president is different to the royal family but he is your head of state and Her Majesty is our head of state. A head of state that has done her job everyday since the passing of her father, Her Majesty has seen and done things non of us would or could ever do or of seen. Her Majesty has seen wars start and end, presidents and prime ministers come and go and the world evolve into a completely different world from that Her Majesty was born into and adapted.

Neither you nor I could ever do that job.

So next time you want to say something is indulgent, have a look in your own back yard and see what is indulgent, what is a necessity, what is a benefit and what is an investment.

Her Majesty and the royal family are as much a symbol of our country as our flag, our language, our history, etc...

I am and forever shall remain Her Majesty’s humble servant. Good day.

Svend > Amoore100 02/06/2016 at 22:54

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Some cars baring the royal standard haven’t been as amazing.

Like on her trip to the Channel Islands.

While some have been outstanding like the customised Humber Super Snipe that went around the world with her on her first tour of the commonwealth.

Amoore100 > Steve in Manhattan 02/06/2016 at 22:59

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Same. If I’m still in the U.S. in fifteen years, one is coming over immediately when it becomes legal.

Steve in Manhattan > Amoore100 02/06/2016 at 23:42

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And even when 25 years old it would still look like it just landed from the planet Zaarg. That design is timeless.

Steve in Manhattan > Svend 02/06/2016 at 23:43

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Thank you for adding to this post. Much appreciated.

Steve in Manhattan > djmt1 02/06/2016 at 23:45

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Thank you for this.

Steve in Manhattan > Svend 02/06/2016 at 23:46

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I can’t argue with math. If only I could live in London ....

Svend > Steve in Manhattan 02/06/2016 at 23:49

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I wouldn’t live in London for all the tea in China. I’m a city dweller but my city is so small I’m almost a country bumpkin.

Svend > Steve in Manhattan 02/06/2016 at 23:50

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No worries.

Steve in Manhattan > Svend 02/07/2016 at 00:09

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Where are you?

And if I was ever able to leave Manhattan permanently, where would I go? London, probably. There was a chance for Florence some years back, but the transfer didn’t happen. I need a city where I can’t get confronted a lot - London was pretty good. Brussels? Paris? Bonn? I am a mess ....

A slushbox can be fun, too! > Steve in Manhattan 02/07/2016 at 00:38

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Rather, that’s how she Bents

Svend > Steve in Manhattan 02/07/2016 at 00:39

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Carlisle, a 2,000 year old city a few miles short of the Scottish (and English for that matter) border. Population 100,000. Whole county of Cumbria is only about 600,000. Sufficiently urban to have almost everything you need while being rural enough to not feel hemmed in.

London is good international city if you want to be central and have a good jumping off point for the rest of the world as trains and planes can take you to anywhere in Europe within a few short hours, but ideally you’d want to be just outside it.

Personally I’d like a place in Gibraltar, BVI or Australasia. Though Italy has been popping up in my mind quite often of late.

Amoore100 > Svend 02/07/2016 at 01:12

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Haha, that little Scenic is hilarious! It’s like she got picked up by a minicab...that Humber is gorgeous though, properly British!

Amoore100 > Steve in Manhattan 02/07/2016 at 01:13

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Indeed. Unique when released, timeless when aged.

Amoore100 > Svend 02/07/2016 at 01:13

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the more the merrier!

Nauraushaun > Amoore100 02/07/2016 at 05:54

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I think early 2000s Peugeots were awful.

Nauraushaun > Steve in Manhattan 02/07/2016 at 05:55

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Hey they’ve got to spend the people’s money their money somehow

Nauraushaun > Steve in Manhattan 02/07/2016 at 05:56

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Had never heard of the Vel Satis. You’ve given me my bedtime reading.

AuthiCooper1300 > Steve in Manhattan 02/07/2016 at 14:01

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Vel Satis an utterly failed DS wannabe. Avantime funky indeed, but horrendous body flex. It creaked like a boat.

Avantime may properly enter the “curio” category in a few years’ time though. As a car, certainly not great.

AuthiCooper1300 > Amoore100 02/07/2016 at 14:08

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Clio V6 (at least the first version) had serious snap-oversteer issues. Even masterful old hand Jean Ragnotti managed to do an involuntary 180º during an international press event.

Amoore100 > AuthiCooper1300 02/07/2016 at 14:42

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Well the French have never made a good car. Great cars yes, but their flaws are all part of the French car experience. Just like the creaky Renaults and the murderous Clios. Greatness is defined by a car’s characteristics and personality, and French cars have long had tons of that.

Amoore100 > Nauraushaun 02/07/2016 at 14:43

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Well we can overlook that...

Amoore100 > Nauraushaun 02/07/2016 at 14:43

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A C6 competitor with a wagon body and a Nissan V6. Because Renault.

AuthiCooper1300 > Amoore100 02/07/2016 at 15:23

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Oh, I understand the concept of greatness all right (I’d love to have a Montreal in my living room). But I remember the hype when the Vel Satis was launched and it just did not come up with the goods. It was competent enough though, but style-wise I’d say it was contrived, rather than original - an accusation that may be levelled against most Le Quement’s Renaults, sadly.

The Avantime is bizarre enough to be a future classic though. But as a driving experience it was decidedly sub-par. Maybe I expected too much.

Just in case you think I am a French-car-hater: I’d love to have a DS/SM/GS/CX one day (roughly in that order of preference) and for a while I lusted after a rather decrepit Espace Quadra that I used to see around town. I even have a Méhari rolling chassis that I plan to fix up some day! But I am convinced that the French car industry lost the plot a while ago.

Probably the last French cars I felt interested in were the BX and the first Twingo.

AuthiCooper1300 > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) 02/07/2016 at 15:38

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Is it my imagination or that vertical handle by the door is a non-standard fitting?

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > AuthiCooper1300 02/07/2016 at 15:47

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I’m sure they put whatever they need on it. I don’t remember seeing that on any but maybe it’s an option.

Amoore100 > AuthiCooper1300 02/07/2016 at 15:51

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Well I don't have much experience with the publicity of the French automotive industry since I'm here in the United States but yeah, I agree that French cars have probably always been rather awful by any standards but just cool in a weird way. Nowadays they seem more like a French Hyundai or Kia, more interested in basic transportation than interesting transportation. Pity, I wonder if they will ever go back now that they are and have been owned by the Chinese for sometime.

AuthiCooper1300 > Steve in Manhattan 02/07/2016 at 15:56

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As a prestige brand Rolls-Royce got severely devalued at some stage. “Not the right crowd” buying them.

That’s why Bentley experienced a sort of renaissance in the early 80s with the Mulsanne and later models: Crewe could sell the same product to people who at the time wouldn’t be seen dead in a Royce (sporting image or not).

To me both Rolls-Royce and Bentley died with the V8s though.

AuthiCooper1300 > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) 02/07/2016 at 15:59

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Sure they do. Could it be a discreet way to help her get into the car?

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > AuthiCooper1300 02/07/2016 at 16:24

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She is in good shape. Perhaps her husband.

AuthiCooper1300 > Amoore100 02/07/2016 at 16:29

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Peugeot utterly emasculated Citroën for years and Renault stopped being bonkers around the time it was decided they were going to be privatised (otherwise they would have gone under). Nowadays the Citroën part of PSA seems to be allowed to spend more on styling and “perceived quality” stuff and that faux-avant-garde coup seems to be paying off. A bit.

For the French car industry the DS and the 2CV are a terrible curse. It is unlikely that there will ever be a saloon car as the DS was, or a cheap car as the 2CV was – and not only in France. Ours is a different world and time. (Something similar happens with Jaguar and the E-Type, if you get my drift.)

Nauraushaun > AuthiCooper1300 02/07/2016 at 16:33

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It’s a 2-door hatch with a V6 in the back. Of course it had snap-oversteer. It’s part of the fun!

Nauraushaun > AuthiCooper1300 02/07/2016 at 16:35

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The Avantime is a minivan. Its achievements were in space utilization and ergonomics, none of that was supposed to make it a good drive, that’s missing the point entirely.

AuthiCooper1300 > Nauraushaun 02/07/2016 at 16:48

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It had “lethal” oversteer, probably on par with a first-gen 911. When an experienced rally driver such as Ragnotti ends up spinning the bloody thing like a tap during the official launch event to the international press there is something weird going on. I know of a journalist who managed to do the same just starting it and driving off (obviously he overdid it with the throttle).

If I remember correctly the first version of the Clio V6 had a complete front Laguna V6 drivetrain [modified subframe] bolted underneath (that’s what happens when you try to do things “on the cheap”).

General consensus at the time was that the engine was too far back (transverse, remember) and not low enough (V6, remember). So not quite mid-engined either.

I understand the “Phase 2" (restyled) version was much better, but I know nothing about it.

Nauraushaun > AuthiCooper1300 02/07/2016 at 16:54

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You’re right. But again, I wouldn’t expect anything less from it. That’s why there aren’t many mid-rear V6 hatches, the layout is inherently flawed. You’re also right that I’m sure they could do better, but I’m happy enough that they didn’t.

I’m still very glad it exists.

AuthiCooper1300 > Nauraushaun 02/07/2016 at 16:56

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Have you ever seen one in the metal? The Avantime was a sort of hugely wide pillarless Espace coupé. The doors where long and heavy, not exactly practical. You did not even need potholes to hear it creak and squirm. It was appealing in a quirky sort of way, on purely aesthetic grounds. And that’s it.

If you want an achievement in space utilisation look at the first Twingo. That was absolutely brilliant (still is) and it was nice to drive too.

It pains me to say it but it was not built well enough for what it was. Particularly with that huge 3.0 24V engine.

AuthiCooper1300 > Nauraushaun 02/07/2016 at 17:06

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I would agree with you if we were talking about a car from the 70s, but that car went to market in 2001. My impression is that the Clio V6 was rushed into production (which is odd, because Le Quément insisted on “total quality” for all Renault products). I have read a former owner saying that the guy who designed the rear suspension had privately acknowledged to him that it was simply badly designed.

I agree with you in that I am glad it exists too. As a matter of fact I used to see a old lady driving one in town (!). She must be quite a granny.

Nauraushaun > AuthiCooper1300 02/07/2016 at 17:34

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Well, that’s awful. But at least it made it to production. If cheapness and general awfulness are the price we pay, so be it.

Where ever do you live? I’m in Australia, we get a lot more Renaults than our American friends, though we never got the Avantime.

She must be quite a granny. I remember on Top Gear they said the turning circle was atrocious - she really is accepting a lot of compromises to her daily drive.

AuthiCooper1300 > Nauraushaun 02/07/2016 at 18:06

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The problem with cheapness and general awfulness, even if the concept is brilliant... is that the brand and/or the manufacturer also pay the price. (Think of the old Alfa Romeo.) For instance, the Avantime was built in the old Matra factory. When they axed the Avantime they sold the plant too, and an important piece of French motoring history went down the drain.

I live in Spain.

I suspect the old lady is the mother of a local car collector and she was not using it as her every day car (although it was not unusual to see her with the V6). Quite a sight in traffic!

Nauraushaun > AuthiCooper1300 02/07/2016 at 19:47

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No I haven’t, we didn’t get them in Australia.

Weren’t the doors double-hinged, allowing them to open within a much smaller space? I think the idea is that 2 huge doors with the double-hinge is more practical than many smaller doors.

I’ve deduced that you must be European. You accent the word coupe , you’ve seen an Avantime, and you called a 3 litre engine “huge”.

Nauraushaun > AuthiCooper1300 02/07/2016 at 20:07

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Yeah you’re right there too. Nobody wins when a car is awful. We might still have V6 Clios being sold new if the car was better - it would have sold better, increasing the odds of it hitting a 3rd/4th generation.

Quite a sight indeed! I’ve seen one once and I’ll never forget it.