Reviews May 25, 2010, 3:32PM EST

First Drive: 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost

For a quarter-million dollars, Rolls-Royce's new "entry level" Ghost comes packed with luxury and the automaker's most powerful engine ever

By Thane Peterson

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Editor's Rating:

The Good: BMW-style speed, luxurious interior, high-tech features, relatively low price

The Bad: Pricey options, mediocre fuel economy

The Bottom Line: A faster, more affordable new entry-level Rolls-Royce

Reader Reviews

Up Front

My first reaction when Rolls-Royce invited me to test-drive its new 2010 Ghost around central Philadelphia: Are you people nuts? Who would put a vehicle that lists for $300,000-plus with options in the hands of a lead-footed auto reviewer on narrow city streets? Then I figured what the heck, it's just a car so why not?

Of course, as I quickly discovered, a Rolls-Royce is just another car in the same sense that Audrey Hepburn was just another movie star and Willie Mays just another baseball player. There's a quality of grace about a Rolls that isn't shared by lesser luxury vehicles, whether made by BMW (BMW:GR)—Rolls' parent company—Lexus, or Daimler-Benz (DAI).

You feel it the moment you open the door, which is thicker and heavier than in other cars, closes silently behind you at the push of a button, and has a removable Teflon-coated umbrella stashed in its innards in case the weather turns inclement. The handmade interior trim looks like the finely crafted wood you might find on a 1930s-era yacht. The seat leather, the company says, is made from the hides of bulls raised in pastures free of barbed-wire fencing, which might cause surface blemishes.

That's all to be expected in a Rolls. What sets the Ghost apart from Roll-Royce's other model, the Phantom, is its relatively diminutive size (a mere 212.6 in. long, some 27 in. shorter than the extended-wheel-base version of the Phantom) and relatively low price (starting sticker is just $247,000, $138,000 less than the "base" model Phantom sedan). Of course, optional equipment can easily add $50,000 to the price of either model (and far more if you go a little crazy).

The rear-wheel-drive Ghost also is the most powerful Rolls ever, with a turbocharged V12 engine under its hood similar to the one in the BMW 760Li—only tweaked to make it even more powerful. In the Ghost, the engine is rated at 6.6 liters (vs. 6.0 liters in the BMW), 563 horsepower (vs. 535 in the BMW), and 575 ft.-lb. of torque (up from the BMW's 550).

As a result, the Ghost not only has the ultrasmooth and quiet ride you expect from a Rolls but also goes like a bat out of hell when you punch the gas. The company says the Ghost will accelerate from zero to 60 in a blazingly fast 4.8 seconds, slightly quicker than a Chevy Corvette Grand Sport and about one second quicker than the Phantom. That's an amazing stat for a big luxury sedan that weighs 5,445 lb. Top speed is 155 miles per hour.

Fuel economy, not surprisingly, isn't the Rolls' strong suit. The Ghost is rated to get 13 miles per gallon in the city and 20 on the highway, for an average of 15, roughly the same as the Phantom and BMW 760Li.

The Ghost only went on sale in the U.S. at the end of March, though sales started in January in other parts of the world. Rolls-Royce expects the Ghost's worldwide unit sales to be about 1,000 this year, about the same as the Phantom's sales last year.

Behind the Wheel

The Ghost's dashboard and center console look elegantly simple. Most of the electronic controls are discretely hidden behind a veneer panel, so the cabin's striking design elements are all traditional—chrome organ-stop plungers to control the air vents, violin-key switches, and frosted white dials. The wood trim is made from a single tree so the grain matches throughout the cabin and ages and colors at the same rate. Five coats of lacquer are applied to give the wood a bright shine.