March 19, 2008
It's taller, more opulent than a picture can tell and has a rooflining of fibre-optic stars. It's not a Rolls, it's THE Rolls
'A car that plays on a stage as wide as the heavens it represents inside its roof'
When I were a lad, the first poster car on my wall was a Lamborghini Countach. But it wasn't just
the barking-mad wedge-of-cheese Gandini shape that gave it the presence to knock the wind from my prepubescent sails. It was the height. In the photo, an old Italian farmer was standing next to it, and the little thing hardly came up to his waist. And that's why this Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupe has such presence too. Not just the assertive shape, but also the height. Our farmer friend - were he still alive - would barely be able to see over the top of it. This is one big car.
"This is not a sports car," Rolls-Royce Motor Cars' boss Ian Robertson tells me of his new 453bhp two-door. That should be obvious, given that some countries have royal palaces smaller than the Phantom Coupe. But, actually, Robertson's honesty is very refreshing. Most manufacturers claim everything is a sports car.
The BMW X6 is the latest, and frankly it's as much of sports car 
asit is a nice vase of flowers. "Sports cars aren't our brand or our heritage," Robertson goes on, "but the Coupe is a more dynamic car than the Phantom saloon or Drophead Coupe. It's a grand touring vehicle. It will take four on a long journey comfortably, and you can't say that of most other luxury coupes." Now this really is world-class understatement. 'Comfortably', eh? If you lay out £300,000 on a Rolls, you'd have a perfect right to expect comfort. Very considerable comfort. So even though they've made compromises on comfort to make it feel a bit more sporting for the driver, this car still promises to be little short of heavenly to ride in. And it gives you a sense of the heavens. No, the roof doesn't glide away like it does in the Drophead, but instead the headlining has a fibre-optic array terminating in a galaxy of pinpoint lights. Every one of the Phantom range has always come with cabin lighting of stage-like magic, but this really is the coup de théâtre.
>'In hot countries, the Coupe will be the choice; in cooler ones like Britain, the balance favours the DHC'
Those stars are set in a roof that externally looks strangely familiar. Yes, the Coupe's silhouette
(I was going to say shadow, but maybe that's a reference that Rolls would rather forget) is very similar to the Drophead Coupe in roof-up mode. And below the glazing line, the two cars are all but identical. But Rolls-Royce people say buyers won't have much trouble choosing between them. Apparently in hot countries, the Coupe will be the choice; in cooler ones like Britain, the balance favours the DHC. And if they still can't make ther minds up, why they'll probably just have one of each. Such is the life of the super-rich. And if you can't imagine thinking like that, you probably aren't cut out for a life of top-tier wealth. Also, to help you make your selection, the engineers say that the character of the Coupe is rather distinct from the Phantom saloon or DHC. This new variant is the one to get if sir likes to drive his own motorcar.
Also, the Coupe has a slightly stouter rear anti-roll than the saloon 
or Drophead, and marginally stiffer springs and dampers. Ah yes, it's the sporting Rolls-Royce. To go with that, the transmission has been re-mapped to change down more eagerly. And the steering has been weighted-up. Even the wheel's leather rim has been fattened up compared to the delicate item found in the rest of the range. Minor changes all, but significant ones. And then there's the 250mm shorter wheelbase (though, of course, that's shared with the DHC), which peps up the car's agility. This is a car that shouldn't mind being given a bit of a prod when the road opens ahead. It's a little-known fact that the Phantom saloon can be driven surprisingly energetically. It's just that somehow you wouldn't, would you? In the Coupe, I suspect you would.
Which means probing more of the silent and mighty 6.8-litre V12's 453bhp. Revs are not an
issue - there's no instrument to report them. Instead, you get the large Rolls-Royce power reserve meter. This swings around to 100 per cent when nothing's happening (full reserve, see?), and once you start dipping your toe into the water, it recedes - all the way back to zero at full-bore acceleration. Even at a 70-plus cruise, it reads well above 90 per cent reserve, and what could be more comforting?
Back to the c-word. These changes in pursuit of sportiness will nibble away at the comfort. And 
although it can still reasonably claim to be a proper four-seater, the shorter wheelbase means that the Coupe doesn't have the slobbing-out space of a Phantom saloon. But comfort also means well-being, and the Coupe is certain to embalm anyone inside it in multiple layers of emotional comfort. It makes life simple. There is, if you hunt for it under the armrest, an iDrive style controller that gets to navigation and a few other options. There is even - and the Coupe is the only one in the Phantom line to boast this - a sport button for the transmission. But no gearshift paddles, no multi-mode this or parameter that. The Rolls way is to leave well alone and let the car do its thing. First, enjoy the simple cabin design - simple, but worked with endless effort and craftsmanship. Then fix your gaze out of the windscreen, down the bonnet, past the Spirit of Ecstasy and out to the journey beyond.
>'I want to jump straight in and head off as far as the road and the land go... this is a car for epic trips'
How could you not feel marvellous? Imagine this Phantom Coupe sitting at idle, fuel gauge
pointing at F. What panoramic adventure that little dial promises. I want to jump straight in and head off as far as the road and the land go. To the wild coasts of Scotland's north. To the blue seas of Spain's south. To the mysterious lakes where Europe meets Asia. Via cities and mountains and endless empty plains. This is a car for the epic trips. Of course, I can imagine it drawing silently up to the best restaurants in some posh part of town, tall and shiny and black. But I can imagine it all the better arriving at the same eateries caked in the dust of the road, grimy rainwater traces worming their way back along its haughtily chiselled flanks, flies spattering the Corinthian chrome grille.
The super-wealthy of all corners of the world are even now imagining a Phantom Coupe into 
their lives. Hundreds of them have placed orders, as far back as when it was just a concept - albeit, as we now know, one that was an uncanny lookey-likey for the real thing. Concept? Thinly disguised teaser more like.
For the moment, this pretty much completes the Phantom family. Rolls-Royce's next job is a smaller saloon - steel-bodied, unlike the aluminium Phantom line - to augment the range in 2009. Hmmm... a smaller car from the company that taught us to think big. Well, small is a relative term. It's still going to be BMW 7-Series plus.
In the meantime, here's the Coupe. A car that plays on a stage as wide as the heavens it represents inside its roof. A car with the stature to block out the sun. And it's comfortable with that.
Photography by Ripley & Ripley
