Rolls-Royce Phantom 2008 Review

It's not even that expensive.

Holden and especially Ford would be only too happy to sell you the funds to do so well below $50,000. So you don't have to wear a white collar on a professional basis to afford that special feeling, let alone a safety helmet.

But it is possible to get there and then get there in unrivaled style and comfort without even the slightest effort. It's a feeling only a few super-wealthy Australians will know when they get a new $1 million Roll-Royce Phantom Coupe this year.

And, of course, this indecently lucky Carsguider, who was presented with the only coupe on the continent.

So what, I hear some of you mumbling? What does this excess car emblem have to do with the rest of the 99.98% of us? For that matter, doesn't this exposition border on bad taste in our time of austerity?

Strong arguments to which we would respond that anyone who cares about cars (as opposed to those who claim to be, but whose enthusiasm doesn't go beyond Holden or Ford) would like to know what is possibly the best in the world . Secondly, the last thing that has to do with the topic of Rolls-Royce is relevance itself.

“No one wants a $1 million car,” says Bevin Clayton of Trivett Classic Rolls-Royce, a man who will sell 22 of these cars this year. Indeed, for the approximate equivalent of a luxury car tax—about $300,000—you could buy a Maserati GranTurismo.

"But once you've driven alone, it's terribly hard to get back."

This is something that early Roller buyers, who are expected to be attracted to the coupe, will likely appreciate. Clayton claims they'd be intimidated by the sheer size of the Phantom sedan (not to mention the long-wheelbase version), as well as the gorgeous Drophead coupe.

In fact, a coupe in a helmet looks no less impressive on the road, neither in shape nor in appearance. In some respects it is the most aesthetically pleasing of the three to date, combining the best qualities of both.

From the front three-quarters, there really couldn't be anything else on earth. The Spirit of Ecstasy emblem, as always, sits on a silver grille that fills the rear-view mirrors and silently invites those in front to merge to the left. The hood is a familiar polished metallic, contrasted in this case with the deeply reflective Diamond Black paint.

The lines are accentuated with two dark red stripes, hand-drawn with oxtail brushes. The coupe's personality becomes evident as you step up to the small rear window and peer into the mahogany trim culminating in a traditional rear fascia. If rear-seat passengers lack the comforts of a sedan, even the tallest passengers have more than enough room as they stare up at the ceiling, where dozens of tiny LED lights give the impression of a bright starry night.

Crack open any of the suicide swing doors and everything is just as you'd hope - expanses of mahogany leather, silver switches and what Clayton says is a slightly fatter version of that slim old-fashioned steering wheel. glorious.

The third of a new generation of Phantom-based cars since 2003, after BMW rescued the famed marque from poverty, it offers something beyond two doors smaller than a sedan and a stronger roof than a Drophead. A hint of this is given by the unique chrome exhaust pipes.

The term "sporty" is most often used in the automotive lexicon, but the coupe's attitude to this concept is as different from ordinary usage as Roll-Royce itself is different from mere mortal brands. Press the silver "S" button on the steering wheel, hit the accelerator, and the 2.6-ton, 5.6-meter coupe engulfs the landscape with both Roll's signature whiff and newfound assertiveness.

The damping feels sharper, and the gearing is calibrated to cover the standard sprint distance in a claimed 5.8 seconds. The almost silent purr of the 6.75-liter V12 allows itself a resonant tone when pushed. Not a hum. It would be uncouth.

Mostly though, the driving experience - at least during our stroll through the coupe's natural habitat in Sydney's eastern suburbs - remains a case of effortless grandeur, an almost ethereal feeling that firmly returns every contender for the ultra-luxury throne to its place.

ROLLS-ROYCE PHANTOM COUPE

Cost: East. about 1 million dollars

Engine: 6.75 l / V12 338 kW / 720 Nm

Economy: 15.7 l/100 km (claimed)

Transmission: 6-speed automatic RWD