Modern Lifestyles SUMMER 2015 | Page 86

The Wraith’s coupe doors are suicide style and quite large and heavy. It only took a whole day and one of those “I wonder what this button does?” moments to realize that they power close. The center caps on the wheels are weighted so that the Rolls Royce logo is always right side up. Don’t even get me started on the umbrella mounted in each door jam. The engine is quiet even under heavy acceleration and the 624-horsepower, 6.6L V12 had plenty of power to move the 2.5-ton coupe. It is more maneuverable than you would expect from its size. After all it is just over 17 feet long. Steering is light and predictable and, considering the weather conditions, it had great traction and control. But lets face it, at nearly half a million dollars it damn well should be awesome. All the bells and whistles only partially describe how it’s equipped. With all the features it does have, the dash was surprisingly Spartan. There were very few buttons, knobs and displays. While this is great for simplifying the interior appearance, it takes a lot of time to learn how to get some of the simplest functions to work. I typically program my five favorite radio stations and a few Sirius channels when I get a car to test-drive. The complexity 84 ModernLifestyles.tv