Car: Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe
Prices: £314,600 – ex tax and delivery
Insurance Group: 20
Emissions: 385g/km
Performance: 0-60mph 5.7s / Max Speed 150mph
Fuel Consumption: (average) 17.8mpg
Dimensions: length/width/heightmm 5834/1990/1632
DROPHEADONISM
Our Rating: 8.0 / 10
There’s no logical reason for buying a Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe but if you have the means, then why on earth not? Andy Enright reports
To delve into Rolls-Royce’s history of elegant convertibles would detain us for quite some time, so let’s hit the fast forward button and start at 2003 when Rolls started producing the Phantom from their state-of-the-art facility at Goodwood, a venue infused with rich historical motor sport associations. The Phantom was very much new owner BMW’s baby and although most expected it to be a nightmarish pastiche of Britishness, we underestimated the Bavarians.
BMW had hired all the right people and were determined to build something other than a bigger, squarer 7 Series. The Phantom saloon has been an enormous success, selling over 3,000 cars in its first four years of production and it has now spawned an elegant open-topped version, the Phantom Drophead Coupe. With similarly beautiful detailing, an imposing profile and the added bonus of al fresco wafting, the Drophead Coupe is a treat for the senses.
More often than not, the engine will have adequate power in reserve. With 720Nm of torque marshalled by a six-speed column-mounted automatic gearshift, the Phantom can accelerate to 60mph in 5.7 seconds and on to an electronically-limited 150mph. A whisper valve in the exhaust system means that at modest speeds, the car is virtually silent. With air damping and aluminium multi-link suspension, ride comfort is also superb. The thin-rimmed wheel supplies a surprising amount of information as to what’s going on at the front wheels and from a driving perspective, the Drophead Coupe feels a lot smaller than it actually is. Despite that massive bonnet stretching out ahead of you, the Rolls-Royce feels preternaturally nimble. It’s helped by a massive serving of torque that arrives at the rear wheels in an instant, helping to make the car feel alert and light on its feet.
The hood has been designed to replicate the sort of road-going refinement that Phantom saloon customers have enjoyed and uses five layers of material to deaden wind noise. This also helps thermally insulate the cabin, allowing the air-conditioning to efficiently reach its operating conditions when the hood is in place.
The company claims that this Drophead Coupe is a less formal interpretation of classic Rolls-Royce design than its four-door sibling, and when you inspect the design, it’s easy to see what they mean. Customers can specify the car with a brushed steel bonnet and a teak rear deck. To ensure a uniform grain throughout the bonnet, it’s first machine brushed and then finished by hand. The steel is almost an anomaly as there’s so much aluminium used in the car’s construction. The aluminium spaceframe is draped in bodywork 5.84 metres long and 1.99 metres wide and features 20 metres more chassis welding than the saloon. The signature hawkish front lights and huge wheels are present, although the eye is naturally drawn to that teak rear deck. Where it’s specified, the elegant wood is reminiscent of a Riva speedboat. The forward opening doors also take a little getting used to.
Each car uses 18 hides for its 450 separate pieces of leather. Each of the 60 pieces of veneer is 40 layers thick, glued onto aluminium and finished by hand – there are 2400 slivers of timber in every car. The top of the tyres is 31 inches high, designed to replicate early sketches that indicated the ideal proportion between wheel size and cabin height. The spirit-level flat belt line of the convertible car lends an unusual, distinctly architectural quality to its proportioning.
If you have to ask, it’s £314,600 net of local taxes and delivery charges to you, guv. While that is quite a pile by most people’s reckoning, Rolls-Royce Phantom owners tend to operate in rather different orbits to the likes of me and – from a basis of statistical probability – you. The value proposition thus takes on a rather ethereal quality, the Drophead Coupe becoming an entertaining diversion to blow some disposable income on rather than the culmination of a life’s automotive ambition.
Despite the relative low involvement of these sorts of buying decisions, that’s not to say that owners are undemanding types. The incon