According to Rolls Royce, the Phantom VIII is the greatest car in the world. Once inside of it, it’s hard to argue that, to be honest. The amount of luxury and build quality on the inside of a Phantom is simply mind-blowing. Though, there aren’t many people in the world who can afford to enjoy one on a regular basis. So Top Gear decided to find out what it’s like to live like someone who can afford a Rolls Royce Phantom. A Russian Oligarch maybe? They seem to be rather influential, these days.

In this new video, Top Gear’s Rowan Horncastle and Ollie Marriage embark on a journey from London to Courchevel to do some skiing. To get there, they take a Rolls Royce Phantom and try and find out which seat is better to be in for the trip; the driver’s seat or the back seat.

With Rowan in the back and Ollie as the chauffeur, they test the Rolls’ ride, amenities and even it’s handling. In the back seat, the Rolls Royce Phantom is absurdly wonderful. With leather seats that would shame posh furniture in comfort, enough legroom to fit a small elephant and even two places to store beverages. As Rowan puts it, whiskey in the day time and champagne to celebrate buying an island later. It really is lavish in the back of a Rolls.

But as Chauffeur Ollie finds out, it’s not too shabby up front either. Driving a Rolls is a very unique experience. It doesn’t feel much like you’re driving it, more like you’re piloting it. It’s calm and serene and has this yacht-like quality about it. But that’s not an insult, as it would be when describing a Lexus. It’s yacht-like in the sense that your inputs tend to be slower and deliberate, you sort of suggest it go in a certain direction and then it does, gracefully. And then there’s the fact that the front seat is almost as luxurious as the back and features some wonderful touches, like the Art Gallery dashboard.

At the end of the journey, they both come to realize that there’s no bad seat in the Rolls Royce Phantom. It’s an astonishing achievement in luxury and, in the world of luxury cars, the very best car in the world.

[Source: Top Gear]