Not been in many luxury barges in my time, so this was a bit of a first.

Got picked up at the airport in an S-Class. It was the one that's just been replaced with the 3 litre-ish diesel - LWB. Plenty of space in the back (where I sat), quite nice interior. The reputation of the S-Class is you waft along in near total silence, gliding serenely over any roughness. Well, I didn't find it noticeably smoother or quiteter than say an E class. I was surprised the gearing wasn't longer. I did ask the driver if a wheel needed balancing, so maybe that was the problem, but overall it wasn't a big step up from other cars. Bit of an anti-climax.

Next, 7 series. Current model, LWB, 3 litre diesel - a distant relative to the one in my TD6. Seemed more spacious but that may have been just the driver was smaller. We didn't go on the motorway so I don't know about high speed noise, but it seemed only a little better than the S-Class. The ride was firmer, but also a little too floaty. Like the springs were firm but it was under-damped.

Overall, something of a disappointment. I've always wanted a luxury barge ownership experience in my life but now I'm not so sure. They just didn't impress me enough.

The hotel I stayed at had a Rolls Royce Phantom, and you could ride in that but they couldn't guarantee it's availability and said it only went to 6 destinations, so I passed. Maybe that is a proper step up?

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I used to stay at a hotel in Abu Dhabi regularly and they had a fleet of 7's, S-Class and Audi A8s - all long wheel base for guest transport. They became a key reason I ended up buying an A8....I found them a lot better than both the other german heavyweights with the benefit of 4wd - we don't get the 7 is xd over here. Is this where I put the car details and a bit about myself ?........

I thought you could get a 7 xd if you ordered it in a euro country in right hand drive??

The 750il is a nice motor but is firm but certainly shifts, as does the S8

Nice right up though fella  FFRR MY06 facelift With TDV8 Alloys Zeros/ATR's
Mantec Sump Guard, Rigid Load liner, MY10 BT upgrade.

kingpleb wrote:

I thought you could get a 7 xd if you ordered it in a euro country in right hand drive??

@ Kurt when were you in Brati? Hope you had a good time in the hotel and around the town
Driven the Phantom number of times and it is different class to the crowd of S-Class and the likes but I still prefer the Ghost to anything else

I was there begining of this week. Great town, but I was there for work so didn't see much of it. I've been three times this year and will probably have another trip before the year is out.

Seen the heading and thought oh yes Kurts been up to no good in the back of cars then read the posts .....

You thought I was performing as a stripper for a load of girls on a hen night in a stretched limo?

Actually, I have done reverse stripping. I start naked and people pay me to put my clothes back on.