From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Test drive report and comparison of a 1939 12-cylinder Lagonda against a Bentley.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 148\2\ scan0112 | |
| Date | 30th January 1939 | |
| S/W {Sales / Derby Works} Rmn {R. M. Neaum} 1260 Sg. {Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} C. to C. C. " BY. {R.W. Bailey - Chief Engineer} C. " Rm. {William Robotham - Chief Engineer} C. " Blr. 12-cylinder Lagonda 1939. W.O.Bentley was kind enough to lend me a 12-cylinder Lagonda over the week-end, and I had an opportunity of driving it a little over 200 miles. Putting myself in the position of an intending purchaser of a car of the sporting type, there is no doubt that one would be impressed by the performance of the Lagonda. It is fast, well sprung, pleasant to drive, comfortable, and in those respects is very similar to the Bentley. Anyone trying the Bentley as well, with a view to deciding which of these two to purchase, may quite easily find some difficulty in making up his mind, for the Lagonda obviously has some features which are better than the Bentley and likewise some which are inferior. Those that are better are really already well-known, namely, the springing, which is very good, the body which is roomier, and power which is slightly higher than the Bentley, giving it a maximum speed which may be a little greater though not much, and I am certain that on this particular point of speed those who try it probably get a quite false impression of its real speed because the speedometer is obviously reading appreciably higher than it should when the car is travelling at high speed. In fact, it was quite easy on several occasions for me to get the speedometer needle over the 100 mark and probably most people who drive the car believe that they are really doing 100 m.p.h. or more. Personally I am satisfied that the speed is not 100, in fact it is probably only within about 10 miles of the maximum reading at the higher speeds. Those that are worse are - The petrol consumption is heavy, 11 - 12, in fact it is not much better than the Phantom III. The lighting of the instruments is very poor, and not a patch on our present systems on Bentley and R-R. {Sir Henry Royce} The steering is quite free from kick, but not particularly light in operation. It seemed heavy when (cont) | ||