By Bennett Oghifo
The Phantom comes in four body styles. The standard Phantom features four doors and seemingly acres of room in the interior–it is an ultra-luxurious take on the 4-door family car. Those buyers who employ a driver may prefer the Extended Wheelbase version, which adds additional luxury and legroom to the rear-seat occupants, and its extended wheelbase offering even more rear leg room. The Coupe and its convertible version, the Drophead feature only two doors. These two models represent the ultimate in personal luxury transportation, designed in every way to cater to owners who want to experience driving in one of the most exclusive cars ever built.
All Phantoms come with a huge list of standard features and interiors are immaculate. Leather is used nearly everywhere and is available in a variety of colors, both monotone and 2-tone. In fact–the entire interior of the car is really up to the buyer, with a mind-boggling number of configurations available.
Rear seats can be configured for either two or three passengers with unique bolstering and seat design for each. Various colors are available not just for the leather but for the thread used to stitch that leather together, headrests are available with or without the “Rolls-Royce” logo and the wood trimmed interior is available with four different types of wood finishes.
Though it all sounds wonderfully old fashioned, the Phantom is obviously a very modern vehicle. A navigation system features full 3D maps and topography, displayed on a large 8.8-inch screen. Front, rear and even top view cameras make maneuvering the car much easier than in years past especially while parking, as the Phantom is a quite a large vehicle.
Power comes from a 6.75L V12 engine mated to an 8-speed automatic. The engine is extremely torquey and is powerful enough to make the Phantom pretty quick in a straight line. But anyone looking to race the Phantom have likely missed the point of this vehicle.
Yes, the car is fast and handles pretty well, but that’s more of a byproduct of doing everything well than any specific design goal. Rolls-Royce achieves an impressive level of performance considering the Phantom’s weight, but where the Phantom succeeds in every way is in its pursuit of the ultimate luxury car experience.
Safety features are comprehensive and the Phantom features a full suite of electronic devices to assist the driver in preventing an accident. Anti-lock brakes, traction control and stability control are standard, as are seatbelt pretensioners, anti-whiplash restraints and side, front, knee and overhead airbags.
