Rolling in style: A spin in the timeless Ghost

By Alan Douglas

March 3 2022, 6:00 am

The Rolls-Royce Ghost.

In a top ten list of the niggles in a modern car, the process of opening and closing the doors doesn’t figure highly.

Apart from the occasional annoyance of the door refusing to stay open, trapping your exiting leg on the sill, they’ve never proved much of a problem.

But one of the countless features in my latest test car has been a delight when I’ve been getting in and out.

A small button on the centre console closes the doors electronically, doing away with that awkward stretch.

But of course in a Rolls-Royce, everything is designed to make life comfortable, luxurious and simply splendid and, in the case of the doors, to allow what RR call “effortless egress”.

Mastering the art of opulence

I’ve just spent a delightful few days with the most technologically-advanced Rolls yet, the latest version of the Ghost which is the most successful model in the marque’s 118-year history.

This car has everything you could wish for, from its massive 6.75-litre twin-turbo V12 engine, pumping out the power of 563 horses with outstanding torque, to a starlight roof lining and a passenger-side fascia lit with 850 stars which gently twinkle at nightfall.

This is a car that epitomises the saying, ‘If you need to know the price, you probably can’t afford it’

It could be tacky and tasteless but RR have mastered the art of combining opulence with practicality and it feels right as you sink into the sumptuous heated and massaging leather seats while your feet settle on the thick lambswool carpets.

A word of warning though. This is not a car to have if you want to keep a low profile as it attracts attention – mostly admiring – from pedestrians and other motorists alike. When I called into a filling station to top up the 83 litre tank – that’s more than 18 gallons or about £130 worth of fuel – the attendant virtually ignored other customers to ask me about the “lovely” car.

This is a car that epitomises the saying, “If you need to know the price, you probably can’t afford it”. Like all new Rolls-Royces, there is no set price because what it will cost you depends on what you specify.

Effectively, each car is individual in that you can have whatever you want in it – at a price. The RR term is bespoke and that extended, in one case, to the customer who wanted his car to have a dashboard made from the wood of a tree which had been blown down on his estate.

So the test car has a price tag of “about” £320,000 but that figure is flexible and you could face a long wait for delivery as it is hand-built by the 2,000-strong workforce at the Goodwood headquarters in West Sussex.

Achieving design perfection

Pre-owned models – they’re not called “second hand” – are fetching a premium and find buyers quickly at the most northern of the seven dealerships in the UK.

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Edinburgh covers Scotland, Northern and Southern Ireland and part of the north of England, as required.

It came under new private ownership two years ago and is about to undergo a major makeover following RR’s new lifestyle identity to take account of the younger age range of its customers.

Alongside the RR business in Corstorphine Road, the former Specialist Cars showroom will become home to Aston Martin, moving from its present base in Sighthill, which will become a dealership for Ineos with the launch of the new Grenadier later this year.

Sales success continues

Business is booming with RR enjoying its most successful year ever in 2021, selling a total of 5,586 cars – a 49% increase over the year before.

They have to strike a balance between supplying demand while maintaining the brand’s exclusive image.

The Ghost was introduced 12 years ago as less ostentatious than the flagship Phantom and this latest version takes account of customer feedback.

It is effectively a brand-new car and the only components carried over from the original are the umbrellas, hidden in the structure of the doors, and the iconic Spirit of Ecstasy flying lady above the classic radiator grille.

The engineers and designers wanted to create a super luxury saloon representing perfection in design, engineering and craftsmanship and as enjoyable to drive, as to be driven in by a chauffeur.

The driver’s seat is the place to be, especially if you’ve forked out this sort of money. You wouldn’t want someone else to have all the fun but it does take a bit of getting used to the vast acreage of bonnet stretching out in front of you, topped off by the flying lady.

Along for the legendary ‘Magic Carpet Ride’

It’s longer and wider than the previous model with an aluminium spaceframe body in one clean, expansive piece, flowing from the A-pillar, over the roof to the rear of the car, recalling the seemingly one-piece coachbuilt Silver Dawn and Silver Cloud models of the past.

The suspension has been changed to allow the huge V12 engine to be placed
behind the front axle for optimum 50/50 weight distribution.

For the first time in a production car, continuously variable, electronically-controlled shock absorbers and self-levelling air struts are used to enhance the Rolls’ legendary “Magic Carpet Ride”.

On the main routes it cruised effortlessly and the only issue was keeping the big beast within the national speed limit. Ruts, potholes and uneven surfaces were swept aside with barely a whimper.

The car also has four-wheel drive and all-wheel steering for manoeuvrability and surefootedness. It proved to be superbly capable as I negotiated some white back roads coated with fresh snow and even with the stacks of power under the right foot it was completely well-behaved and solid as a rock on the bends.
When appropriate, the acceleration is stunning and effortless, flinging this ., two-and-a-half-tonne machine to 60 mph in just over four and a half seconds..

There’s more than 100kg of acoustic damping materials in the doors, roof, between the double-glazed windows, inside the tyres and within nearly all of the car’s structure.

It’s the attention to detail that makes a Rolls-Royce such a special car

As you’d expect, regardless of any bespoke fittings, the Ghost comes with LED and laser headlights, day and night-time wildlife and pedestrian warning, alertness assistant, a four-camera system with panoramic view, all-round visibility and helicopter view and active cruise control.

All this plus collision, cross-traffic and lane departure warning, a high-resolution head-up display, Wi-Fi hotspot, self-park, and a sophisticated navigation system.

But one of the cleverest features of all is on the centre caps of each of the four wheels. They don’t rotate – instead they are on bearings so the logo is always the right way up.

It’s that sort of attention to detail that makes a Rolls-Royce such a special car and the latest Ghost is carrying on that century-old tradition.