I don’t pretend to be an expert on business. Although, you would have to be a fool not to recognize the value of building your brand. I’d like to think the Carbs and Coffee brand has some value, but believe it or not, there are brands out there, that are even MORE recognizable! You would have to travel a very long distance to find someone who doesn’t know what the Apple logo represents, or the famous Nike swoosh, and of course the golden arches of McDonalds. But very few brands enjoy such prestige that they become ultimately synonymous with being the best. So much so in fact, that they become the benchmark of excellence that all others are compared to.


Such is Rolls Royce. You might hear someone say that Patek Phillipe is the Rolls Royce of watches, or Merle’s was the Rolls Royce of Schnitzels. Simply by attaching a comparison to Rolls Royce, instantly tells you that this is the best of the best. Crafted like no other and simply in a class above the rest.
swallowed up by BMW.
Now, truth be told, for many years Rolls Royce may have claimed to build the best automobiles in the world, but it simply wasn’t true. That was, until 2003 with the introduction of the Rolls Royce Phantom VII. The first car to be released after the fiercely proud British institution had been swallowed up by BMW.

Speculation was instantly all over the early versions of the internet that the new Phantom was only going to be a BMW 7-series in a frock. But try as they might, ze Germanz couldn’t convince Rolls Royce to compromise on their flagship car. The Phantom would be 100% Rolls Royce… Except for the electronics. And the engine. And the i-Drive. The chassis, body and everything you touch is pure Rolls Royce though, and you really have to look very hard to find any BMW bits on it.
Originally the car was to be fitted with a monstrous 9.0L V16 engine developed especially for the Phantom. However, it was judged to be too thirsty and far too expensive when weighed up against a V12. A handful of the V16 engines were built though and 2 were in fact fitted to the pair of 100EX concept cars. One of the 100EX concept cars (Phantom Coupe) can be seen in the film Johnny English, brought in at special request by Rowan Atkinson. Rumour has it that after filming, he actually bought a special-order Phantom with the V16 engine. Whether that was the 100EX concept used in the film or not, I don’t know.



The Phantom almost doesn’t need gears
Although it may be missing a few cylinders and a big chunk of displacement, the six and three-quarter litre V12 is simply magnificent. Torque is instantly available and a smoother power delivery does not exist anywhere else in the known universe. With this much torque, you almost don’t need gears, but the Rolls still provides 6 in this version. Later facelift cars used the 8-speed version of the ZF gearbox. Whether you are inside or outside, the Rolls Royce is eerily silent. In fact the only way to tell if the engine is running or not is to look at the dashboard and see if the power reserve gauge is pointing at 100%!
That’s right, no vulgar rev counters for us. Henry Royce once said that the ultimate expression of luxury is having all the power you can imagine, and then not using it. Thus, the power reserve gauge tells you how little or how much of the engine’s power you still have in reserve. Give it horns and the V12 will show you just how much power it has though. Zero to 100kph is very undignified at just over 5 seconds. The car doesn’t encourage this kind of behaviour though.

To call the driving experience surreal is an understatement. The Phantom is probably the most anti-driver’s car I’ve ever driven, yet as a keen driver, it still manages to be endlessly impressive. The thin rim steering has no real feedback to speak of and is fairly lightly weighted. To say it floats or wafts might be the biggest cliché in the book, but there really is no other way to describe it. It simply doesn’t feel like it’s rolling on anything as crude as a rubber tyre on a tarmac surface. More like a luxury hovercraft, gliding on a cushion of air over a tranquil lake of Woolies Double Thick Cream. This is a car that redefines refinement.
you can easily lose a set of keys or a small child in there
This, being a Tungsten Edition from the Rolls Royce Bespoke Collection, also has ALL the toys thrown at it. The lush, lambs wool carpets are so thick you can easily lose a set of keys or a small child in there. In the back you have picnic tables with beautiful chrome hinges and Indian Rosewood finishes. Flip them over and you have a large display for watching movies whilst on the move. In the centre console you have adjustments for your rear seats and a fridge for your champagne. Don’t feel like bubbly? Well, there is also a drinks cabinet with RR Branded crystal glasses and decanters. Of course if you do feel like champagne, there are flutes provided in another fully lit compartment above the drinks cabinet. We don’t drink from the bottle like the proletariat, or gangster rappers, you know.



By far my favourite toy is the starlight headliner. With countless fibre optic cables in the roof, tiny points of light can be set to shimmer through the perforations in the leather roof lining. As much as it sounds like a cheap gimmick, the effect is actually quite beautiful and just further enhances the feel of the cabin.
Even though the Rolls Royce really is all about the interior, it’s worth mentioning the exterior too. In the metal the Phantom is an incredibly imposing sight. At least twice as big in real life as you expect it to be when looking at pictures. This car is HUGE. Every surface has a feel of solidity to it, and a level of detail and quality that you just don’t see in any other car. It really is an incredibly impressive piece of craftsmanship.
Despite its size, you never really feel like you are driving a bus. On the move the Rolls is very easy to place on the road and absolutely effortless to control. You only really notice its bulk when trying to park it in a space designed for a Fiat 500. A car which would quite possibly fit in the Phantom’s cavernous boot.




The Phantom offers a unique driving experience.
The Phantom truly offers a unique driving experience. Especially in this Tungsten Edition, not least because this is the ONLY Tungsten Edition Phantom in South Africa, and one of only 20 in the world. It is a car that simply beams with the pride of every single craftsman with a hand in its creation. A car that shows an attention to detail and quality like few others. A car that is almost universally loved wherever you go in it. It really is the Rolls Royce of luxury cars.




