Rolls-Royce Reviews

While some might have been sceptical about the wisdom - and the inherent beauty - of Rolls-Royce building its first ever SUV, the Cullinan, its customers were not. They can't buy enough of them, in fact, and hence there is now a new Series II version for them to slap their huge mounds of cash down on. We went to Ibiza to give it a twirl.

Charles Rolls, one of the founders of Rolls-Royce, predicted that electric vehicles would one day be the gold standard of motoring, back in 1900, and it's taken just 123 years for his company to nail the brief with its first EV, the Spectre, a spectacular combination of beauty and power on wheels. So, with the company pledging to be fully electric by 2030, does the Spectre succeed?

If you're looking for the most affordable way into a new Roll-Royce, the next-generation Ghost has arrived, whether one wishes to drive, or be driven.

Damien Reid road tests and reviews the Rolls-Royce Dawn with specs, fuel consumption and verdict at its international launch in South Africa

Paul Gover road tests and reviews the Rolls-Royce Ghost with specs, fuel consumption and verdict.

Why drive when you can be driven? With its Ghost EWB, Rolls-Royce is appealing to the chauffeured classes.The hotel driveway is crammed with cars that catch the eye: Maseratis and Bentleys, lots of Mercedes and BMWs. And one Rolls-Royce. It's outnumbered, but commands the forecourt with an effortless patrician air. Not to mention colossal presence. This could be a hotel anywhere, of course, because luxury cars speak a universal language of affluence.But in China, where this gathering happens to be, it's a snapshot of a moment before its wealthy buyers became the most influential. When taste was still determined by the West. In a few years, after the elite in the world's largest market have worked their purchasing magic, this forecourt will have changed.The rich are different from you and me, and China's rich are different again. They like limousine-length vehicles. They prefer to be chauffeured and their self-esteem is measured in legroom and long bonnets. Expansive rear seats bristling with gadgets are more important than an ability to beat all-comers away from the lights.China's car market may be slowing to a simmer but luxury demand remains on the boil. This year, observers expect growth around 20 per cent - double the overall rate. Rolls-Royce is one brand alert to the opportunities.In 2011, its centenary year, China overtook the US to become its largest single market and Beijing its top dealership. At the 2011 Shanghai motor show it launched a car in China for the first time: the Ghost Extended Wheelbase, an XXL edition of its junior limo. The Ghost EWB, as it's known, arrives before the upcoming Ghost Coupe makes its pitch to Western buyers. It's a sign of priorities to come. The standard Ghost was the main reason last year's sales soared to a record 3,538.VALUEFor Australian buyers the Ghost EWB is a less formal, less expensive option to the million-plus Phantom. It plays country manor to the Phantom's stately home. The latest Rolls-Royce Ghost starts at $645,000.TECHNOLOGYFrom behind the wheel, the Ghost EWB loses little to the standard car, with the same 6.6L turbocharged V12 and the same giant strides to reach 100km/h in five seconds.DESIGNThe EWB reinforces the Ghost's claim to Chinese attention. Its extra 17cm is all in the back and the car's proportions are sweeter as a result. The rear doors open gatewise for dignified entry to a commodious compartment with all the toys you could want. Everything opens and shuts, is heated or cooled. The wraparound lounge poweradjusts.The doors swing shut at the push of a button and feet sink into lambswool rugs. There are rear screens and a 16-speaker hi-fi, frosted glass and ambient lighting. Everything is weighty and substantial, from the bull's-eye aircon vents to the tiniest piece of trim.DRIVINGYou hear the engine if you put your foot down but nothing disturbs the serenity of the cabin and a sense that the car is looking after things. Forget sports buttons and suspension settings, it doesn't have any. Just put it in D and let Rolls decide. Power delivery is smooth and relentless. It's got adjustable damping, active anti-roll bars and a whole lot more. Its refinement and comfort are first-rate.Of course the steering is slow and lazy. Of course it needs a football field to turn around. Around town it's an urban sailboat, only a bit more floaty. But if you're on the bridge (or the recreation deck if Chinese), the world is spread out below (some SUVs excepted).VERDICTThe Ghost defers only to the Phantom in being a paramount statement of luxury motoring. Ghost EWB, the Chinese luxury buyer awaits.Rolls-Royce Ghost EWBPrice: from $645,000Warranty: 4 yearsSafety rating: not testedEngine: 6.6-litre 12-cyl petrol; 420kW/780NmTransmission: 8-speed auto, RWDBody: 5399mm (L); 1948mm (w); 1550mm (h)Weight: 2360kgThirst: 13.6 L/100km, 317g/km CO2

The world's insatiable appetite for super-luxury car has taken a new twist with the Rolls-Royce Ghost.  By any measure, from its size to the weight and price, the Ghost is a heavyweight car.  Yet, by the standards of the Rolls-Royce Phantom, the car is relatively affordable, relatively compact and relatively ordinary. Which is not to say that ordinary, in this car, is remotely related to most people's idea of it..  How can it be, with a price of $645,000 - before optional equipment or on-road costs - and a weight of 2.4 tonnes? And there is always that world-famous flying lady mascot on the nose.The all-new Ghost is the car you have when a Phantom is too much and a Mercedes-Benz is not enough.  More than 30 orders have already been placed for local deliveries at the R-R factory, at Goodwood in Britain, gears up towards full production.The Ghost has been three years in the making, and will eventually spin- off a number of other body styles, but for now it is a full-sized limousine with a V12 engine, R-R's signature 'clamshell' doors and more than enough luxury for any appetite.It goes almost without saying that the Ghost has wood and leather trim, no sign of a tachometer, and that everything you see and feel would be right at home in a luxury home. And yet the Ghost is a twin-beneath the skin with the BMW 7 Series - since R-R. is part of BMW Group - and a couple of things, the iDrive controller,  dashboard display and radio 'fin' on the roof, peek up from beneath the surface. They are non-identical twins, and you cannot detect the family ties once you are driving, but the link is there."Everything relevant to the character of Rolls-Royce is different. We passionately believe the important things much be proprietary," says Hanno Kirner of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.  The commitment to a 'real' Rolls-Royce runs as deep as a major revision of a BMW Group V12 engine to product the sort of effortless thrust expected for the luxury brand. The numbers, 420kW/780Nm, say it all.There is an eight-speed automatic transmission with rear-wheel drive, and a full complement of safety equipment from airbags to ESP stability control, but the vital thing for any Rolls-Royce is the size and heft of the car. And the engineers have ticked the boxes.The Ghost is already creating the inevitable waiting lists, even in Australia and despite the massive bottom line.  "The first customer customers will be in Australia in June," says Hal Serudin, the R-R executive responsible for Asia-Pacific. Motor Cars.DrivingThe Ghost feels exactly like the Phantom, just condensed.  It has the same rock-solid connection to the road, the same wafting feel at any speed on any surface, and the all the luxury you could possibly need.Yet is is more grunty and responsive, more taut in turns, and a little disappointing in the BMW stuff I can see and hear. It's little things like the seat-belt warning tone and the look of the iDrive display, but little things can mean a lot when you have spent $645,000 and your best mate has a 7 Series for less than half that amount.The R-R people don't see it, and you don't feel it at the wheel, and yet the Ghost has the same tangible magic feel as the Phantom, and is clearly drawn from the same DNA and the same commitment to the best of the best.  It is, by any measure, a brilliant car. It's just a pity that so few people will get to experience one.Rolls-Royce GhostPrice: from $645,000Engine: 6.5-litre V12Output: 420kW/5250 revs, 780Nm/1500 revsTransmission: eight-speed automatic, rear-wheel driveEconomy: 13.6 litres/100kmEmissions: 317grams/kilometre CO2

It's not even that expensive an undertaking.Holden and, especially, Ford would be only too glad to sell you the means to do so for substantially under $50,000. So you needn't wear a white collar on a professional basis in order to afford this particular sensation, much less a crash helmet.But there is getting there and then there's getting there in unparalleled style and comfort without appearing to exert the least effort. That's a feeling only the several super rich Australians who will take delivery of the new $1 million plus Roll-Royce Phantom Coupe this year will come to know.And, of course, this obscenely fortunate Carsguider who has been given a sneak preview of the only Coupe currently on the continent.So what, I can hear a few of you murmuring? How is this automotive emblem of excess relevant to the other 99.98 per cent of us? For that matter, isn't this exposition bordering on bad taste during this time of encroaching austerity?Valid points - to which we'd respond that anyone who cares for cars (as opposed to those who claim to but whose enthusiasm goes no further than Holden or Ford) would care to know of what is arguably the world's best. The other point is the last thing relevant to the subject of Rolls-Royce is relevance itself.“No-one needs a $1 million car,” says Bevin Clayton of Trivett Classic Rolls-Royce, the man who will sell 22 of them this year. Indeed, for the approximate equivalent of the Luxury Car Tax on the Rolls - some $300,000 - you could buy a Maserati GranTurismo.“But once you have driven one, it's awfully hard to go back.”That's something likely to be appreciated by the first time Roller buyers that the Coupe is expected to attract. Clayton posits these would have been intimidated by the sheer scale of the Phantom sedan (to say nothing of the long-wheelbase version there of) and who also shrank from the exposure of the gorgeous Drophead Coupe.In reality, the hardhat Coupe is scarcely any less physically imposing on the road either in form or in sheer presence. In some respects, it's the most aesthetically pleasing of the three to date, combining the best attributes of both.From the front three-quarters it really couldn't be anything else on earth. The Spirit of Ecstasy emblem is as ever perched on a silver grille that fills rear vision mirrors and silently bids those in front to merge left. The bonnet is the now familiar polished metallic, contrasting in this case to deeply reflective Diamond Black paint.The lines are emphasised with twin deep red pinstripes, painted by hand with ox-tail brushes. The Coupe's individuality becomes apparent as you reach the small rear window and peer through at the cabin-long mahogany panelling that culminates in the traditional rear deck. If backseat passengers lack the amenity of the sedan, even the tallest have more than ample room while they stare at the ceiling in which dozens of tiny LED lights convey the impression of a brilliantly starlit night.Crack either of the rear-hinged suicide doors and all is as you would hope - expanses of mahogany hide, silver switches, and what Clayton says is an ever so slightly thicker version of that spindly, old-world steering wheel. Glorious.The third of the new generation of Phantom-based cars since 2003, after BMW rescued the hallowed marque from penury, offers something besides than two fewer doors than the sedan and a more solid roof than the Drophead. A hint is provided by those unique chrome exhaust pipes.“Sporty” is the most sorely abused term in the auto lexicon, but the Coupe's take on this notion is as departed from normal usage as Roll-Royce itself is from mere mortal marques. Engage the silver “S” button on the steering wheel, punch the accelerator and the Coupe's 2.6 tonnes and 5.6 metres consumes the landscape both with the Roll’s trademark “waft” and a newfound assertiveness.The damping seems keener and gearing calibrated to do the standard sprint distance in a claimed 5.8 seconds. When shoved, the otherwise almost silently purring 6.75-litre V12 permits itself a resonant timbre. Not a rumble. That would be uncouth.Mainly, though the driving experience - at least on our jaunt through the Coupe's natural habitat of Sydney's Eastern Suburbs, remains a case of effortless majesty, a nearly ethereal feeling that puts every pretender to the ultra-luxury throne firmly back in their place. ROLLS ROYCE PHANTOM COUPEPrice: est. about $1millionEngine: 6.75L/V12 338kW/720NmEconomy: 15.7L/100km (claimed)Transmission: 6-speed automatic RWD 

I always thought the best way to tour Europe was in a first-class seat on the Orient Express.When I spend an all-too brief trip on the classic train from London to the English Channel, I wanted the journey to roll on forever.But forever is a long time and things change. I thought I would always be a Coke man, but now I prefer Pepsi. And my devotion to Allan Moffat and Ford eventually flipped when I became a friend of Peter Brock and drove the best of his hot-rod Commodores.Just this week my passion for the Orient Express was overturned by a car. But not just any car.As I wafted across France in the latest Rolls-Royce, the new $1.1 million Phantom Coupe, I honestly could not think of any better way to travel.And to put that price in perspective, you have to keep remembering that this car’s buyers are not slaves to any of the commitments of the life you and I live. A mortgage? Not likely.A Rolls-Royce owner typically has about $80 million available for a snap purchase, owns at least two houses and has a garage with four or more cars in the Ferrari and Porsche class. So we're talking about Lindsay Fox or Nicole Kidman or John Laws.To them, a Phantom Coupe — even with a seven-figure bottom line before you tickle it with rear cupholders at $8000 or custom paint at who-knows-what price — is just another nice car.To us, the wage slaves of the world, it is an unbelievable extravagance.Why would anyone happily pay $1.1 million for a car that does the same basic job as a $15,000 Hyundai Getz, with about the same cabin space as a $35,000 Holden Commodore and less performance potential than a $70,000 FPV Falcon F6 turbo?That was why I was sitting in the foyer of the Rolls-Royce factory at Goodwood in Britain as an $8 million cavalcade of Phantoms, from six new Coupes to a long-wheelbase limousine to follow with the baggage, was assembled for a small group of lucky journalists. This was an episode torn from the pages of lifestyles of the poor but influential.But do not think for a second that the Phantom Coupe is perfect. Or that life in this world is so far different from suburban Australia.The cupholders in the British beauty are useless and the first roundabout sent two bottles of water skidding under the pedals to give me a nasty fright.And not even the Spirit of Ecstacy on the bonnet can clear the early-morning commuter traffic on the road to the cross-Channel train.And when you drive a Phantom Coupe on to the tunnel train, you have to share space with trucks . . . because the Rolls-Royce is so enormous.Minutes later we were also sharing the new Coupe with a dozen schoolchildren, all excited at the sight of an amazing car. And that was a powerful reminder of the importance of Rolls-Royce and its place in the world. ON THE ROADThe next reminder came at the end of the day. We had been driving for close to 12 hours and had covered more than 600km, yet it felt as if we had been going for about an hour.That's the best thing about the Coupe. It is a little more lively than the four-door Phantom and noticeably crisper any time the road starts to wander, and considerably quieter than the Drophead convertible.But, compared with any ordinary car, it's a serene cocoon that crushes kilometres without any apparent effort. It gives the sort of regal ride the maharajas would have enjoyed on the back of an elephant in the days of colonial India.You can see and feel the serenity in a Phantom Coupe. The seats are armchairs, the car is so quiet you can talk normally to your passenger without strain, there is plush luxury in everything you can see and touch and smell and hear, and yet the car will easily twist the speedometer from 80km/h to naughty-naughty with one firm call on the throttle.As we motored along we struggled for words to describe the tour group. We were wafting almost effortlessly, just as the Titanic would have done before the iceberg. Not that we were thinking that way. Perhaps a cavalcade? Or a parade? Or just a flurry, a flock or a fantasy of Phantoms?But reality returned with a rush when the sky turned grey, then black as the first splatters of rain turned to an incessant torrent and the clouds became thick fog.This final run to Geneva should have been the time to discover if the Phantom Coupe really can be a sporty car and deliver on the brand's impressive promises. But there were too many trucks and turns, and the road was slick and a serious threat to a $1 million machine.So I was forced to look at what I had, and what I had learned. This runs to underdone cupholders and satellite navigation that is well behind the times, and a package of luxury knick-knacks that falls well short of a Lexus LS600h. There's a slightly sharper response, but not of the sporty feel of a Porsche or even a Calais V.The Roller also needs sharper steering, a smaller wheel, some form of manual transmission control and more-supportive seats to sustain its sporty claims. And the view out of the rear window is second worst this year behind the stupidly flawed BMW X6 four-wheel drive.But, as the sun broke through and we turned into another five-star refuge to complete the trip, I was still won over by the Phantom Coupe.You can apply all the logic you like, and ask all the hard questions you like, and be as cynical as I like, and rate the car as an overdone relic with a grand past and no real future.But some things in life exist only because they can. And because we have to have standards. The Phantom Coupe is not perfect, but is one of the world's best cars. I like it.And, at the end of the day, would you? I would, and you would too if you had taken the English express and also won the lottery. 

It's when you find yourself saying things like: “Beauty — a roundabout!” that you know the initial numbing awe of piloting the Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe is passing. Even something so mundane as a circle of concrete assumes landmark significance when its being negotiated in 2.6 tonnes of lovingly handcrafted land yacht — one that just happens to have been sold already for a not altogether negligible $1.25 million.Bevin Clayton of Trivett Classic gave Carsguide an Australian first last week, allowing us access to the only Drophead in the country not already in private hands — although it soon will be.This pristine example with low double figures on the clock is being shipped to Adelaide where a gentleman will become the first in that quaint town to own this model Roller.If membership of the Australian Rolls-Royce owner's club is gradually expanding — Clayton expects to sell eight Phantom sedans, eight Dropheads and three of the new hard-top coupes due in September — it's hardly in danger of becoming less than exclusive. Certainly the sense of occasion on simply approaching the Drophead is unlikely to diminish in a hurry.The sheer blackness of this example, set off by the distinctive burnished silver bonnet, to some extent disguises the Roller's imposing lines. The fabric roof is the longest of any modern auto, a bespoke, five-layered lid that insulates the interior from noise of the madding crowd almost as effectively as the sedan's hard top. Indeed, as Clayton says, it's clear that the Drophead remains “in the Phantom family”.Notwithstanding one client who bought a sedan to complement his new Drophead — as one does — the Drophead's DNA is immediately evident on opening the rear-hinged door.It's a sea of Indian rosewood and the creamiest leather set off with polished, to the point of reflectiveness, stainless steel fittings. A singular ambience almost seduces you as you take hold of the skinny, old-world steering wheel.The Drophead is, of course, hand-crafted using top-drawer materials to Rolls's exacting standards and is modelled on the J-class racing yachts of the 1930s. Indeed, the rear deck is teak.The bonnet is machine-brushed before being hand-finished to ensure a uniform grain.A picnic boot has a split tail compartment that opens in two parts, giving easy access to 315 litres of space. The lower tailgate provides a comfortable seating platform for two adults when folded, revealing a luggage compartment that's more lushly upholstered than the cabins of certain luxury sedans Carsguide has tried.Unlike almost all of them, but very much like its sibling sedan, the Drophead contrasts the immense power of a 6.75-litre V12 with an aural note that's entirely in keeping with the Phantom moniker. Indeed, attempting to start the thing after pausing near Clovelly for pictures proved to be superfluous. The engine was, in fact, running.Roof down in a tunnel, you might be driving a hybrid, so subdued and refined is the note, for all its 338kW and 720Nm. Almost no Dropheads are chauffeur driven, but sitting in the rear pews is easily the most civilised such experience that can be had in a convertible.As we've said of the sedan, the Roller is simply too enjoyable to be left to Jeeves.Such is the alacrity with which it leaves the mark and immediacy of response to steering inputs that it's impossible to believe the thing outweighs all but the heaviest SUVs.Where a lesser luxury car — that would be all of them — might float seasickeningly, the Phantom “wafts” in that legendary, almost patented Rolls-Royce fashion.If the Drophead costs more than a million, driving it is a one in a million experience.