You can buy the flagship Lexus LS460–a fine blend of engineering, craftsmanship and performance–for about $80,000. How can a Rolls-Royce Phantom possibly be good enough to justify costing more than four times as much? That’s one question I pondered as a Rolls representative handed me the key to a $353,000 Phantom.
As I eased its prow into the bustle of northern New Jersey’s roadways, one of the first things I noticed was the reactions the car produced. The jaw-drop gawkers–and their neck craning, horn honking and thumb hoisting–outnumbered the studiously unimpressed. Those in the latter group were typically driving big Benzes or Beemers that had been suddenly eclipsed by the Anglo-Teutonic titan.
Let’s face it, one drives a “Roller” not just to operate a magnificent machine but to be noticed, to make a statement, and this car will never disappoint on that score. The Phantom rejects the wedge and aero-blob shapes that dominate contemporary automotive styling. Instead, it bludgeons the air aside with a blunt, high prow before slipping through the breach on flowing lines that are every inch classic Rolls-Royce; and it tapers to a trunk slender enough to reveal, for those in trail, a serious rubber footprint of 9.5-inch-wide Goodyear EMT 285/45R21s (an inch-and-a-half wider than the front feet).
