The words “Rolls-Royce” and “cheap” don’t usually belong in the same sentence together, especially when “Phantom” is also present.
But in Tyler Hoover’s case, all three words can coexist in a sentence because the man from the Hoovies Garage YouTube channel has just bought America’s cheapest Rolls-Royce Phantom for $80,000. Obviously, that’s a lot of money but for a Phantom it isn’t much.
This particular car had a base price of $320,000 in 2005, while a new Phantom can set you back more than half a million dollars in 2018. So yes, $80,000 seems a low price considering what the car cost when it was new.
But while the huge depreciation worked in Hoover’s favor, maintaining the Phantom may turn out to be a costly affair, especially since the warranty is long gone.
The car has a few faults, the most alarming of which is the adaptive air suspension error that appears on the instrument panel at startup. It disappears after a while, but the prospect of having to replace air suspension components on a Phantom is not one to look forward to.
There are issues with the early version of the iDrive infotainment system as well: the screen flickers and sometimes the satellite navigation just won’t work. Oh, and there’s another warning message for the power window initialization.
Fortunately, there seem to be more pros than cons as the Phantom appears to be in a general good shape: the 6.75-liter V12 engine works just fine, all the switchgear is functional, and the Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament still goes into hiding at the push of a button. Here’s hoping Hoover won’t regret this extravagant purchase given that he financed it with a $70,000 loan and relies on income from YouTube to cover the monthly loan payments.