1985 Rolls Royce Corniche Base Convertible 2-door 6.7l on 2040-cars

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The best cars we drove this year

Six hundred and fifty. That's roughly how many cars pass through the hands of Autoblog editors every year, from the vehicles we test here at home, to the cars we drive on new product launches, testing roundups, long-term cars, and so on. Of course, our individual numbers vary due to several reasons, but at the end of the day, our team's repertoire of automotive experience is indeed vast. But let's be honest, some cars certainly stand out more than others. So as the year's about to turn, and as we're readying brand-new daily cat calendars for our cubicles, our editors are all taking time to reflect on the machinery that made this year so special, with one simple, open-ended question as the guide – a question that we're asked quite frequently, from friends, family, colleagues, and more. "What's the best car you drove this year?" Lamborghini Huracan When I review the list of everything I drove in 2014, picking an absolute favorite becomes almost impossible. I mean, how does one delineate between the joy offered by cars as different as the Alfa Romeo 4C, Volkswagen Golf R, Mercedes-AMG GT S and even the humble-yet-wonderful Chevy Colorado? Okay fine, I'll just pick the Lamborghini. I drove the Lamborghini Huracan LP 610-4 on a racetrack, in the mountains, and along southern coast of Spain. It felt like the king of the car jungle in all of those places, sucking the eyeballs of observers nearly out of their heads as it drove by, and almost melting my brain with its cocktail of speed and grip and intense communication. It feels a little easy to say that the one new supercar I drove this year was also my favorite, but the fact is that the Huracan is one of the finest cars I've driven during my career, let alone 2014. Judge me if you must. – Seyth Miersma Senior Editor Rolls-Royce Wraith There are a couple of ways to look at the question, "What's the best car you drove this year?" In terms of what was so good I'd go out and buy one tomorrow, that'd be my all-time sweetheart, the Volkswagen GTI. Or if I'm just talking about sheer cool-factor, maybe something like the Galpin GTR1, BMW i8, or Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG. But instead, I'm going to write about the sheer opulence of being the best of the best. The hand-crafted, holier-than-thou, shut-your-mouth-when-I'm-talking-to-you supremacy. I'm picking the Rolls-Royce Wraith. I drove the Wraith for a week in April, and was really, really impressed. This car does everything, perfectly.

On this Rolls Ghost, diamonds are forever in the paint

Diamonds, the hardest rocks in the world, are found in everything from jewelry to tools – and now automotive paint. Rolls-Royce, a company happy to help paying customers indulge in one-of-a-kind, specially customized cars, has produced a long-wheelbase Ghost with a paint job featuring 1,000 crushed diamonds. It's called "Elegance," which seems like a pretty fitting name. One thing is for sure, the paint is dazzling in these photos. So the two months Rolls-Royce spent testing diamond paint finishes seem to have paid off. The rest of the car is a bit more run-of-the-mill Rolls-Royce, which is to say still pretty custom. It has hand-painted coachlines in red and black along the flanks, and the 21-inch wheels have matching red pinstripes. The color scheme is continued inside. Up front, everything is black, from the leather seats to the wool carpets. The sea of black is punctuated by red stitching and piping on the seats, as well as open-pore oak wood trim on the dash. In the back, the seats are a lighter gray leather with the same red stitching and piping. Our favorite part, though, is the plaid upholstery that lines the space in the front seats into which the rear tray tables fold. The car will be on display at the Geneva Motor Show alongside a few other older Rolls-Royce Bespoke models. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Rolls-Royce Wraith gets Inspired by Fashion

A little over a month ago, Rolls-Royce revealed a special-edition Wraith that was "Inspired by Film." Now the British luxury automaker has returned with another unique take on its fastback coupe in the form of the Inspired by Fashion edition. Unveiled at the Pratt Institute in New York – one of the country's top design schools – the Wraith Inspired by Fashion is well, just that. It features a tone-on-tone white exterior, complemented by the customer's choice of accent color: green, red, or purple. The accents are also applied inside, where the cabin is done up in white and black leather, with a unique steering wheel and clock, wood trim that takes nine days to complete, welt leather door panels, and special embroidery. If nothing else, the Inspired by Fashion edition just goes to show the extent of personalization options that await the Rolls-Royce customer, the vast majority of whom take advantage of those choices when ordering their new ride. ROLLS-ROYCE MOTOR CARS UNVEILS 'WRAITH – INSPIRED BY FASHION' 8 May 2015, Goodwood Rolls-Royce Motor Cars and the world of Haute Couture have long been bound by a common philosophy – to take the very finest materials and craft them into the most exquisite and desirable luxury goods, appointed to the customer's exact specifications. In this spirit, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars is delighted to unveil 'Wraith – Inspired by Fashion'. Fittingly, the marque's first showroom in Conduit Street, Mayfair was founded a short step from London's famous centre of tailoring excellence, Savile Row. Here, Sir Henry Royce and his partner The Honourable Charles Rolls echoed the offerings of their illustrious neighbours by providing London's most stylish denizens with the automotive equivalent of the finest cloths; a perfectly engineered Rolls-Royce chassis and running gear. The customer would then call upon their preferred coachbuilder, who would furnish the car with personal touches and accoutrements specified perfectly to their requirements. A century later, a bold new generation of customers continue to share the same appetite for commissioning expressions of their taste and lifestyle. 'Wraith – Inspired by Fashion' provides a modern take on this grand tradition. Akin to commissioning a fine suit or elegant piece of couture, the journey of creating a highly Bespoke Rolls-Royce motor car begins at the marque's equivalent of the tailor's atelier, the Bespoke Design Studio at the Home of Rolls-Royce in Goodwood, England.