Which means probing more of the silent and mighty 6.8-litre V12's 453bhp. Revs are not an issue - there's no instrument to report them. Instead, you get the large Rolls-Royce power reserve meter. This swings around to 100 per cent when nothing's happening (full reserve, see?), and once you start dipping your toe into the water, it recedes - all the way back to zero at full-bore acceleration.

Even at a 70-plus cruise, it reads well above 90 per cent reserve, and what could be more comforting?

Back to the c-word. These changes in pursuit of sportiness will nibble away at the comfort. And although it can still reasonably claim to be a proper four-seater, the shorter wheelbase means that the Coupe doesn't have the slobbing-out space of a Phantom saloon. But comfort also means well-being, and the Coupe is certain to embalm anyone inside it in multiple layers of emotional comfort.

It makes life simple. There is, if you hunt for it under the armrest, an iDrive style controller that gets to navigation and a few other options. There is even - and the Coupe is the only one in the Phantom line to boast this - a sport button for the transmission. But no gearshift paddles, no multi-mode this or parameter that.

The Rolls way is to leave well alone and let the car do its thing. First, enjoy the simple cabin design - simple, but worked with endless effort and craftsmanship. Then fix your gaze out of the windscreen, down the bonnet, past the Spirit of Ecstasy and out to the journey beyond.

How could you not feel marvellous? Imagine this Phantom Coupe sitting at idle, fuel gauge pointing at F. What panoramic adventure that little dial promises. I want to jump straight in and head off as far as the road and the land go. To the wild coasts of Scotland's north. To the blue seas of Spain's south. To the mysterious lakes where Europe meets Asia. Via cities and mountains and endless empty plains. This is a car for the epic trips.

Of course, I can imagine it drawing silently up to the best restaurants in some posh part of town, tall and shiny and black. But I can imagine it all the better arriving at the same eateries caked in the dust of the road, grimy rainwater traces worming their way back along its haughtily chiselled flanks, flies spattering the Corinthian chrome grille.

The super-wealthy of all corners of the world are even now imagining a Phantom Coupe into their lives. Hundreds of them have placed orders, as far back as when it was just a concept - albeit, as we now know, one that was an uncanny lookey-likey for the real thing. Concept? Thinly disguised teaser more like.

For the moment, this pretty much completes the Phantom family. Rolls-Royce's next job is a smaller saloon - steel-bodied, unlike the aluminium Phantom line - to augment the range in 2009. Hmmm... a smaller car from the company that taught us to think big. Well, small is a relative term. It's still going to be BMW 7-Series plus.

In the meantime, here's the Coupe. A car that plays on a stage as wide as the heavens it represents inside its roof. A car with the stature to block out the sun. And it's comfortable with that.

Story by Paul Horrell

Photography by Ripley & Ripley