My Years As a Car Dealer

Chapter 341: : Rolls-Royce Ghost

Chapter 0341: Rolls Royce Ghost

The sage once said: Zhu Bajie plays with old eagles, and he has his own hobby.

Although Subaru has such and other shortcomings, the maintenance cycle is long and the maintenance is expensive, but the three main parts of the car, the engine, the gearbox and the chassis are stable, plus the powerful full-time four-wheel drive system and horizontally opposed engine. No matter how niche, there are still a group of fans in Huaxia, and they have also gotten rid of the dilemma of withdrawing from Huaxia like Suzuki.

Zhang Chen didn’t choose this Subaru Outback. In fact, it’s not that the Subaru Outback is bad, but because there are many models in Zhao Baoling’s dealership, there are more and better choices, so he didn’t choose the Subaru Outback.

“What do you do with this car?” Since Zhao Baoling gave Zhang Chen the Subaru Outback, Ling Zhenghao wanted to know whether Zhang Chen was going to stay, or what.

“Sell it back with those cars.” Zhang Chen likes pure hard-core off-road vehicles and super-fast models. The acceleration of Subaru Outback is only ten seconds and four, which is not much faster than Alto.

In terms of off-road ability, it is incomparable to Jiang Fangyan’s Wrangler Robin Hood. Even if the engine is horizontally opposed, he is not cold. It is better to sell it to make some money.

“You said that the horizontally opposed engine is well controlled, sell it to me.” After listening to Zhang Chen’s explanation, Jiang Fangyan suddenly opened the driver’s door, raised her foot on the car’s B-pillar and wanted to get up.

“Old woman, don’t waste your energy.” The eldest Miss Jiang family didn’t listen to her explanation, Zhang Chen couldn’t help laughing and crying, grabbed her arm and said, “Even if it is a horizontally opposed engine, it has to be divided into different models. The Outback doesn’t have the handling that Subaru is proud of because not every Subaru is an STI.”

Zhang Chen is not interested in the Subaru Outback, but he is very interested in the Rolls-Royce Ghost whose original price is four or five million, even if the used car is still worth more than two million.

Not for anything else, just because it is expensive, I want to see such a luxurious model.

Zhang Chen knew everything about this Rolls-Royce Ghost through his used car inspection skills.

But when Zhang Chen saw it from a distance, he was still shocked by this expensive luxury car, and words such as luxury, luxury, high-end, etc. appeared in his mind involuntarily.

This black Ghost is a 2010 6.6T standard version, which was listed in April 2012 and has a mileage of more than 30,000 kilometers.

The body is 5399 mm long, 1948 mm wide, 1550 mm high, and has a wheelbase of 3300 mm. It is a 4-door, 5-seat sedan. Although it is smaller than the Rolls-Royce Phantom with a length of more than 5.8 meters, compared with other large cars, The size is still not small.

The 571-horsepower 6.6L twin-turbocharged V12 engine, the engine code is N74B66, matches the ZF company’s 8-speed automatic transmission, with a maximum power of 420, a maximum torque of 780, a top speed of 250 per hour, and an acceleration of 4.9 seconds.

In that year, the new car was 4.19 million yuan. Note that it was 4.19 million yuan, excluding any optional equipment.

In the field of automobiles, in order to make more money, various OEMs are now paying attention to the configuration. Some high-end models sell the basic configuration version. If you want more configuration, you must pay extra to choose the configuration package. Even Audi has shouted. “No options, no Audi” slogan.

Porsche’s options are more famous because a Porsche without options is surprisingly rudimentary.

Porsche chooses more than 30,000 seats and optional two-color leather interiors of more than 50,000. In the eyes of ordinary people, it is already very expensive, but compared with Rolls-Royce, it can only be said that poverty limits the imagination of most people. .

2011 limited edition gold-plated Feitian goddess car logo, the optional price is about 300,000 Chinese dollars.

The optional price of the rear entertainment system is about 260,000 Chinese dollars.

The optional price of the small table board is about 120,000 Chinese coins.

The optional price of the exposed exhaust is about 150,000 Chinese dollars.

…

The Rolls-Royce Ghost in front of you did not choose too many configurations, but only optional four-seat heating, ventilation, and full red leather interior, etc. For these simple configurations, four or five million Huaxia coins were easily spent.

So for these high-end luxury models, when you hear that the price of two identical models is too different, don’t doubt others’ bragging rights, and don’t doubt that they are parallel imports, because the two cars are just the same price, and the optional configuration Not the same, the final actual price is of course different, and some even exaggerated the difference of several million.

If you go to the second-hand car market to buy a Porsche, you should pay more attention to luxury cars like Rolls-Royce. You should ask the car dealer or seller for the optional configuration table as soon as possible, and find out what the optional configuration is.

Only by looking at the optional configuration table can you have a preliminary estimate of the price, and can prevent car dealers or sellers from fooling people by pretending to be low-profile and high-profile.

From a used car standpoint, Rolls-Royce retains its value fairly well among luxury sedans.

The trouble is that the configuration of this luxury car is quite different, so the price will also be different.

This 2010 6.6T standard version of Ghost, which was listed in April 2012 and has a mileage of more than 30,000 kilometers, had a floor price of less than 5 million including tax after the optional installation. The current used car price is 260 million. About one hundred thousand.

Compared to Gust’s rival, the Bentley Flying Spur, it is also a 2010 model, with the same 12-cylinder, and the same guide price of more than 4 million. The second-hand price of Bentley is more than 1 million lower than that of Rolls-Royce.

From this point of view, Rolls-Royce is still relatively cheating.

But even a second-hand Rolls-Royce is difficult for ordinary people to buy.

If the monthly salary is 4,000, and the monthly payment is 2,000, the loan for the entire car, not including the purchase tax, and the annual insurance money of more than 100,000, will take hundreds of years to fully pay off.

As the crowd got closer, what attracted Zhang Chen was not the smooth and simple body that incorporated the classic design elements of Rolls-Royce.

The first thing you notice is the raised nose and the extra-long engine bay.

The logo “Spirit of Ecstasy” standing on the front of the Rolls-Royce Ghost is the brand’s most well-known spiritual symbol, and this statue has a mysterious story behind it.

It is said that in the early days of Rolls-Royce, Lord Montagu, who vigorously promoted the development of the automobile industry, had a lot of wealth and high social status, but this became an obstacle to the love between him and his civilian secretary, although the Lord finally married a man. A wife of equal status, but never broke the love between him.

When Rolls-Royce was looking for the brand’s spiritual symbol, Lord Montagu recruited a skilled sculptor, Charles Sykes, to assist Rolls-Royce in making the logo, based on the appearance of his lover.

In the end, Charles Sykes designed a human-shaped stand with both hands holding the skirt and extending back, stretching his arms in the wind, and a graceful figure, named Spirit of Ecstasy: Goddess of Celebration

The “lost-wax casting process” for casting the Goddess of Joy originated from the ancient East, which requires high craftsmanship skills.

Each of the early goddesses was polished by hand by the sculptor Charles Sykes and his daughter.

Today, the birth of each goddess of joy still requires meticulous crafting through complicated processes.

So this statue of the goddess of joy is expensive, expensive.ァ新ヤ~⑧~1~中文网ωωω.χ~⒏~1zщ.còм

The ordinary value is 100,000 or 200,000, especially the 2011 limited edition gold-plated Feitian goddess car logo, the optional price is about 300,000 Chinese dollars.

It is said that someone was sentenced for stealing the statue of the Goddess of Joy, and he was really not wronged.

Below the goddess of celebration is the classic straight-pull grille of Rolls-Royce Ghost.

The body lines of each Rolls-Royce extend from the air intake grille at the front of the car. The iconic air intake grille design has been used since the establishment of the brand, making people able to recognize the works of Rolls-Royce at a glance.

Rolls-Royce’s grille design was inspired by the Greek Parthenon.

This temple was built for the goddess Athena. In the context of the times, the Parthenon Temple represents the embodiment of ancient craftsmanship and classic design architecture.

Therefore, the designers of Rolls-Royce integrated the “god” and “shape” of this temple into the design of the air intake grille, applied the golden ratio to the grille design, and created a harmonious balance through 22 carefully polished and carved grilles. The magnificent visual experience makes every Rolls-Royce have the noble sacredness and luxury and elegance like the Parthenon Temple.

The crowd turned to the side.

Rolls-Royce Ghost’s slender and smooth side profile, steeply sloping A-pillars, short front overhangs and long rear overhangs make Ghost unlike any other Rolls-Royce brand model. There will be a lack of eyeballs and favor.

The reason why Rolls-Royce is so expensive is that in addition to the brand premium, it is mainly expensive in fine craftsmanship and materials.

In order to strive to be meticulously designed in every detail, and to produce a car that strives for perfection through high-quality construction and processing, its materials and craftsmanship are the best and the most advanced.

Take this car paint for example.

Rolls-Royce has extremely strict requirements on the material, color, gloss and texture of the car paint.

For the distinctive sheen, workers are required to manually spray two coats of high-gloss varnish.

Two coats of varnish will have higher requirements for polishing.

Rolls-Royce’s requirements for car paint are so strict that they even have requirements for the speed of the polishing wool brush. It must be a wool brush at 2200 rpm to polish the car paint. It takes several workers several hours to polish a car. Finish.

After polishing, a worker spent 5 hours checking the car’s paint for flaws.

In John Niu country, where labor is very expensive, the cost of cars is naturally high.

The material flow is bad, the production process is bad, even if there is a small accident such as a scratch on the road, the maintenance cost is quite bad.

There was a news report in the past that a domestic tricycle rubbed a Rolls-Royce, only one scratch, which caused the whole car to be repainted, and the cost would cost six figures.

In addition to the paint finish on the side of the body, it is the waistline of the body that pushes the hand-made beauty to the extreme.

The waistline of each Rolls-Royce body is the best embodiment of pure handcraftsmanship.

There is currently only one artisan waistline master at Rolls-Royce’s Goodwood factory who can do the job.

As part of the classic heritage, from the establishment of the brand to the present, Rolls-Royce models have become unrivaled because of the waistline in the pen.

The width of each single waistline on the Rolls-Royce body is only 3mm, and the distance between the double waistlines is 2mm.

Some customers will make personalized orders, of course, they will add money, such as drawing a diamond on the waistline, a round of first day or a badge with special meaning, these are more tests of skills and skills.

On a body that is more than 5 meters long, it is not easy for this craftsman to draw such a delicate waistline in one go.

So far, Mark has made no mistakes, and his waistline can be regarded as the finishing touch of Rolls-Royce design.

In today’s era of mass production, only Rolls-Royce retains its dedication to pure handcraft and perfection.

Of course, if the car owner doesn’t want to spend so much money on private customization, he can also change it after spending money, go to a certain website, gold label, waistline, exhaust, etc., all in one package, and it will be done within 10,000 Chinese dollars.

Of course, if it looks bad in the future, I don’t know.

Looking further down, it’s Ghost’s wheel.

As a top luxury brand, Rolls-Royce wants to be decent and elegant at all times.

This attitude led them to create the popular “autonomous horizontal rim logo”.

To achieve this effect, Rolls-Royce installed super-lubricated bearings on the logo in the middle of the hub and added counterweights below the double R logo.

No matter how the rim turns, the Rolls-Royce in the center is always forward and never reversed.

In addition, the rim size of Rolls-Royce models is more than 20 inches, this part is to maintain the golden ratio of the body, except for good looks, there is no practical use.

Zhang Chen opened the door of the Rolls-Royce Ghost, and the two split doors were turned to the sides.

Rolls-Royce’s patented side-opening doors originated from the carriages used by the nobles of John Bull in the seventeenth century. In addition to showing the extraordinary status of the owner, the side-opening doors also make passengers more calm and elegant when getting on and off.

Rolls-Royce has retained the carriage-style door design to this day, continuing the ceremonial sense of getting on and off the car, and also giving full play to privacy and luxury.

The delicacy of Rolls-Royce is not only shown in the appearance of the car body, but also in the details to show its luxury and dignity.

Touch the button next to the door, and the customized umbrella hidden in the door will automatically pop up. The exclusive jack has an automatic drying function, which keeps the umbrella clean and new at all times, so that the owner can show a calm and elegant attitude at any time. .

Whether it is the main color and color matching of the umbrella surface, or the material selection of the umbrella edge and umbrella handle, it can echo the color matching and material selection of the interior, and match the unique taste and style of the owner.

Of course, this umbrella is worth a lot of money. An ordinary umbrella bought at a price of 100,000 can bury this Ghost.

Entering the Rolls-Royce car, in addition to the unique leather aroma, looking up, you can see the famous “Star Canopy” of Rolls-Royce.

This unique option is made up of 1,340 individual, hand-woven optical fibers that can be formed into any shape, such as the owner’s birthday or the outline of a constellation.

For such a luxurious car as Rolls-Royce, this leather interior is also a big deal, because the interior of a Rolls-Royce car requires a total of 12 cowhide to complete.

And this cow is not an ordinary cow. Most of them are Simmental cows. This kind of cow lives in the picturesque European alpine plains. After all, a favorable living environment is the basis for the quality of cowhide.

In addition, the climate of the European alpine plains is mild and humid, so that the cowhide will not dry out.

In this environment, there are few mosquitoes, and the cowhide produced has no holes or holes.

When everyone sat in, Zhang Chen felt that the leather seat was very soft and comfortable to sit on, and the leather would not make a harsh creaking sound when sitting on it. In fact, this was also specially treated by Rolls-Royce.

Looking up and looking around for a week, Zhang Chen found that if the door is closed, Ghost has tried to create a feeling that can isolate the noise of the outside world in the overall design of the interior. In a purely private setting, the atmosphere is wonderful.

From these details, you can feel how meticulous the workmanship of Rolls-Royce is.

Compared with the Big Brother Phantom, Ghost has a smaller body, so Rolls-Royce originally positioned Ghost as a relatively sporty model.

For this sporty positioning, Rolls-Royce equips Ghost with four air suspensions, which are continuously and automatically adjusted. starter

In addition, Ghost also has active anti-roll bars, which are not available on the Phantom.

Ghost’s anti-roll bar has an electronically controlled hydraulic clutch, which can control the hardness of the anti-roll bar through the degree of clutch engagement, so as to control the roll of the car.

The advantage of the soft suspension is that the driving experience is extremely comfortable, and the car has a sense of suspension like a magic carpet.

To sum it up in one sentence: You can see the uneven road, but you can’t feel it in the car.

Ling Zhenghao was surprised to find that there was no tachometer on Ghost’s instrument panel, but a power reserve meter instead.

Zhang Chen told everyone that after the car starts, the watch will point to 100%.

While driving it will tell you what percent of the car’s power is still available.

Because this is a model with a 6.6L twin-turbocharged V12 engine with 571 horsepower, the power is quite surging, the power reserve meter will hardly be lower than 80%, and the daily driving will not even be lower than 90%.

From the appearance to the interior, from the expensive goddess of celebration to the Rolls-Royce logo on the wheels, it gave everyone a lot of surprises and made everyone a lot of admiration.

However, everyone also has a question, is there no defect in such a cheating model?

“Yes, of course there is.” Zhang Chen told everyone that the disadvantage of Ghost is this twin-turbo V12 engine~www.readwn.com~ This engine codenamed N74B66 comes from BMW.

At present, this engine is also used in the BMW 760Li, but the tuning is different.

As soon as it is said that the engine is from BMW, there is no need for Zhang Chen to say more if there is any problem. Burning oil and leaking oil will definitely not run.

This engine is on Ghost, and the oil sump oil leakage is particularly serious, almost without exception, the oil sump is all hit.

Although this problem is easy to solve, just replace the gasket, but the oil pan of the V12 engine is quite large. It is necessary to lift the engine and remove the subframe before construction. It is a typical project where the labor cost is several times the material cost.

Burning oil is also an old tradition of BMW engines. On Ghost, burning one liter of oil for three to five thousand kilometers is already a very good performance, and it has to be added once every 1,000 kilometers or so.

Stop thinking that only Audi and Volkswagen are parked on the side of the road to add oil, and it may also be Rolls-Royce.

Another problem with this engine is overheating.

It is said that in summer, Ghost’s fenders can’t be touched, and it will be hot. After the little golden man rises, it is also steaming hot, like steamed buns just out of the pot.

Due to the large size of the V12 twin-turbo engine, Ghost’s huge cabin is full, and heat dissipation has become a big problem.

Especially in spring when catkins are flying all over the sky, if too much catkins stick to Ghost’s cooling water tank, the car will overheat.

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