Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupé

I spent a morning earlier this month at Goodwood poring over the new Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupé and found myself coveting it like no Rolls since the Ghost. It’s the best proportioned of the now three-strong Rolls line-up and with its low roofline and tiny rear screen has a raffish quality of which Terry Thomas would have been truly proud. If anyone ever decided to remake Monte Carlo or Bust, the bad guys would have to hang out in one of these.

While I was there I asked it to be parked next to a Phantom saloon which, in retrospect, was a mistake. I’ve never liked the looks of the big Rolls but never has it looked more awkward, ostentatious and dated than with the gorgeous Coupé alongside it. Indeed the only bum note I could find in the car was an inclusion on the steering wheel of a ‘Sport’ button. Such things may be required in a Porsche, desirable in a Ferrari and acceptable even in a Bentley, but never in a Rolls-Royce. Whatever next? A rev-counter?