Rolls-Royce Phantom 2008 Review
I've always thought that the best way to travel around Europe is a first class seat on the Orient Express.
When I take the all-too-short classic train ride from London to the English Channel, I wish the journey would last forever.
But eternity is a long time, and everything changes. I thought I would always be a Coke drinker, but now I prefer Pepsi. And my allegiance to Allan Moffat and Ford eventually turned around when I became friends with Peter Brock and drove the best of his Commodores hot rods.
Just this week, my passion for the Orient Express was killed by a car. But not just any car.
As I traveled around France in the latest Rolls-Royce, the new $1.1 million Phantom Coupe, I honestly couldn't think of a better way to travel.
And to put that price in perspective, you must keep in mind that the buyers of this car are not slaves to any of the obligations of the life you and I live. Mortgage? Most likely not.
A Rolls-Royce owner typically has about $80 million to buy instantly, owns at least two houses, and has a garage with four or more Ferrari and Porsche class cars. So, we are talking about Lindsey Fox, Nicole Kidman or John Lowes.
To them, the Phantom Coupe—even with a seven-figure profit before you tickle it with $8000 rear cup holders or custom paint at who knows what price—is just another good car.
For us wage-slaves of the world, this is an incredible waste.
Why would anyone happily pay $1.1 million for a car that does the same basic job as a $15,000 Hyundai Getz, with the same interior space as a $35,000 Holden Commodore and less performance potential than $70,000 6 FPV Falcon?
That's why I sat in the lobby of the Rolls-Royce factory in Goodwood, Britain, watching a cavalcade of $8 million Phantoms, from six new coupes to a long-wheelbase limousine with luggage, gather for a small group of people. lucky journalists. It was an episode torn from the pages of the lives of poor but influential people.
But don't think for a second that the Phantom Coupe is perfect. Or that life in this world is so different from life in suburban Australia.
The glass holders in the British beauty are useless, and at the first roundabout, two bottles of water got under the pedals, which scared me terribly.
And even the "Spirit of Ecstasy" on the hood can't clear the morning commuter traffic on its way to the cross-Channel train.
And when you ride the Phantom Coupe on the tunnel train, you have to share a seat with the trucks. . . because Rolls-Royce is so huge.
A few minutes later we were also riding in a new compartment with a dozen schoolchildren, all delighted with the sight of an amazing car. And it was a powerful reminder of the importance of Rolls-Royce and its place in the world.
ON THE ROADS
The next reminder came at the end of the day. We drove for almost 12 hours and covered more than 600 km, but it seemed to us that we were driving for about an hour.
It's the best thing in the coupe. It's slightly snappier than the four-door Phantom, noticeably sharper every time the road starts to meander, and significantly quieter than the Drophead convertible.
But, compared to any ordinary car, this is a serene cocoon that crushes kilometers without visible effort. This is the kind of royal ride that Maharajas would have enjoyed on the back of an elephant during colonial India.
You can see and feel serenity in the Phantom Coupe. The seats are like armchairs, the car is so quiet that you can calmly talk to a passenger without straining, chic luxury in everything you can see, touch, smell and hear, and at the same time the car easily turns the speedometer from 80 km / h to naughty-naughty with one firm push on the gas.
As we drove we struggled to find words to describe the tour group. We floated almost effortlessly, like the Titanic before an iceberg. Not that we think so. Maybe a cavalcade? Or a parade? Or just a flurry, a flock, or a Phantom fantasy?
But reality quickly returned as the sky turned grey, then black as the first drops of rain turned into a continuous stream and the clouds turned into thick fog.
This last drive to Geneva was to be the time to find out if the Phantom Coupe could really be a sports car and deliver on the brand's impressive promises. But there were too many trucks and curves, and the road was slippery and a serious threat to the $1 million car.
So I was forced to look at what I had and what I had learned. This includes underdeveloped cup holders and satellite navigation, which is far behind the times, as well as a set of luxurious knick-knacks that are significantly inferior to the Lexus LS600h. The response is a bit sharper, but not as sporty as a Porsche or even a Calais V.
The Roller also needs sharper steering, a smaller handlebar, some form of manual transmission control, and more comfortable seats to keep its athletic pretensions alive. And the view from the rear window is the second-worst this year, behind the stupidly flawed all-wheel drive BMW X6.
But when the sun came out and we turned into another five-star hideout to complete the trip, the Phantom Coupe won me over.
You can apply any logic you want and ask any hard questions you want and be as cynical as I like and rate the car as an exaggerated relic with a great past and no real future.
But some things in life exist only because they can. And because we have to have standards. Phantom Coupe is not perfect, but it is one of the best cars in the world. I like it.
And in the end, would you? That's what I would do if you took the English Express and won the lottery.
