Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupe 2dr Car Review - March 2012

The 6.8 litre twelve cylinder engine produces maximum figures of 453bhp at 5350rpm and 531lb-ft at 3500rpm and offers spectacular performance for a car of this size, but as befitting its stature, it is delivered with consummate ease and discretion rather than screaming aggression. A 0-62 mph time of 5.6 seconds and a top speed of 155mph prove that it’s no slouch and it never gives you the impression that’s its trying too hard.

The Phantom’s ride comfort is generally rather splendid and it can waft along on motorways on a wave of serenity all day but attack a suitably interesting road and it grips surprisingly well in corners and maintains a dignified poise. The steering feels nicely weighted and fluid too.

There are all kinds of electronic adjustment in the driver’s seat and the steering wheel so most drivers should be able to find a decent position. The interior is typically sumptuous and beautifully handcrafted from the finest materials, supplied with a simplified version of BMW’s iDrive interface. Rear visibility is poor though owing to that lovely swooping roofline, and of course trying to manoeuvre a car of this size around town will often have you sucking in your breath, but rear parking sensors should help take the worry out of reversing.

The Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupe 2dr is a sleek and seductive blend of power and grandeur, and while it may have lost some of the prettiness of earlier incarnations, there’s no denying its imposing presence. Inside the sublime cabin you get pretty much everything you can think of as standard but if there’s something you want that isn’t on the options list, then for a suitable emolument, Rolls-Royce will no doubt design and create it for you.

There is plenty of head and legroom in the cabin although not as much for rear seat passengers as you might expect. The boot, which has a split tailgate designed to let you utilise the lower half as a seat, has a useful 395 litres of space and with its wide opening it’ll be no problem for the bellboys and butlers to handle your monikered luggage.

As with equipment levels the Phantom is loaded with safety features too and comes with every piece of technology designed for the 7 series BMW. As well as all the usual airbags and driving controls aids it includes perimeter cameras, a blind-spot warning system and a highly advanced anti-theft protection.

Reliability is unlikely to be an issue but for a certain piece of mind this car comes with a four year unlimited mile warranty. Fuel economy is not much of an issue with a car like this and its carbon footprint of 377 g/km places it in the highest road tax group, but it’s unlikely that these figures will deter buyers.

At £313,200 the Rolls-Royce Phantom 2dr costs as much as a trendy apartment in London. But then cars like this aren’t really about value for money. Overall, It has a quality, a majesty, a class, a status that very few other marques can match.

A combined cycle of 18.0mpg is what you might expect and with a CO2 emissions figure of 377g/km the taxes and running costs are about as high as its possible to get with a car.