Well, I've been lucky enough to see all these cars. The RR Phantom, both the MM 57 and 62, both Bentley's, the Arnage and the Flying Spur, ....so here's my take on all of them:
RR Phantom: WoW.... what a car. Seen the car, touched the car, ..sat in the car too....and my gosh, this car is something else!
The word Presence has become synonymous with the Phantom. The first word that comes to mind when I think of the Phantom is presence.
The styling is big, bold, brash....and brilliant. There really is no comparison to this car except its predecessors. Interior is lovely to look at from the back seat...and those rear seats... they may not look super-comfortable in the pictures...but trust me, they are nice and comfortable in real.
MM 57 & 62: If it weren't for the recliner-seats in the 62, I would pick the 57 over it, ....because after finally seeing the 62, ..gosh, it really does not look nice in terms of it proportions and design. Never liked the design of it, and as many have said, it's just too S-class-ish. Funny thing is, it's got the front of the W220 S-class, ..and the rear of the W221...so it's really caught inbetween 2 styling generations...and yeh, the end result isn't too pretty in my eyes. Interior technology is great (from what i've read)..but design seems a little too S-class-ish again. I guess they just played it safe with these MM's.
Bentley Arnage: Very nice car indeed. I always viewed Bentley as the sporty alternative to the RR, ..and I'm guessing that's how it was when the two companies were together. But that's kind of changed with the RR Phantom now having a sense of sportiness to it (in my eyes anyway, because of the stance of the car at that image of effortless motion), while Bentley's have gone the opposite way and tried to look more luxurios and aristocratic (and there's nothing wrong with that ofcourse). Always liked this car, ..but it's getting old in the design department now, ..especially that Drophead Convertible, gosh that looked very aged when I saw it.
Bentley Flying Spur:Well, firstly, let me say that I don't like the Bentley Continental GT, so when I saw the press pics of the Flying Spur, I wasn't impressed at all. It was the Continental GT, just with 4-doors, ..so I had a negative impression of the car from the pics I saw. BUT..... when I actually saw it in the metal, that impression was turned on its head. I saw it at the motorshow and I literally said "wholey sh!t, ..thaaat's the Flying Spur?!" ..and i stood there for a few seconds as my brain went searching for that folder in my memory which said the Flying Spur looked crap, ..and once it found the file, it instantly deleted that comment, ..and put 'damn, wat a big-ass car, and nice too'.
So to rate these cars in order:
1. Rolls-Royce Phantom : Pure Presence, ...unmatched by anything else out there.
2. Bentley Flying Spur : Big suprise when I finally saw it. Like it much better than the Bentley CGT.
3. Bentley Arnage : Always liked this car, superb interior. But starting to age a bit now.
4. Maybach 62 : Not a fan of the styling or proportions of the car. Interior gadgets are impressive though.
5. Maybach 57 (although, I'd put the 57S ahead of the MM 62) : Engine and exterior enhancements of the 57S are nice. Standard MM 57 is better proportioned that it's better sister (j/k), but still not so appealing to me.
