| Entering the LWB Phantom is just the same as with the normal car except that the longer rear door and larger aperture makes it even easier. Although the rear-hinged ‘suicide’ door of the standard car is unique amongst contemporary cars, once you try it, you realize that this traditional way of hinging the rear door actually provides a more comfortable entry and exit, because you go in head first and turn around to sit once inside the car.
It is a more natural way of doing things than the contemporary, sometimes uncomfortable, and often undignified act of putting one leg in to steady yourself as you clear the rear wheelarch, sit down, and then swing your other leg in, especially if you are a lady wearing a short skirt or a gentleman with a hat.
Once ensconced in any of the comfortable seats, your chauffeur can close the door, which secures itself with silent power-assisted locks or you can push the auto-closing button on the inside of the C-pillar.
From the plush rear compartment, you cannot detect when the powerful V12 comes alive, and the first inkling that there is anything happening under the bonnet is when your driver pulls away from the kerb. In this case however, it is tempting to say it gets underway, in the boating idiom, because the experience is so much like a superyacht pulling away from its berthing. Unlike a yacht, or indeed any aircraft, the level of mechanical noise in the rear of the Phantom LWB is almost non-existent.
Ride imperfections are for lesser vehicles. In the Rolls-Royce Phantom, road shocks are effectively filtered out by the self-leveling air suspension, whose computer controls ensure that progress remains smooth and level. This state-of-the-art suspension shrugs off bad road surfaces, helping to keep the cabin environment stable and serene.
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