Driving back from Stonehenge, a world heritage site 150km outside central London, I was forced to admit to myself that the experience was a bit of a let down. Perhaps I was expecting druids, ceremonies with virgins, and huge rock formations - but instead all I got was a mediocre countryside display surrounded by highways and tour buses.
The car I was driving, on the other hand, would have modern druids running to their soothsayers for lottery numbers - and certainly made up for the lacklustre prehistoric monument.
Assembled mostly by hand at the plant in Goodwood, the Rolls-Royce Ghost is a special car.
Inspired by contemporary lines found in architecture and yachts, and powered by a mammoth 6.6-litre twin-turbo V12, this is a 420kW/780Nm barge not scared of picking up the Queen - or flattening a hot hatch on the way to Buckingham Palace (this 2.5-ton limo will get from a standstill to 100km/h in a claimed 4.9 seconds, before hitting its 250km/h governor).
But it really isn’t about speed – even though it sounds like I’d imagine a nuclear reactor does on start up – with a big electric whoosh – and will happily chirp its wide rear rubber exiting corners should you be late for your polo match.
It’s more about the Rolls-Royce experience, which becomes evident from the time you sink into the luxurious driver’s seat, gently prod the start button, and place your fingers around the soft, thin-rimmed steering wheel.
TAKE A STEP BACK
The only way to do justice to the levels of refinement in the Ghost is to take a step back, to the factory tour I did before being handed the key.
Major mechanical components such as engine and chassis come from parent company BMW in Munich, but painting (Surface Finishing in Rolls-speak), customisation and final assembly is done at the seven-acre plant in Goodwood - only five kilometres away from where founder Sir Henry Royce died.
More than 1400 people work at the plant, with a record 3575 cars coming off the floor in 2012 (about 14 Ghosts and six Phantoms roll off the line daily) and two-thirds of production split between China and US markets. The Chinese seem obsessed with extended wheelbases, to the extent that Rolls-Royce had to introduce a shorter rear bumper to meet the under-six metre requirement to classify the Ghost as a car in China, rather than a commercial vehicle.
In terms of personalisation the options are endless.
You can have your handmade Spirit of Ecstasy bonnet mascot in anything from stainless steel to 24-carat gold; choose from 44 000 body colours (or bring along your favourite lipstick); or ponder between brushed, matt or normal body finishes (including coach lines painted by hand).
Quality is mind blowing; for example, the only leather used comes from bulls raised at high altitude, where minimal fencing means less skin damage and fewer insects mean less skin scarring through insect bites. Bulls are also favoured over cows due to cows sporting stretch marks from giving birth. It takes 11 bulls to furnish a Phantom, and six to finish a Ghost – but if you prefer crocodile, or lizard, or ostrich, just ask.
The wood in the cabin is imported from forests in California and arrives in strips. The factory analyses the wood for mirror matches across interior surfaces, and applies up to four layers of veneer for that deep finish. A car will take a week to go through the paint shop (30kg of paint goes on to each Phantom), while the wood will take a month to be processed – which includes three whole days of baking.
And all this effort comes through in the final product.
The 300-odd kilometres I spent behind the wheel, burning a reasonable 13 litres per 100km, were effortless. It’s a regal feeling watching that Spirit of Ecstasy on the front of that phallic bonnet cut through the summer air, with the four-corner air suspension keeping you on a cloud by sensing and adapting to passenger movements in the cabin.
Through satnav tech it will even anticipate corners for you and prime itself accordingly.
You also need to reconsider any boy-racer antics; the only go-faster options I could find were intermediate and off settings for the traction control.
Nothing hardens up the suspension and there’s no way to manhandle the smooth eight-speed auto gearbox. The rev counter, which is actually a “power reserve counter” and counts you down from 100 percent to zero, is a nice touch. Not to mention that with normal driving the V12 hovers with most of its power at your disposal.
A TOUCH OF CLASS
Other nice Rolls touches include the umbrellas in the front doors, the button above the rear-hinged coach doors to electrically close them, the ride-height adjustment for rougher country lanes, the expensive analogue clock and deep-pile carpets, and the gentle aircon settings for subtle cabin cooling. The glass dials are really more jewellery than instruments, the aviation-inspired vents very retro, and the harp-sounding warnings far from alarming. And that sound system – oh, my word.
My only complaint lies with the information system, which is a direct copy of BMW’s iDrive system. I can understand why, but I think the layout could have been changed.
Former railway engineer Sir Henry Royce’s stated mission was to “take the best that exists and make it better,” and I think that’s the ethos that comes through with these cars.
At around R5-million this is the most expensive piece of engineering I’ve piloted yet, but I can understand where some of that spend goes.
Now I just need to find that soothsayer. - Star Motoring
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