The Buzz

Thom Smith, technical director for the Lexington-based Valvoline division of Ashland Inc., recently taped two segments on motor oil for PBS’ MotorWeek at Maryland Public Television.

While he was there, the show’s host, John Davis, let Smith drive a car that was being tested for an upcoming episode.

It was a 2009 Rolls-Royce Drophead Coupe — “drophead” means convertible — with a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $423,000.

“Needless to say it was an impressive car,” Smith said, “but I’ve always been apprehensive driving anything that costs more than my house.”

Before you rush out to order one, consider this: This beauty has a “curb weight” of 5,776 pounds — two or three times the weight of the vehicle you are probably driving now.

The Rolls gets 11 miles a gallon in the city and 18 on the highway.

So while you are ordering the car, also order a “petrol” truck to follow it around.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 28th, 2008 at 2:18 pm and is filed under Automotive, Valvoline. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will appear immediately, but I reserve the right to delete innapropriate comments.