Around the world: Rolls-Royce Ghost
The Rolls-Royce Ghost has been a global success for the brand. Photos: Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce revealed its all-new Ghost earlier this month, with it not only being its most technologically-advanced car but also “perfection in simplicity”.
Announced in 2009, the first-generation Ghost was slightly smaller than the flagship Phantom and more likely to be driven by its owners. It became the best-selling model in the marque’s 116-year history, and that long 11-year life cycle gave Goodwood plenty of time to plan this replacement. Clients asked for a little less ostentation and Rolls-Royce refers to this new philosophy as “post-opulence”.
Priced from NZ$490,230, Rolls-Royce expects the final price for the Ghost to be higher as the cars are bespoke with customer specifications adding to the final figure.
Now, some UK-based motoring media has had a chance to drive the Ghost. What did they think about it?
Top Gear
The Ghost is designed to be driven as much as it is to be driven in.
The British magazine and website gave it 8/10.
“Perhaps you’re struggling to identify this all-new Rolls-Royce Ghost from the outgoing car, but as ever, the team behind it has really sweated the details.
Not that anyone at R-R does anything as unseemly as perspire, but you get our drift. Apparently the only carry-over components from the first Goodwood-era Ghost are the Spirit of Ecstasy that sits at the prow of that vast bonnet, an elegant emissary from a distant postcode, and the umbrella that nestles within the B-pillars in that faintly Q-from-James Bond gadgety manner.
There is much to unpick here. More so even than the Phantom, this is the Rolls model that pushes the technology boundaries, introducing some cool new hardware in the search for the sweet spot that defines a car designed to be driven as much as it is to be driven in. (American and European owners tend to the former, Asian clients the latter.)
Then there’s the way it looks, an evolved aesthetic that’s as restrained as any car with a grille modelled on the Parthenon could ever be. Rolls calls it ‘post-opulent’, ‘limited, intelligent, and unobtrusive’. We’d say anti-bling.
More client-centric than most luxury good companies, Rolls’ ‘luxury intelligence unit’ has discovered that Ghost buyers don’t like dashboards festooned with a gazillion buttons, they think less is more (as long as what remains is seriously good), and they’re not snootily oblivious to a world in which a Swedish schoolgirl wields more influence than most politicians and a pandemic has ravaged the global economy.”
Autocar UK
The dashboard has the Ghost nameplate backed with little glowing stars.
Matt Prior gave it 4.5/5.
“This is quite a big car; at 5546mm long and 2148mm wide (including the mirrors), it’s a touch bigger than the old one. Not so differently sized inside, though, because there’s more insulation in the doors. But unsurprisingly, it's wide enough and long enough for tall occupants to sit behind tall occupants.
Tall drivers might find the B-pillar restricts visibility, mind, and optional blinds restrict rear passengers' views out too even when they’re retracted; if you want to be hidden, that’s the rub.
Some people want to be seen, others don’t. There are, I suppose, different types of luxury. And while the full-fat Rolls, the Phantom preferred by the world’s most exuberant high-rollers, is outlandish and extravagant and opulent in the extreme, Ghost buyers are – remember these things are relative – more discreet.
In Rolls terms, discreet means that there’s less obvious stitching on the leather and the Ghost does without the Phantom’s glass-fronted ‘gallery’ on the dashboard. Instead, there’s a rather sweet Ghost nameplate backed with little glowing stars. I promise that looks better than I’ve just made it sound.
Fit and finish are great and materials choice is terrific, too – although I wouldn’t object to analogue rather than digital dials. The metal air vents ting pleasingly, ambient lighting is artfully done and, well, the short of it is that, post-opulant or not, it’s a Rolls-Royce and you’ll find it very comfortable.
It's also very quiet. Fancy things have been tuned acoustically; the boot was a bit boomy, but opening up vent spaces cured that, and there’s 100kg of soundproofing in total (the Phantom has 130kg). But the important thing to know is that if you’re sitting in the back seat at motorway speeds, you can have a hushed conversation with the person in the front, because the loudest noise otherwise is their hands on the steering wheel. I wouldn’t mind if that were bigger and thinner of rim, more Phantom-like, but I’m being pernickety. You have to be.”
Robb Report
The Roll-Royce Ghost has a 6.75-litre V-12 engine.
“Under the surface, there’s all-wheel-drive to make the car more usable in the snow states, ski resorts and Russia; all-wheel steering to make it more nimble in cities; and a proudly unhybridised twin-turbo 6.75-litre V-12 engine, making 420kW but just as importantly, 850Nm driving through an eight-speed gearbox whose ratios you have no control over — because this is a Rolls-Royce.
All this is carried in a chassis based on Rolls’ proprietary “Architecture of Luxury” platform, shared with the new Phantom and Cullinan SUV. While other car-makers talk of cutting weight and piping engine sounds into the cabin, Rolls has stuffed the chassis with sound-deadening material, done its utmost to shut the engine out and analysed every component for its aural performance. Its engineers even aimed for a near-silent cabin, before realising that it would be weird, and settled for a single tuned “note” when in motion.
And as soon as you put it in motion, it’s clear that the brand’s efforts have paid off. This is another exceptional Rolls-Royce. Since that first BMW Phantom appeared, our notions of automotive refinement have been reset by near-silent EVs, but the new Ghost still feels serene. The engine is barely perceptible, even with the throttle wide-open (unseemly, we know).
The steering is a particular stand-out: Light but accurate and offering a gentle patter through the rim that tells you what’s happening below, it allows you to guide this 5.5-metre leviathan with confidence in both city traffic and when “pressing on”.”
