Rolls-Royce Phantom VII

Start with what the Rolls-Royce Phantom VII is: a 4-door saloon / 2-door cabriolet / 2-door coupé with 6.75&nbsp, built from 2003 to 2016, in the decade of stability control, dual-clutch gearboxes and the first serious hybrids. What it meant takes a little longer. The shape is credited to Marek Djordjevic (exterior: 1999) / Charles Coldham (interior). 10,327 were built.

The background

The Rolls-Royce Phantom is a full-sized luxury saloon car made by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. Launched in 2003, it was the first Rolls-Royce developed and introduced after BMW purchased the right to use the Rolls-Royce name and logo in 1998. It was the seventh Rolls-Royce design to use the Phantom nameplate. It is credited with successfully reviving the Rolls-Royce brand and restoring Rolls-Royce's reputation as a maker of luxury cars.

The Phantom Drophead Coupé and Phantom Coupé are two-door derivatives of the Phantom launched in 2007 and 2008, respectively. From 2003 until the launch of the smaller Ghost in 2009, the Phantom was the only car produced by Rolls-Royce. The Phantom acted as the company's flagship model but was less exclusive than all previous Phantoms (none of which surpassed 600 per year). Production of the car ceased in January 2017, with the Rolls-Royce Phantom VIII launching later that year.

The engineering

The engine is 6.75&nbsp. On the scales it comes to 2550 -. Drive goes through a 6-speed ZF 6HP transmission / 6HP32 Automatic transmission / automatic (Series I models) / 8-speed ZF 8HP / 8HP70 automatic (Series II models). The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 3570 mm (SWB) / 3820 mm (EWB). These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.

Where it sits

In the Rolls-Royce line-up the Rolls-Royce Phantom VII has a clear place: it replaced the Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph; it handed the line to the Rolls-Royce Phantom VIII; the factory was West Sussex, England (Goodwood plant), United Kingdom. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Bentley Continental GT, the Mazda Mazda3, the Mazda RX-8. Its Rolls-Royce stablemates include the Rolls-Royce 100EX and the Rolls-Royce 102EX.