Room temperature ionic liquids (RTIL) are increasingly being studied as advanced lubricants due to inherent properties such as thermal stability, low volatility, and non-flammability. While traditional lubricants are being optimized by additive technology, researched RTILs have generally been additive-free due to a lack of miscible additives. Recently, new RTILs have been designed for improved solvency of synthetic lubricant additives. In this work, RTIL samples based on tetralkylphosphonium cations have been evaluated. They are halogen-free and hydrophobic to minimize corrosion. Five RTILs were evaluated in a steel-steel tribotest where the results showed excellent tribological performance for RTILs with friction modifying and anti-wear additives designed for synthetic lubricants. These novel RTILs combined with additives demonstrate high potential as advanced lubricants due to their persistent nature in combination with excellent tribological performance.