Rolls-Royce Phantom 8 Review (2017-present)

The Rolls-Royce Phantom is the pinnacle of luxury automotive transport; as synonymous with well-moneyed, elite society as a Gulfstream or diamonds from Tiffany’s. There’s a reason for Rolls-Royce’s reputation, though, because it really does make the best luxury cars in the world, and the Phantom 8 (so named for this being the eighth-generation Phantom) is its flagbearer.

The Phantom 8 sits on a new, bespoke platform that’s unrelated to any BMW model despite the fact that BMW Group owns the Rolls-Royce brand. The company’s new ‘Architecture of Luxury’ platform is scalable, will sit beneath a variety of models including the Rolls-Royce Cullinan SUV, and is ready to take pure electric powertrains. However, for now the only powertrain you can have in the Phantom 8 is a 6.75-litre, twin-turbo V12 engine – also new, despite having the same capacity as the engine in the previous Phantom - putting out 563bhp and 664lb ft, and complete with an eight-speed automatic gearbox.

You can get the Rolls-Royce Phantom 8 in standard or extended wheelbase, but even if you have the standard wheelbase then it’s still a 5.5-metre long car, while the extended wheelbase adds another 22cm to the rear legroom and the car’s length. There are various layouts available for the rear seats. A three-seat rear bench is standard, or most buyers will opt for one of the optional setups that include a two-seat layout with fixed centre console, a more luxurious ‘lounge’ two-seat arrangement, and an option for a seat that can be reclined right back into a flat, airliner-style bed.

Up front, there’s a large diameter, slim-rimmed steering wheel that harks back to classic Rolls-Royces and is just a joy to hold and use, plus there’s swathes of wood, leather, solid metal organ-stop vent controls and a deep, glass-fronted strip across the dash where you can display your choice of art, should you wish. A widescreen infotainment screen is controlled by a rotary controller, both of which can be neatly concealed. It is every bit as lavish and indulgent as you’d expect.

You don’t buy a Rolls-Royce Phantom for its underfloor boot space and Isofix versatility, but space is clearly not an issue here, in the front or the back. The driver and front passenger have electrically controlled, heated seats that would put your average lounge suite to shame, and everything feels built with the exacting precision befitting of a car mostly hand-built at the company’s Goodwood factory.

It’s hard to imagine ever needing more rear head- and legroom than you get in the standard Rolls-Royce Phantom 8. Open the long, rear-hinged passenger door (which can be opened remotely via the key fob) and there is so much space that you don’t slide in as with a normal car, you step in and tread backwards on deep, soft lambswool carpet until you reach the seat. Then, when you’re ensconced, a button press has the door closing softly behind you, and you can also choose to close the curtains or blinds electronically, while a mirror in the rear three quarter pillar let’s you check your red carpet look just before you step out. And there’s enough headroom that you can get out wearing your top hat, too.

As for boot space, the Rolls-Royce Phantom is a saloon but the boot opening is surprisingly large and reveals a very deep, wide space that should easily accommodate your Louis Vuitton luggage.

You might assume that a car weighing around 2.8-tonnes and measuring half a metre longer than a long wheelbase Mercedes S-Class would be somewhat bus-like to drive but that’s absolutely not the case. The Rolls-Royce Phantom 8 is remarkably easy to drive, and you might even consider it unintimidating once you’ve become used to the distant horizon of the bonnet.

The steering has a delightfully silky build of weight as you apply lock, but it’s always light and precise, giving you confidence as you wield the Rolls-Royce serenely through town roads or along the motorway. Let’s not gloss over the obvious truth that driving a car of this size comes with quite a few teeth-sucking moments when tackling tight corners or narrow roads, but being a very boxy shape and with good visibility to the distant extremities of the car, it’s a much easier vehicle to judge and manoeuvre in a tight spot than you’d would ever expect to credit of such a leviathan.

Adaptive air suspension is standard, and does a fantastic job of keeping the Rolls-Royce from leaning over too much in corners yet also delivers the best ride comfort of any car. Sure, there is a tiny amount of patter over scruffy surfaces, and the occasional thump over mid-corner bumps, but most of the time the Phantom 8 presses any surface intrusion into non-existence and leaves its occupants calm and cocooned. And enjoying the quiet. There is so little engine-, tyre- and wind noise that it’s almost disconcerting at times, or if you’re in the driver’s seat and choose to make full use of the V12, then you’ll enjoy a distant rumble and a shocking surge of acceleration. Despite its planetary proportions, the Phantom can hit 62mph in just 5.3sec.

While the Rolls-Royce Phantom exudes a delicious sense of being an ‘old fashioned’ coachbuilt car, from the solid metal door handles to the traditional multi-dial layout of the simple yet brilliantly effective driver’s dials, there is technology in every crevice of this car. For a start, there are cameras all round, including on the sides of the nose of the car so that it can alert you to oncoming traffic that you might not be able to see as you poke the Spirit of Ecstasy (the sculpture on Rolls-Royce bonnets) out into traffic many feet in front of where you’re sat. Adaptive cruise control and lane-keep assist combine to provide a semi-autonomous mode that works well on the motorway, and automatic autonomous braking will kick in if the car senses an imminent collision.

Of course, there are screens in the back as well as the front, which can be controlled independently and offer TV and online functionality. The rear passenger can also take control of the front media system if the driver allows it.

That front infotainment system is controlled by shortcut buttons and a rotary dial, and has all the functions you’d expect including wireless Apple CarPlay, sat-nav, live traffic update, Bluetooth audio and handsfree, digital radio, a 4G wi-fi hotspot and more. It’s easy to use, with the layered BMW iDrive menus making it easy to find settings and sub-menus, and key functions can be accessed with one touch of a shortcut button. It is, ultimately, easier to use than the vast majority of touchscreen systems.

What is also another sign of the thought that’s gone into the Rolls-Royce Phantom 8, is that all of this technology can be completely hidden. The screens up front and in the back fold away and the rotary controller tucks back into the driver’s armrest: even those driver’s dials, although partially digital, look classic and analogue. With everything tucked away, there is a timelessness to the interior of the Phantom 8, that makes it feel as if it could have been designed decades ago, despite also offering every imaginable modern comfort and connectivity feature you could want. A ride in the Phantom 8 can be a blessed reprieve from the constant buzz of modernity, just as it can be a mobile office. Whatever your mood, the car will accommodate.

Do you really want to know? Rolls-Royce doesn’t state a price for the Phantom 8, nor is there a standard equipment list. It doesn’t even have customers; rather, those discerning buyers who choose a Rolls-Royce are ‘patrons’ of the company. Expect the most straightforward, made to order Rolls-Royce Phantom 8 SWB (Standard Wheelbase) to cost from over £400,000, while the EWB is likely to be close to £430,000, and that’s before you’ve paid the man to thread your family crest into the stars and emboss the leather seats with your children’s initials.

Fuelling the 6.75-litre V12 will be, well, prodigiously expensive. Expect fuel economy of around 25 mpg on a sedate motorway run, and half that in town, never mind when it’s being run solely to keep the chauffeur warm while you dodge paparazzi.

Depreciation is better than you might expect. You may only lose the value of a family hatchback or two in the first few years provided mileage on the car is low, but you can expect to lose hundreds of thousands if you keep the car for a longer period of time or if you do high mileage in it.

Running a Phantom 8 is, basically, every bit as expensive as you might imagine. However, Rolls-Royce does include servicing for free for the first four years of ownership, with no mileage limit on that offer. Start saving now, for the costs when that period expires, or to pay to extend the Rolls-Royce Service Inclusive package, which you can do for up to nine years of ownership.

Rolls-Royce doesn’t produce enough cars to be included in most owner satisfaction or reliability surveys. Few owners are likely to be on internet forums complaining about a reliability issues or squeaky trim, since they’re likely to have other cars in the garage and someone to take the Phantom to the dealer if an issue does arise. Still, Rolls-Royce holds itself to excruciatingly high standards, and the perceived build quality on the Phantom 8 is as close to faultless as you’ll find.

Rolls-Royce provides a four-year, unlimited-mileage ‘ownership package’ that includes an unlimited-mileage warranty, servicing, maintenance and roadside assistance.