Wraith
Rolls Royce
The Ultimate Gentleman’s Gran Turismo
Think of Rolls Royce attributes and you
can’t help thinking of luxury, refinement
and hand-craftsmanship, bundled into
a car the size of a juggernaut and
driven by a chauffeur. For 110 years
this marque has been an exclusive one,
where if you have to ask the price then
you probably can’t afford it.
Last year saw the unveiling of the most
powerful Rolls Royce ever made, the
Wraith, and it certainly lives up to the
aforementioned attributes – bar the
chauffeur. At around 17 feet long and
6ft wide it is a beast of a car and with a
starting price of over £237,000 (yes, I did
have to ask…) it is exclusive enough to
be a car that you won’t see every day.
The Wraith is a luxurious two-door coupe
that can still overtake almost anything
on the road. It glides along powered by a
twin-turbocharged 6.6-litre V-12 that that
produces 624bhp and can propel you
from 0-60 in 4.4 seconds but with a top
speed limited to 155mph.
This car is a head-turner and the rearhinged, frameless coach doors are a
unique detail. Buttons at the base of
each A-pillar effortlessly power the
door closing to avoid troubling you with
having to reach for the long doors and
pulling them closed. Once inside there
is an appropriately opulent, handcrafted
cabin brimming with leather, wood, and
chrome.
Out on a drive the smooth eight-speed
automatic transmission is satellite aided,
meaning it uses GPS data to locate the
car and predict gear changes. Using
108
satellite data to scan the road ahead,
overlaid with details about the terrain
data and other key information it preselects the ideal gear as you drive. It
makes sudden climbs, descents and
sharp turns much smoother. Clever stuff.
Motoring in both the city and on the
open country roads is improved by
a sophisticated series of cameras
discreetly placed around the car. Rear,
front and 360 degree top view cameras
ensure that manoeuvrability and parking
a car of this size is easier than you might
think. When working in combination,
these cameras are able to provide a
‘fish-eye’ view at blind junctions. More
clever stuff.
Rolls Royce remains the world’s leading
super-luxury automobile and they
delivered 3,630 cars to customers in
2013, the fourth consecutive record year
and the highest in the marque’s history.
There is no doubt that the Wraith
challenges perceptions of what a Rolls
Royce should be and when my six
numbers come up I might just treat
myself to one.
By Jason Edge