Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupé: car review | Martin Love

It may be the ne plus ultra of automotive sophistication, but a long weekend in this Roller will put you into a head spin

Price: 367,632
Top speed: 149mph
0-60mph: 5.6 seconds
MPG: 19.2

It's a dark and blustery Saturday evening in Whitstable and they've shut the pretty high street to turn on the Christmas lights. The problem is I'm on the wrong side of the closure. I decide to chance my luck and nudge the big Rolls-Royce I am driving up to the barricade. A steward appears at my window, but before I utter a single word he rushes to the barrier and raises it, and then ushers me through with a "Sorry to keep you, sir!" I smile awkwardly and give him a weird little salute. Silently I purr up the car-free street. The pavements are filled with expectant shoppers, muffled against the cold, and as I pass they wave and gawp. You could get used to this.