Wedding Cars

Wedding Cars

Here at Hire a London Chauffeur we wanted to ensure that we had the best selection of Wedding Cars to Hire. After having test driven an astonishing number of luxury vehicles we did manage to agree on one thing, which was, though classic wedding cars are stunningly beautiful, we cannot add them to our trusted fleet as unfortunately, 3 of the best examples out the 10 we tested broke down, and we certainly do not want to have that predicament on anyone’s wedding day!

After many a month of whittling down our list of 31 viable options, only 6 cars really fit the bill. In order for us to then truly decided which ones of these vehicles we were to be added to our fleet, we needed some experts, experts who not only had their own views of the ideal, but were meticulous, paying attention to every bit of detail, the only experts suitable for this task were 6 brides to be, Jackie, Jane, Sarah, Michelle, Katherine and Tina.

All the ladies were picked up from their homes, in wedding dresses and driven an hour and half across different terrain, from bumpy country roads, to motorways, to ensure we had every possible situation covered. They were to mark the cars for overall comfort, quality, look, design and feel as well as if the vehicle was worthy enough to make there grand entrance on there special day. The very first car we took out for a spin was the Rolls Royce Phantom, and what a beast this machine is. now owned by German maker BMW this vehicle stooped in it’s history regardless, is quintessentially British. What remains is a monster but a quite engine, astonishing attention to detail, 5 thick coats of the finest paints and the most luxurious of materials, leather, woods, wools… you name it.

Approaching the Phantom for the first time, it is a powerhouse of intrigue, not necessarily the most beautiful of all the vehicles we have selected but it is certainly unique and stands out from the crowd in its own way, though it does still have that Britishness about it, it looks more suited to Lady Penelope than Lady Windsor. Yes my Lady!

Immediately as you set foot into the Phantom the instant decisively different feeling hits you, which is exactly what the car has to encapsulate to justify its heavy price tag, but really the quality is no different from its competitors, okay there are some extras, the rear-hinged doors are fairly unique but they are not actually any easier to negotiate it seems. Looking around the interior, you will note the large curved and of course immensely comfortable rear seats and a quality of construction that simply goes well beyond the norm for most automotive. However it seems that though this was for more than half of our Brides their initial first choice for a wedding car, after further inspection and having been taken for a spin, only one of our ladies was still keen to book one for her wedding day, which certainly came to a surprise to us! The ladies have marked the Rolls-Royce Phantom out of a possible score of 10 points each as follows:

• Jackie – 5 points
• Jane – 7 points
• Sarah – 10 points
• Michelle – 7 points
• Katherine – 3 points
• Tina – 6 points
• Total: 38 out of 60

The next car we took a look at has been viewed as Rolls Royce’s major competition within the “unique” luxury vehicle sector, the Mercedes Maybach.

The Maybach though fabulous to fall asleep in, due to it’s enormous length, makes it one of the most difficult cars to manoeuvre around small villages in, as well as the obvious parking issues, in fact beyond the fine riding and awesomely refined interior our ladies all felt swamped in the back by themselves,  the all agreed that it is of course an amazing car, but would be only suitable if you had an enormous wedding dress to wear or were escorting the family as well, but as a whole the car didn’t get our ladies excited, or their vote, it actually came bottom of the rank. Scores are as follows:

• Jackie – 3 points
• Jane – 4 points
• Sarah – 5 points
• Michelle – 3 points
• Katherine – 4 points
• Tina – 3 points
• Total: 22 out of 60

The Maserati Quattroporte

The Maserati Quattroporte has the Jaguar XJL in its sights, this car reeks of class, quality and calm aggression, though this looks like a caged animal desperate to be released, which it is, it is also a very tricky and clever combination of comfort and technology, almost on par with the Jaguar, but overall the finish is somehow not quite up to the German benchmarks. The car is swamped in fine hand stitched leather and topped with fine veneers, and like only few of its rivals it has adjustable, heated, electric seats. The Ladies found the vehicle great to sit in and to enjoy the views, they found the reclining seats of great comfort and the ride extremely smooth but a little jerky on acceleration (possibly my fault with my foot on the accelerator peddle). Outside however was a slightly different story, though beautiful they felt the Maserati Quattroporte was not ideal for their wedding day car but was more suited to the groom and his family… The Quattroporte didn’t do too badly overall matching that of the Phantom:

• Jackie – 6 points
• Jane – 7 points
• Sarah – 7 points
• Michelle – 5 points
• Katherine – 7 points
• Tina – 6 points
• Total: 38 out of 60

Seeing the Jaguar XJL is Maserati’s competition we had to take a look at this instantly after.

“The Jaguar XJL is simply beautiful. Though similar in style and design to its competitor the Jaguar personally has the upper hand, a certain je nais sais qua. Seeing one of these pull up leaves you anxious to see who is going to step out from it. The quality to detail and comfort is in fact better in the Jaguar than the Maserati, though they both use the same quality materials. The ladies had noted the drive was that much quieter and smoother in the Jag, I am now putting this down to the size of engine being smaller in the Jaguar, rather than my heavy foot on the peddle! Strangle enough though the Jaguar was not very different overall in comparison to the Maserati, the ladies much preffered the Jag, and could in fact seem themselves being chauffeured in one on their wedding day! Well done Jaguar I say! Scores for the Jaguar XJL are:

• Jackie – 8 points
• Jane – 8 points
• Sarah – 7 points
• Michelle – 7 points
• Katherine – 8 points
• Tina – 8 points
• Total: 46 out of 60

Okay next up on our wedding car check list, is the sleek, stylish and amazingly understated for such a luxury car, the Mercedes Benz E Class (with extra comfort).

Though the E Class hadn’t always been the top of the list for wedding cars, it has recently become more of a favourite due to its character and finesse. Up until more recently the E Class struggled to match the benchmarks set by its rival, the S Class, which in actual fact is the benchmark test for every car we have tested, and is the standards used throughout the industry… The E Class is a real limousine, boasting a wealth of the latest and cutting edge, hi-tech gadgetry and technology, the long-wheelbase version, provides improved rear legroom, and soft sumptuous leather completes the feel and look. Our ladies were in two minds about this one prior to be taken out, they certainly could envisage being chauffeured around in the car, but not necessarily for their wedding day. The car they felt as sturdy as and as comfortable as the Rolls Royce Phantom, no surprises their then, but visually it was to them the opposite extreme, more of the ladies would have chosen the Merceded E Class over the Phantom due to it being just as classy but more understated. The ladies score the E Class:

• Jackie – 8 points
• Jane – 7 points
• Sarah – 7 points
• Michelle – 8 points
• Katherine – 7 points
• Tina – 8 points
• Total: 45 out of 60

And Finally, the car of all cars. The car that every car maker in this category attempts to at least match on quality, engineering, design and build, the Mercedes S Class.

The Mercedes S Class is the self-proclaimed ‘best car in the world’, which undeniably it is, everyone who sees one in the flesh is truly bowled over…  Every time Mercedes sets out to make their new S-class, they set themselves one task and one task only, to make the best car in the world.  Millions of hours and pounds is spent on the research and development into this one vehicle. It is more popular than the Maybach with the rich and famous, with over 75% of Rolls-Royce, BMW, Audi, Lexus and Bentley owners, owning one. In fact every engineer from every car company in the world, respects what the Mercedes S-class can do!  The S-class has and always will be the first choice of car for many wealthy individuals, the reason it may not have been in the past the standard choice for a chauffeur, was simply because this car was built for luxury car buyers who enjoyed to drive and show off to there friends, so the cars had always had to be perfect from the boot all the way up to the bonnet. In more recent years with the growing economy however, luxury car buyers have tended to lean towards being a passengers in their own vehicle rather than being the driver, subsequently Mercedes developed their first ever long-wheelbase saloon to accommodate this social change, which as you could imagine, when it was released hit the luxury car buyer market like a storm.

The ladies didn’t read the above, however they were most certainly bowled over with this vehicle, it ticked pretty much every single box. They felt that S-class was not ostentatious like the Phantom, and had more charm and elegance than the majority of the other vehicles, overall the car for them was the complete package. The vote for the S-class was unsurprisingly unanimous, with all of our ladies stating that they would be more than happy to book the S-class as their wedding day vehicle. So, the final scores are:

• Jackie – 10 points
• Jane – 10 points
• Sarah – 9 points
• Michelle – 9 points
• Katherine – 10 points
• Tina – 10 points
• Total: 58 out of 60