QUICK TEST ROLLS-ROYCE PHANTOM COUPE
WORTHY SUCCESSOR? With nearly 20 years of production behind them, can the ‘Goodwood’ Rolls-Royce models live up to the classic status of the older models? We tried a 2010 Phantom coupé to find out WORDS: NIGEL BOOTHMAN
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t seems hard to believe that next year will mark two decades since the arrival of the Phantom VII, the first Rolls-Royce developed under BMW ownership and produced at the Goodwood facility. The styling was startling to lots of us, especially those with a fondness for the softer outlines of older Rolls-Royces, but as so many other cars grew larger and ever more over-styled in recent years I confess it’s grown on me a great deal. And with so little change for the eighth-generation Phantom in 2017, you can’t argue against its longevity. The Phantom VII ceased being a one-model range in 2007 when first the Phantom Drophead Coupé arrived, and then the Phantom Coupé a year later. The styling originated as the 100EX concept car in 2004 while the underpinnings and drivetrain are closely related to those of the four-
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PHOTOS: LEWIS HOUGHTON
door sibling. The big difference, then, is in the cabin – still with rear-hinged ‘suicide doors’, one on each side, and with a cosier, close-coupled feel inside. It’s still a true four-seater but those in the back lack the same luxury of space. This example is a 2010 model showing less than 40,000 miles. With a full Rolls-Royce history and a pampered existence, it’s hard to differentiate it from a new car. We took it for a prowl around Edinburgh’s mixture of gracious residential streets, cavernous potholes and tight corners, keen to see what modern Rolls-Royce motoring is all about. This isn’t just a large car in width or length but also in height; you have almost SUV-like point of view. Then there’s the door. It’s a colossal sweep of sculpted metal, opening wide enough to admit a wardrobe, never mind a driver. You discover straight away why
Rolls-Royce added one of the car’s most extraordinary features: a button on the top right corner of the dash to power the door closed. Without it, you’d need arms like a gibbon to pull it shut. Push the starter and 6.75 litres of V12 comes to life with all the commotion of a feather landing on a pond. Is it running? Yes, it must be – the dial marked POWER RESERVE % has swung round from 0 to 100. Blip the throttle and it dips…all the way to 98%. The column gear shift is really an electronic switch for moving between R, N and D – your only three choices. P for Park comes up automatically when you halt and turn the engine off. Everything is beautifully weighted. You can control the throttle and steering inputs to a very fine degree, which contributes to the overall serenity of your progress – it never feels awkward or alarming to pilot such a M AY/ J U N E 2 0 2 2 R R & B D
