2018 Rolls Royce Phantom full review and road test 

A REAL petrolhead driving the new Phantom and not one of the many BS supercar channels. Last week you drove a Miura and now this. Please Harry keep this up. Your channel is absolute gold. That is a FACT, not an opnion!!!!!!!!!!

Harry could actually own one of these if he wanted to, so his perspective is more critical than that of most automotive journalists, who tend to be overwhelmed by the car. His observation that the new Phantom's ride is not as good as his old-model Rolls mirrors my experience in the current Jaguar XJ. My old (2001) XJR rides substantially better. The culprit on the new-generation luxury cars is big wheels wearing very low profile tires. Tires play a vital role in absorbing road impacts, and low-profile tires are lousy at doing this. But they are the fashion and appearances are important in this market. In his speed bump segment Harry is underwhelmed, which makes me wonder how well the car's road-detecting cameras actually prepare the suspension for upcoming irregularities. On the back roads there seems to be no evidence of the nav system anticipating upcoming hills and turns and shifting gears accordingly. At least, Harry didn’t mention it. He did, however, comment that the suspension's travel limits were easily reached, a bit of a surprise. And rather shockingly, on the freeway the car wouldn’t track straight - the steering needed constant correction. This is a mortal sin for any luxury car, and unacceptable for this one. On the plus side, the Phantom's presence is unmatched in the industry. The quality of materials and construction suit the price. The manufacturer extracts amazing fuel efficiency without compromising performance. In the back seat . . . Harry should know that a limo passenger always sits on the curb side. That is why the front passenger seat can be moved out of the way. Space seems adequate for the standard-wheelbase car, but no more. The necessary amenities are in place without going overboard as Mercedes do with the Merc-Maybach. The on-screen entertainment/navigation features are the most sophisticated I’ve seen on any car. I’ve learned more about this car from Harry's review than from all the other reviews combined. He demystifies the Phantom and evaluates it as a car, not as a Rolls. Once again Harry comes through for us non-wealthy motorheads.

Nice to see someone giving it the stick rather than just saying how amazing it is.

Are Rolls Royce cars looking more and more Thunderbirds lately? I keep expecting Parker to jump out and open a door for Lady Penelope :p

You are dressed to match the car- nice touch!

Harry love the honesty of your reviews thanks

Having my morning tea while watching Harry's latest.... ☕️

Thats why i like Harry, he's honest in the reviews. Even in a 2018 RR, things might not be that perfect.

The Shadow for me! That BMW Royce is not for native Brits, better suited to China and Kuwait! As vulgar as Kojak wearing a curly blond wig!

Great video - love your down to earth style for what is clearly not a down to earth car.....would love a ride in one but generally eyuk!...I'd rather have a top spec Range Rover at half the price....

in Harry's admirable gentleman way He described the car truthfully but delicately..it appears that there were to many facets of this boat that did not impress Harry..a beautiful car..but i do not think this is a car Harry would really want...as always..Harry is a class act...

As a citizen of the U S of A, I would just like to thank you, for taking me along for a fantastic 'tour', in a wonderful vehicle/conveyance. I have just one concern. I am an amputee. When I was fourteen years old, I was involved in a traffic accident, that resulted in me losing my left leg, and damage to my right knee, that seriously impaired/reduced, the 'flexion' in that knee. In your video, when you are sitting in the rear seat, it looks like you don't really have a great deal of legroom. Is it possible to increase the rear seat legroom from the rear seat?

Build quality looks superb as to be expected but it's not elegant like a Rolls should be.

Great, honest, well-judged review. Car sounds pretty noisy on the video though. Might be worth experimenting with a sound setup that makes the cars seem on video as loud (or quiet) as they seem to you.

Was just rewatching Testarossa to Sahara video when this popped out. Thanks Harry!

The finest BMW ever made ;)

Amazing video as always. Really surprised at the ride, finally a reviewer who is fully honest and uses real life tests on every review. Keep up the videos.

That size comparison between the old and new RR was really impressive.

I'm amazed this Phantom's suspension doesn't beat the Citroën hydropneumatic suspension of your Silver Shadow. The tech used in the Silver Shadow is over 60 years old!

I much more enjoyed this review of the Phantom than the silly goose Mr. Demuro did.

It would be interesting to see what it’s like against a Bentley Mulsanne

WOW!!! This car is $796,238 Canadian + 13% sales tax or $570,805 U.S.+ 8% sales tax in California.

Mega - surely the only review that counts!

Great video for a great car. However, that interior spec is horrendous!

Harry is just a baller make no mistake. From caning his own Ferrari leaving from his boat to driving through Spain on vintage Honda Africa bikes the man is awesome.

I love the way how you present cars... it's very professional!

A great car...but this spec and in particular the interior choice is absolutely dreadful. Each to their own I suppose.

If I'm right, your old roller had Citroen hydraulic suspension. Still unbeaten for ride.

An amazing car, incredibly expensive, while at the same time having no appeal whatsoever to me.

It's nice enough but £468,000. That is proper madness. I wonder what the depreciation is like?

Last night I was searching for a review of this car. Only to find the one by Shmee150(not my favorite review by shmee. Then to wake up and on my feed see that my favorite subject from the Kingdom has posted a review 5 minutes ago... He'll yea brother!

I will be keeping my 1962 Silver Cloud, thank you. It is now worth twenty times what I paid for it, rides beautifully and has more power than I need. It too has self opening and closing doors, bonnet and boot, since I do it myself. I am sure the modern Rolls Royces are wonderful motorcars, but the Clouds have a style never seen before or since. My Rolls Royce was made in England by English engineers and craftsmen, not German CAD fitters and mechanics. Biased? Yes. Would I purchase a new Phantom if I could afford one? No. My Cloud does everything the new Phantom can do, but without the unnecessary James Bond gimmicks.

My favourite part of the video, 11:10 whenever I face a problem I'm just going to say "Oh my Lord this is narrow" in Harry's voice

Interesting comment about the need to constantly correct the steering. Have noticed this on supposed prestige BMWs, and also an irritating suspension jiggle on the latest S-Class Mercedes. I think some car manufacturers need to go and drive your '69 Shadow or an XJ6 to remind themselves (if it's something they've ever experienced) of the feeling of luxuriously being wafted along. I'm afraid, nothing else compares.

I still reckon the best Rolls Royce design was the Silver Cloud of the 50's,beautiful from nose to tail.

Not sure how many drivers sit down in a Roller and start talking about 4 point racing harnesses! Love your insight and content Harry. Great stuff as always. Glad you are going for quality over quantity. Makes each one something to savour. What an exquisite motor car, even if not a perfect one. Some aspects of the looks are maybe not me, but then as I'm not the target audience, that probably means it's perfect for purpose! As a piece of art and craftsmanship and just for the lunacy of it all - wow.

Awesome review, had me laughing when you said "it's alright" about the ride😂👍🏼

I hope it's the audio of the vid that's exaggerating the Clicks and clunks of the self closing mechanisms of the doors and locks...BenzW140 v12 from 3 decades ago didn't click and clunk like that... £500k. .car Must hv Silent mechanisms..apart from the Indicators. .

First and last time someone said Fiat 500 and Rolls Royce Phantom in the same sentence.

Still doesn't take speed bumps anywhere near as good as a 60 year old Citroen DS... but throw away the stupid run-flats and it might... I'll bet all the shimmies and bumps would disappear on a set of standard tyres.

Even though i'll never own one , to me that interior is quite tacky..the best thing is they've copied the silver Countdown souvenir clock from the tv show...

Speed bumps are usually in 20 mph zones. If you were keeping to the speed limit, you should hardly have felt the bumps in the Phantom

Finally an honest review of the new Phantoms ride, with great video shots of vehicle movement. Other reviews just don't seem realistic with just too many superlatives describing the "magic carpet ride", great review Harry.

Hitting those speed bumps at nearly 25mph... Give it half a chance Harry lol. I'm usually in the low teens to avoid ripping my splitter off.

Thanks Harry.....when I win the lottery...ha ha ha

Looks like riding around in an over priced Bouncy Castle - Emperor's Clothes for inadequate fools

In conclusion, run-flat tyres are still rubbish. Easy enough to replace them with proper tyres I guess.

Can you treat us to a Mercedes S class sometime, A 2012 type would be a delight. I would like to hear what you think of one and how it comes up against its sort of rivals in the land of limos.

hushness,waftiness..very British..love it

Noise when closing the door is not acceptable! Car on the navigation display don't match. Steering wheel is numb and needs adjusting as you go along,that is also failure.

Not very often I get to click on the first video that pops up, love harry garage never missed a vid, keep it up!

The Phantom is what happens when you try to combine British understatement with German gründlichkeit in order to satisfy an Arab market. The car lost all the grace and finesse it used to have. They might better replace the Spirit of Extacy with Venus of Willendorf.

Ye Gods, Harry's Garage is the best automotive "programme" available anywhere. Amazon should have signed him up instead of the The Three Amigos.

I love Harry's reviews and have been a keen follower. Personally though I cannot get my head around these modern Rollers in regards to their styling, they are literally a shed/brick on wheels. If it wasn't for the size of the wheels the vehicle would be about as charismatic as a block of flats...! In years past, car design particular the front end was all about the arrangement of radiator/ headlights/grill. These days headlight design has been banished to nothing more than a 'strip' on the front, looking like the vehicle has had the rear end light clusters put on the front. These modern Rollers in no way have the grace and any styling of RR of old. To say this vehicle was inspired by Campbell's 30s RR is a bit far fetched, even if it's just the colour! Car design has lost so much in recent years, all the 'grace with pace' in styling has been replaced by a form of 'brutalism' on wheels...

Harry can you please review the new rolls royce cullinan

It just doesnt look like a $1M car. They are so overpriced now. I’d rather an S63 or S65 over this.

Looks silly. The older RR has class and style.

Was wondering why in the world he didn't use a clip on mic - the audio level for his voice is terrible, especially inside the car where one would expect less car and road noise. I gave up on the video because of the audio levels.

Thanks Harry! But my gosh it's fugly!

Why does everyone add 'of torque' after the words 'pounds foot'? It cannot be anything other than torque. We don't save 500 brake horse power of power, do we?

Again, not really feeling the interior on this one. Looks very late 90s/early 00s to me, especially with that wood and leather colour.

Sadly , it has lost its class rating . Made now for Middle East and Asian market .... not known for their style , or class !

This probably is the first, honest and unbiased review I've seen on the new Phantom. All the other so called motor journalists seem to just have jumped on the hype train. Love your videos. Keep it up Harry.

One ugly car, but I guess when you are rich, taste can go out of the window. Look at high end watches!!

Start of Summer is 7 weeks away ;)

Hi Harry! Great review as ever! How does the ride comfort compare to the German luxury cars?!?

Great review, Harry. But, not my kind of car (esp at 468k)...too much high-cost and complicated frippery. Powered doors, tray tables and screens? The Gallery? Starlight headliner? No, thanks. The active ride control should be more proactive and controlled, too much lean in corners. And, why does BMW/Rolls insist on run-flat tires plus the extra engineering to compensate for them? Think of the replacement cost (peasant thinking, here). Really odd.... On another note: are you planning any more car or bike trips to the south of France? Those videos were incredible...

Why is the power so low? For a 6.75l V12 twin turbo it isn't even 600bhp?

Don’t you realize you are sitting in a car that was mostly built in Germany!! Engine, frame, and all metal work! This very fake car was then shipped to England to be passed off as a British built car! BMW only built factories in Germany and England to build a generic car, and paid a lot of money to put a name on it!! RIP RR 1904-1998.

An early 2000s, dealer-sorted XJR, is a nicer car I think. A Vanden-Plas if you can find one. Import from USA maybe. Air-suspension, LWB and 500bhp. Modded with rear screens and WiFi, and it`s still gazillions cheaper than this.

"If you've got more mates you get this version" Let me guess. The other versions sells better.

Harry, put a rubber seal around the garage doors, that clattering in the background is annoying.

The Phantom appears to be designed and optimized for the Chinese market.

A strange question - What are Rolls like with stone chips with that flat front end ？

The best car on earth by a mile.

No mention of the Renault Velsatis at 11:52 Harry. Also, surely on a whispering luxury land yacht where no regard for kerb weight is made it should be EV? EV would be perfect here.

Anyone else get excited about the Renault Vel Satis at 11:51?

If you were to assign words to vehicles, this one would bear the word "cock".

only harry would rag a 500,000 rolls round county roads haha

I can just hear above the noise of the car, £460,000? I think not.

For Sheiks, Drug Dealers and Pimps $$$$

The rear curtain option, those adjustable floorboards and the Star light roof, now with “shooting stars” are my must have options. Black outside with stainless bonnet and orange leather with black carpets. Standard wheel base is more than enough. Personally I’d have a Wraith here in the US.

Great video as always but god it’s an ugly looking car all round

Once you have one of these for a while, everything else will seem a bit naff

Love you heaps Harry. I wonder how a Citroen C6 would have performed in your ultimate ride test on the same route?

Yawn, why is this thing in existence, and please spare me the faux "if you can't afford it" nonsense

Noticed straight away that you had to make constant steering corrections to navigate it down the road. Seems to wobble like a big jelly . After trying to get used to Rolls Royces current Phantom design language for a few years I still find it to be about as pretty as a Alvis Tactica.):

Another excellent review and points on the ride quality of that machine were appreciated. Too easy to be enraptured by the fine touches. The star headliner isn't my preference, bit too theatrical. Hopefully they will get battery models perfected for long road trips.

On the video there seems to be a lot of road noise, yet you say it's hushed. Is this just a quirk of your microphones. When you listen back does it seem noisier than reality to you? In the Autocar video road and engine noise were inaudible.

Ride on run-flats is disgraceful. Massive error putting run-flats on such a car

Harry, you would make a great Top Gear presenter!

Refer to own a silver shadow from the 1980's.The phantom too big and has too many electronics . Honest review.

I really appreciate the production of your videos, Harry. Beyond your comments, which are always interesting, the effort you put into filming your videos and putting them together is just top. I'd love to hear your thoughts on 4 person travel with performance...perhaps a bentley v maserati, v ?

This is a proper review, there are those that try to be overly theatrical or pander to a manufacturer. I like Harry’s reviews, his reviews are incredibly relatable and seemingly independent of any influence. I hope he continues to do many more !!!

None of my comments ever get a like. M.

The indicator's a bit noisy. Not having one.

*Pedestrian safety standards? What pedestrians? Peasants...*

I had a huge laugh when harry said: "first world problems" in a god damn RR.

Harry, when did you start driving a house?

Harry..all the buttons are confusing & the computer system is a nightmare! What do expect from an overgrown BMW 7 Series!! LOL