Rolls-Royce Phantom. Perfection. Part 2

Part 2 - The Drive

Ah yes. The drive. Something I’d really been looking forward for a long time. How often does a person get to go in a Phantom on the road? Not very often is the obvious answer.

I’d only seen the car to photograph and sit in for the first part of the article. This time I’d come back again for the ride. You know when you’re a kid, and you know you’re going on holiday the next day, you get that feeling in your stomach and it’s hard to sleep? That’s exactly how I felt the night before. This was something special. Even non-car lovers like this Rolls-Royce. It’s the sheer presence of it that does it for them.

When I arrived, the Phantom was still parked up in the garage, so whilst waiting, I took the time to take some photographs of another of the owners cars. A Bentley Continental GT Speed. Nice, but that’s for another article altogether.

As I walked over to the Rolls-Royce, the owner was unplugging it. Apparently it’s to keep the battery charged when it’s not being used. There’s a lot of electrics on the car, so the battery needs to be kept topped up. After being unplugged, the car was driven out into the bright, warming sunlight. What a day for a drive out. After weeks of dull, cold and rainy weather, finally a warm and sunny day. Rare weather for March, as rare as a Phantom is in fact.

While the car was sat, waiting for the engine to warm up, I took the chance to take in the Rolls lines. For me the huge grille, including the Spirit of Ecstasy, is the single most striking part of the car. It reflects the past cars that Rolls-Royce have been producing for over 100 years now. It is a mark of power, wealth and a benchmark for luxury that other high-end car manufacturers try (and fail) to attain.

By now the Phantom’s huge engine was warmed up and ready to take its passengers on the most luxurious drive of their lives. For this car, I was a passenger. It’s the way to travel in a Rolls. You don’t drive, you are driven. It gives you time to take in the surroundings that you are sat in. Besides, I wouldn’t want the responsibility of driving this massive behemoth as it’s worth a cool £265,000 without optional extras. I’d definitely drive it on a closed road, but as this drive would take place amongst everyday drivers I’d be sat in the back of the Phantom. Battered old Ford Escorts and Daewoo Lanos’ were flying about on the roads, and their drivers were clearly the type of people that, judging by the amount of dents and scrapes on their cars bodywork, wouldn’t wait about if they did hit another car.

I stepped into the rear of the car, sinking into the soft leather of the seats. Pressing a button on the inside of the car near the C pillar’s quarter light shuts the door promptly and quietly. There’s no engine noise to hear. It’s spookily silent and it feels almost as if the car is floating, maybe that’s why it’s called a Phantom. It certainly fits.

Acceleration is hushed, and rather than the usual feeling you get when accelerating in a ‘normal’ car, it’s a hurried along kind of speed, a graceful fast walk instead of a run. Typical of Rolls-Royce in fact. This doesn’t mean that the Phantom is slow by any means though.

It has a 6.75 litre V12 engine with 450 bhp and 530 lb/ft of torque, which takes the car to 60 mph in just 5.7 seconds. Not bad considering it weighs in at over 2.5 tonnes. It has a governed top speed of 149 mph.

However, these figures are all irrelevant to the buyers of these cars. One doesn’t enquire of ‘performance’ at a dealership. It’s out of the question, sir! It’s all about the ride. And what a beautiful ride. This is a continent busting car. Entire countries could be devoured beneath its massive tyres, without so much as it batting an eyelid (or light). The comfort level is beyond belief.

You are sat back behind the quarter light of the C pillar, so that you are away from the prying eye of the public. 1920′s and ’30s art deco style with a modern twist surround you, from the interior lights right down to the storage compartments in the doors. The white leather and piano black panels of this car match perfectly.

Being swept along in the Phantom, you are very aware of the reactions of other people. There are generally two types of reactions. One is that they stare in awe, mouth agape and slightly smiling. The other is purely of either jealousy or a mixture of hate and anger. They see the car, and know it’s there (at 19 feet long it can’t really help being noticed, poor thing), but they turn their heads fully the other way, not even looking straight ahead, but to the side.

Whatever, I’m sure if they were offered the chance of a ride in one they wouldn’t turn it down, and if they did they’d have to be mad to. For it is, as many people describe it, the best car in the world.

It’s a pure breed Rolls-Royce (ignore that the engine is German). It’s a hand-built, custom car that, true to the companies history, provides the most exotic luxury available, topped off with the best drive and and ride around today.

If you ever get the chance, beg or borrow, but please don’t steal, a go in a Rolls-Royce Phantom. You won’t ever forget it.

Rolls-Royce website

All photos taken with a Nikon D90 DSLR