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Gautam Sharma28 Oct 2017
REVIEW

Rolls-Royce Phantom 2018 Review

All-new Phantom VIII for royalty, rappers and more
Review Type
International Launch
Review Location
Lake Lucerne, Switzerland

The arrival of an all-new Rolls-Royce Phantom almost calls for trumpet fanfare because, apart from being arguably the byword in automotive opulence, the RR flagship has an inordinately long model cycle. While the Phantom nameplate has been around since 1925, we’ve recently been in Switzerland for the launch of just the eighth-generation model. It follows in the wheeltracks of Phantom VII, which remained on sale for 14 years – around double the typical lifespan of a premium luxury car. Although it may not appear drastically different at first glance, Phantom VIII is a clean-sheet design replete with cutting-edge technology and styling conceived to appeal to a younger demographic.

If there were such a thing as automotive royalty, the Rolls-Royce Phantom would be it. After all, what other single nameplate can claim a heritage dating back 92 years?

Apart from two breaks in continuity – from 1940-50 and 1991-2003 – the Phantom has been the flag bearer for the Rolls-Royce line-up and served as the default limo for heads of state, dignitaries and aristocracy.

The big Roller has managed to stay relevant in a world obviously much different than 1925 when the first-gen Phantom debuted. As a company, Rolls-Royce has weathered its fair share of storms over the past century – including bankruptcy in 1971 – and the brand stood at the crossroads in the early 1990s, lumbered with an irrelevant model range riding on ancient underpinnings dating back some 30 years.

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‘Prosperous’ is the word which springs to mind when considering the company today (Rolls-Royce sold 4,011 cars last year; the second-highest tally in its 113-year history). And that affluence is down to the BMW Group’s takeover of the company from its former owner – Vickers plc – in 1998 and subsequent skilful revamping of the marque to make it a viable fiscal entity.

The wholesale makeover of Rolls-Royce by its new (at the time) German masters was comprehensively embodied by the Phantom VII which, unlike its museum-relic forerunners, was a techno tour de force, featuring a sophisticated and lightweight aluminium spaceframe chassis, power from a brand-new 338kW, 6.75-litre V12 engine and loaded with all the electronics and mod-cons on offer in 2003.

This was the car to kick Rolls-Royce into the new millennium, dispensing with the olde-worlde frumpiness of its forerunners in one fell swoop, yet still endowed with all the stateliness and gravitas which underwrite the RR brand. In the process, not only did the seventh-gen Phantom find favour with traditional Rolls-Royce customers, it also succeeded in attracting new (more tech-savvy) buyers including the likes of IT billionaires and rock stars.

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Buyers a decade or two younger than before
But time marches on, and while the Phantom VII has soldiered on nobly for the past 14 years, the time was ripe for an all-new successor in-tune with Rolls-Royce customers of 2018 and beyond. An important point to note is the average age of today’s RR buyer is now said to be just 39, about 20 years younger than was the case a couple of decades ago.

Thus, Rolls-Royce Chief Designer, Mr Giles Taylor, says he sought to infuse a greater sense of dynamism and “movement” into the latest Phantom. Whereas the outgoing model was a cutting-edge design when it was penned, its profile is very upright, and Taylor says it looks too “static”.

So, he addressed this by integrating the grille into the front fascia and leaning it back a few degrees (it formerly stood clear of the bodywork and sat bolt upright). The tapered flanks of the car also create the impression of motion, and the fastback roofline further contributes to this effect.

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New lightweight architecture
Underpinning it all is a brand-new aluminium spaceframe architecture, and this ultra-flexible platform will form the basis for all upcoming RR models (no more shared BMW platforms for any Rollers), including the keenly anticipated SUV, due next year, known for now as ‘Project Cullinan’.

The new platform is claimed to be 30 per cent stiffer overall – the sections housing the engine, transmission and suspension mounts are 100 per cent stiffer – and this is said to yield significant dividends in terms of ride quality and acoustics.

Propulsion for the Phantom VIII comes from a 6.75-litre V12 (naturally), but it now features twin-turbocharging, boosting outputs to an unflustered 419kW and 900Nm to ensure the Phantom VIII offers the ‘waftability’ synonymous with the brand.

The fact peak torque is on tap from just 1700rpm, and maximum power from a sedate 5000rpm, gives you an indication of just how under-stressed the twin-turbo V12 is. Rolls-Royce execs said it would have been a cinch to extract bigger numbers from this engine, but the aim was to deliver effortless grunt. In any case, 900 Newtons is a sufficient amount of twist even for 2.6 tonnes (the standard Phantom weighs 2560kg and the Extended Wheelbase variant tips the scales at 2610kg).

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Rolls-Royce quotes a zero to 100km/h sprint of 5.3sec (5.4sec for the EWB) and an electronically governed v-max of 250km/h, but these stats are almost irrelevant for a car which eschews Nurburgring lap records for stately elegance and cossetting its occupants.

The Phantom VIII is 77mm shorter than its predecessor (5762mm standard or 5982mm for the EWB) and its wheelbase has shrunk marginally to 3552mm (3772mm for the EWB). But it’s taller (1646mm or 1656mm for the EWB) and wider (2018mm), so the impression is still of a gargantuan vehicle with formidable road presence.

If you were to go on the images alone, you may not immediately distinguish the differences between old and new, but rest assured there’s not even one element carried-over.

This is particularly evident if the Phantom VIII is stood next to its predecessor. The most obvious change are the new headlight clusters, which house laser beams claimed to be the brightest on offer in any production car, illuminating the road up to 600m ahead.

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But the engineering team’s primary effort has been on insulating occupants from the outside world, and the foundation for this is air suspension comprising a quartet of four-litre airbags (twice the capacity of those in Phantom VII) on which each corner of the car sits.

And although the Phantom VIII rides on rims up to 22 inches in diameter, they’re wrapped in tyres with relatively large sidewalls (45 series at the front and 40s at the rear), and these hoops – co-developed with Continental – are each filled with 2kg of ‘Silent-Seal’ foam to further damp road noise and surface irregularities.

As per the Mercedes-Benz S-Class and its Magic Body Control system, there are a pair of cameras behind the windscreen which scan the road ahead, and this info is then used to pre-emptively optimise the suspension for any nasties in the road surface ahead.

Also standard are active anti-roll bars (a la Bentley Bentayga) and the latest Phantom gets four-wheel steering to help reduce the vast turning circle previously an accepted facet of the old car. In fact, the turning circle is now down to 13.77m for the EWB, which is less than the radius required by the outgoing short-wheelbase car.

Staggeringly the Phantom VIII packs no less than 130kg of sound-deadening material around the cabin, and occupants view the outside world through double-glazed windows in which a pair of 3mm thick panes sandwich an acoustic layer.

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Hushed inside
What does this feel like from the inside? Uncanny silence is the overriding impression. Premium limo flagships from the German prestige heavyweights, plus Bentley, Lexus et al are all impressively quiet, but the latest Roller has perhaps predictably set a new benchmark as riding in the back now feels a lot like being transported down the road in an elegantly furnished lounge room. It’s a hubbub-free zone.

Ride quality has a supremely pillowy feel to it (that’s the only way to describe it), as you gently glide across all sorts of road surfaces with all traces of jarring nullified. Where the other premium Euro limos all retain a sense of taut body control, the emphasis for the Phantom VIII is purely on pampering the spines and derrieres of occupants.

The flip side? There is a fair bit of body roll should you attempt anything as gauche as pressing on a bit across twisty sections of road (of which there are a few around the breathtakingly beautiful Lake Lucerne). The Phantom VIII does go where you point it – the steering is accurate (if a little light), and it’s grippier than you might think – but it doesn’t really like being rushed. It’s not what this car was designed to do.

You could argue the Phantom VIII is actually more engaging to drive than most near-6m long limousines, but the fact is that virtually all owners will be ensconced in one of the luxuriant rear pews, with driving duties delegated to a chauffeur.

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You do sit very high in the Phantom VIII (it’s almost SUV-esque in its lofty stance), and the view across the expansive bonnet – culminating in the evocative Spirit of Ecstasy logo – is genuinely a sight to behold. Incidentally, the exquisitely sculpted motif (available in silver, gold or illuminated polycarbonate) can be made to retract out of sight via a menu option on the touchscreen.

Each of the two rear seats is electrically adjustable, and they can also heat your backside or administer a gentle (perhaps too gentle) massage to your torso. Each also gets its own air-con settings, and there’s an iDrive-style controller for the pair of infotainment screens concealed behind the picnic tables housed in each the front seatbacks.

There’s also a concealed cooling compartment for your beverage of choice nestled between the rear seats and the rear-hinged portals (‘coach doors’, not suicide doors, in RR parlance) can be closed at the push of a button, eliminating the need for an awkward stretch.

As you’d expect, the level of craftsmanship is sublime, and every moving part inside the cabin has a lovely, expensive-feeling damping to it. The impossibly deep lambswool carpets, ultra-soft leather and beautifully burnished wood create an ambience suitably lavish for a $A1 million chariot.

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If ever there was a sense of occasion on sliding into the innards of a car, this is where to find it (entering the cabin of Audi’s all-new A8 flagship sedan a few days later feels remarkably ho-hum). That said, although the seats are beautiful to look at, I find the contours of the rear pews in a Mercedes-Maybach S-Class more spine-friendly.

There are some nice touches up front, too. Debuting in the Phantom VIII is the ‘gallery’, which is a sealed section (behind a layer of glass) facing the front-seat occupant, and this can house your favourite artwork, a self-portrait, or basically anything which fits within its dimensions. A bit gimmicky? Perhaps, but no doubt there are buyers out there who will love the bespoke possibilities it offers.

Another 12.3-inch TFT screen silently retracts from sight when not in use. Said screen is immaculately laid out, but there’s no surprises here as it’s essentially the same tech as you’ll find in a BMW 7 Series.

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The world’s best
Is the Phantom VIII the ‘Best Car in the World’, as Rolls-Royce execs claim? There’s no doubt its refinement levels set a new benchmark for the industry, and the level of finishing inside and out is unmatched by any other car on the market.

Nonetheless, in most objective measures there are other premium limos out there capable of replicating most of what the Phantom VIII can do. But objective measures are not what the RR flagship is about, and company spokesman Richard Carter is unequivocal when he says: “There’s not one person in the world who needs a Rolls-Royce Phantom.”

Those who buy it do so because it remains the ultimate motorised statement of power and prestige. It’s art on wheels.

2018 Rolls-Royce Phantom pricing and specifications:
Price: SWB -- $950,000 (plus ORCs); EWB -- $1.1m (plus ORCs)
On sale: Second quarter 2018
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbo V12
Output: 419kW/900Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto, rear-wheel drive
Fuel: 13.9L/100km
CO2: 318g/km
Safety rating: TBC

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Written byGautam Sharma
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Our team of independent expert car reviewers and journalistsMeet the team
Expert rating
83/100
Engine, Drivetrain & Chassis
17/20
Price, Packaging & Practicality
14/20
Safety & Technology
17/20
Behind The Wheel
16/20
X-Factor
19/20
Pros
  • Unrivalled opulence, sense of occassion
  • Uncanny silence and ride comfort
  • Silky-smooth drivetrain
Cons
  • Not the nimblest chariot
  • Better rear seat in Merc-Maybach S-Class
  • Price
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