And that’s why it must have been so daunting to produce the car you see in the picture this morning. The so-called baby Rolls. The Ghost. Because you know what happened. The Rolls-Royce boffins were told by their paymasters at BMW to make a car that was the same as a Phantom but smaller and cheaper. Which sounds fine, but, when translated, “smaller and cheaper” means “worse”. So, unlike the Phantom, which is largely bespoke, the Ghost is loosely based on the BMW 7-series. This is always a nag. It doesn’t feel like a BMW 7-series. Nothing you can touch looks as if it came from a BMW 7-series. But you know. And that sullies the experience somewhat. It’s like being married to the daughter of a mass murderer. She’s fine in every way but you know that, deep down, her DNA is from wonky stock. 这也是我对古斯特缺乏信心的原因,它是入门级的劳斯莱斯。大家都能想象得到,劳斯莱斯汽车的老东家宝马把工程师叫过去说,我们要打造一台跟幻影一样优秀但更小巧更便宜的车型。乍一听还好,不过你仔细理解一下“更小巧更便宜”往往意味着“更糟糕”。所以,不像从头到尾全新设计的幻影,古斯特沿用了宝马七系的底盘和零件。虽说坐在古斯特里,你能看得到摸得到的地方都不像一台宝马,但你知道它就是一台升级版的7系。当你想到这些之后,劳斯莱斯的魔力就很难出现在古斯特身上了。这就好比你娶了一个杀人魔头的女儿,她各方面都很好,但你心里知道,她的遗传因子并不优秀。 I therefore approached the door of the Ghost with extreme prejudice. I didn’t think I would like it. And immediately, my worst fears were realised. You get just a carpet, same as you do in a Mini or an Indian restaurant. Rolls-Royces should have big squidgy lamb’s-wool rugs. It’s what sets them aside. Then there’s the steering wheel. In a Rolls it should be no thicker than a pencil but in the Ghost it’s wider than Ron Jeremy’s gentleman sausage. This feels sporty. And that feels wrong. So does the head-up display. It’s a motorcar, for crying out loud; not an F-15. 于是,我带着先入为主的偏见拉开了古斯特的车门,我知道自己不会喜欢它。在拉开车门的一瞬间,我对古斯特的偏见就变成了现实。一台劳斯莱斯应该带有厚实的、松软的羊毛地毯,然而这台古斯特上只有普通的塑胶地毯,跟你的Mini或印度餐馆门口的破地毯没有任何区别,这就是真正的劳斯莱斯和升级版7系的不同。再说说古斯特的方向盘,正宗劳斯莱斯的方向盘外环应该比铅笔细。然而古斯特的方向盘外环比美国队长的大雕还要粗,这个方向盘给人一种运动感,这种运动感在劳斯莱斯里是错误的,同样错误的还有那个奇葩的抬头显示,这是一台汽车,又不是F-15战斗机,就离谱。