The Best Car in the World?

Is there such a thing as the ‘best car’? Ask any man on the street, and he’ll likely mention names like Ferrari or Lamborghini. Ask a hip teenager, and he’ll tell you he wants a Subaru Impreza WRX. Ask a working mother with three children in tow, and she’ll tell you that the best car is one big enough to carry the children and all her groceries with minimal fuel consumption. The term ‘best’ when applied to motorcars is a highly subjective term. What is best on the track may not suit public roads very well. What works well as a long distance cruiser may not work as well in the inner city. What is comfortable may not necessarily be fast enough for you. What is good enough in every other aspect may just not have enough street-cred for you!

Bearing every single factor in mind, the UK weekly automotive magazine Autocar has judged the current Rolls-Royce Phantom as the best car in the world! The grandfather of all luxury car makes has turned out what Autocar editor Rob Aherne describes as an all-encompassing drive. “The Rolls comes across as a brisk and involving driver’s car. From the rear seat, its comfort is peerless… nowadays the whole world sees it as special,” he says. Other competitors hat the Phantom edged out included the Bentley Continental Flying Spur and Mercedes S600.

Despite the rather staid image that many people associate with the brand, the Phantom has proven itself to be a versatile all round vehicle that will satisfy any driver’s instinct for speed while still offering the best in material luxury. A massive 6.8 litre V12 engine puts out 453bhp, with a zero to hundred km/h acceleration time of 5.7 seconds. You might think that the blocky shape of the Phantom will make it aerodynamically inefficient, but the engineers have sculpted every curve on the body to give the car a highly respectable drag coefficient of only 0.38, better than many run of the mill passenger saloons. The vehicle’s top speed is rated at 240km/h through a six speed gearbox. All this comes at a price though; the car’s urban fuel consumption figure is a thirsty 24.6 litres per 100km.

While boy racers will cling to their Lancer Evolutions and self styled playboys will hang on to their Ferraris, the Rolls-Royce Phantom is the best of luxury and speed. After all, retired Formula One driver Jean Alesi swears by his collection of Rolls-Royce automobiles, calling them ‘the most involving drive in a commercially available vehicle’. This coming from a person who has driven the world’s best racing cars surely has to count for something!

Credits: Lionel Kong