A Rolls-Royce Phantom is the ultimate modern luxury car. To drive one - or rather, be driven in one - is a sign to the world of your affluence, a showy but tasteful display of immense wealth and success with a dash of self-importance. The Phantom is at the tip-top of the food chain, for the one percent's one percent.
When it comes to price, simply put: if you have to ask, you can't afford it. Though, if you were wondering, the current Phantom starts at an eye-watering $550,000 before any of Rolls' thousands of extremely pricey options.
To put that amount of money into context, we've put together a list of 15 genuinely good and interesting cars that you could buy all for the cost of a single Rolls-Royce Phantom "base" model. And while this collection may be a little bit more Hoovie's Garage than Jay Leno's Garage, it still contains a wide variety of different kinds of cars that you'd want to have in a 15-car strong collection.
16 The Supercar: 2011 Audi R8 V10 Spyder Manual ($120,000)
If you're spending over half a million dollars on a car collection, it should include at least one mid-engine exotic. A pre-owned first-generation Audi R8 V10 Spyder ticks so many supercar boxes that it presents a seriously good value against its rivals. It has a lovely naturally-aspirated V10, Quattro all-wheel drive, a quality cabin you want to spend time in, 37,000 feet of headroom, and best of all, you can get it with a 6-speed gated manual. Perfection.
15 Fast Family Car: 2015 Mercedes-AMG E63 Wagon ($68,000)
A fast supercar is great, but sometimes you need to carry more people than just yourself and one other lucky person and still go fast. For years now, the ideal solution to this has been the Mercedes-AMG E63 wagon. This 2015 model has a 577 horsepower 5.5l twin-turbo V8 and 15.9 cubic feet of trunk space.
It seats 5 people comfortably and can haul them all, plus a trunk full of leather shorts and a collection of rare Scorpions memorabilia to 60 miles per hour in around 3.3 seconds. What more could you ever need?
14 The Daily: 2018 VW Golf R ($34,000)
A supercar and a fast wagon are both great vehicles to have in your collection, but for daily driving duties their size and fuel consumption would become very annoying, very quickly. The solution is to get a simple cheap hatchback, but this hatchback has to share garage space with an R8 and an E63 wagon, so it had better be good.
Luckily, the 2018 Golf R is very good. Its clever all-wheel drive and 292-horsepower 2.0l turbo-4 make this the fastest and best-handling Golf ever, and until the MK8 launches Stateside, it is the most capable VW you can buy.
13 Classic Luxury: 1970s Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow ($30,000)
You read that heading correctly: classic Rolls-Royce Silver Shadows can be had for around $30,000 in good condition. For essentially the price of a well-optioned Civic, you can have one of Rolls' most popular and beloved cars throughout its history. Classic styling, two comfortable leather bench seats, a dash trimmed in real, hand-carved wood and Rolls' buttercream-smooth "six and three-quarter liter" V8 under the hood.
12 Classic Roadster: 1970s Triumph TR6 ($20,000)
Continuing the classic British theme, the next car in the collection should be a 1970s Triumph TR6. It's one of the most iconic British sports cars from the height of their popularity, and it provides one of the best classic British sports car experiences short of an E-Type Jag - oil leaks and all. The TR6 is gorgeous, its inline-6 puts out modest power and it handles well for a car of its age. For around $20,000 for a good one, it deserves its place in this collection.
11 JDM Legend: Mazda RX-7 FD ($40,000)
It would have been easy to list a MK4 Supra as the "JDM legend" for this collection, but prices for those things are skyrocketing out of control and it can be a real chore to find the right one. It's a similar story for the FD RX-7, but to a lesser extent. Its twin-turbo rotary engine can be a chore to maintain, but this is very much a car that's worth all the headaches.
10 Drop-top Cruiser: 2002 Mercedes SL 500 ($20,000)
Despite it being a 2-seat, an open-top car with a V8, the SL 500 is less a sports car and more a date night car. It's a big, comfortable cruiser with classic Mercedes styling and build-quality, perfect for a long drive with your favorite passenger. Its 5.0l engine puts out a modest 302 horsepower through a 5-speed automatic transmission. It'll do 0-60 in 5.8 seconds and on to a limited top speed of 155 miles per hour.
9 V8 Sled: B-Body Chevy Impala SS ($8,000)
The B-Body Impala SS from the mid-90s is a true modern classic muscle car. It was a three-year run special edition to send off the B-Body chassis, badged as an Impala SS, and completely overhauled under the skin. It had a 5.7l V8 making 260 horsepower, 4-speed auto, and lower, stiffer suspension for better handling. Its big interior and staunch reliability also make it a great family road trip car.
8 Vintage Muscle: 1971 AMC Javelin SST ($25,000)
As time goes on, the definition of "classic" continues to change. Now, cars as recent as the 1990s are being considered "classics," and what used to be "classic" is now "vintage." With that out of the way, the vintage muscle car of choice for this collection is a 1971 AMC Javelin SST.
It's unique in that it isn't the typical vintage Mustang or Camaro, but it can still hold its own against its more popular rivals. It also looks fantastic, and its 360 cu. in. V8 sings the same familiar tune of raw, unrefined American iron.
7 Track Toy: Cheap Mazda Miata + Track Mods ($10,000)
A cheap Miata is one of the best places to start to build your own track toy. The NB model (1997-2005) seems to be the most affordable MX-5s at the moment, and modifications to make them track-focused are plentiful and cheap. Coilovers, brakes, tires, and a freer-flowing exhaust and intake are really all you'd need to start out, and as your track driving experience grows, you can further modify your Miata to suit. For around $10,000 for a good car and mods, it's hard to find a better track toy than this.
6 Toy Hauler: 2001 Ford F-350 7.3l Powerstroke ($17,000)
What good is it having a collection of great cars if you don't have something you can use to haul them around without having to rely on a car transporter service? While this early-2000s F-350 isn't the biggest pickup you could buy, the amount of towing power and dependability you get for your money with the 7.3l Powerstroke diesel V8 is hard to argue with. Factor in a few grand more for a flatbed trailer and you'll have a perfect toy hauler.
5 Unstoppable SUV: 2013 Lexus LX 570 ($50,000)
The "Lexus Land Cruiser" is one of the most underrated luxury SUVs on the market today. These trucks have all the same robust off-road capability and legendary reliability as a Land Cruiser, but with the comfort and luxury features you'd expect from a Lexus. $50,000 may seem steep for a 7-year-old SUV, but LX 570s often come up slightly cheaper than equivalent used Land Cruisers, and you get more luxury for your money.
4 Classic SUV: 1990s Land Rover Defender ($60,000)
Classic SUVs are starting to become the latest hot commodity for car collectors. One look at the values of old Jeep Wagoneers, old Land Cruisers, and old Defenders will show you just how much money these things can fetch. Despite Defenders being old, slow and not the most reliable machines, they're loaded with character and off-road capability, if you're willing to take that kind of risk with one of these.
3 Adventure Van: 1992 Mitsubishi Delica Star Wagon ($12,000)
The final off-roader in the collection should be one of these delightfully weird Japanese mega-vans. The Delica Star Wagon runs on a 2.5l turbodiesel 4-cylinder with four-wheel drive, big tires, and raised ride height over a regular Delica, plus all the lights and bull bars required for an Overlanding adventure vehicle.
Inside, the van has three rows of seats and can fit up to 8 people. You'll have to live with right-hand drive, but there's a surprising following in North America for these JDM vans, so finding one shouldn't be too hard.
2 Three-Wheeled Curiosity: 2020 Vanderhall Venice ($29,000)
There may be better ways to spend $29,000, but a hand-built, open-top classically-styled roadster with a beautiful interior and a modern turbo engine sound pretty appealing. You do have to sacrifice one of the usual four wheels you'd get on a sports car, but the Vanderhall Venice makes up for its lack of rubber by being one of the most unique and engaging driving experiences money can buy (like most three-wheelers), and even for a brand-new model, you don't need that much to buy one.
1 Some Cash Leftover: 1970s Fiat 124 Spider ($7,000)
You did it. You built your 15-car collection for the price of a brand new Phantom and you still have a few grand lying around burning a hole in your pocket. Why not just buy another car? Classic Fiat 124 Spiders are great fun machines, if a little bit mechanically fiddly. They're easy to find used, there are tons of them out there for cheap and they make great wrenching projects. What's one more project car, right?