First Drive: 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost

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Standard choices include a dozen different exterior colors, eight different colors of leather, and five types of wood veneer. However, your options are almost limitless if you make use of Rolls' "bespoke" program, which allows owners to customize their car in an almost infinite number of ways (for a price, of course). An owner might, for instance, ask that the wood trim be crafted from a tree from the family estate.

Rolls-Royce also has incorporated tons of BMW's advanced technology into the Ghost. For instance, the $10,000 Driver's Assistance package includes a night-vision system, heads-up display, automatic high-beam headlights, adaptive cruise control, and a lane-departure warning system that causes the steering wheel to vibrate discreetly if you cross the lane markers in the road. Rear-, side-, front-, and top-view cameras give a fish-eye view all around the car for maneuvering in tight spots.

Rolls-Royce strives for comfort, unobtrusive luxury, and ease of use. Nowhere to be found are the manual shifting function and steering-wheel-mounted paddle shifters that are almost de rigueur in expensive cars these days. Basically, you put the Ghost in drive, give it gas, and let the ultrasmooth eight-speed automatic do the rest.

The car's waistline is high, so you feel safely surrounded in protective metal, yet the seats are positioned relatively high, too, so visibility is excellent. The company says its new air suspension system is so sensitive that it compensates if, say, a rear passenger shifts from one side of the seat to the other. In my own crude test, I drove the Ghost over every rough spot in the road I could find. Even deep potholes were smoothed out so thoroughly they seemed almost not to exist. At no time during this abuse was the slightest creak or rattle audible.

The Ghost is 7.3 inches longer and slightly wider and taller than the BMW 750Li, but has similar amounts of head, leg, knee, and shoulder space. There's plenty of room for anyone who isn't unusually tall or heavy. Luggage space is 17.3 cu. ft. An excellent convenience feature in the Rolls: The backward-hinged rear doors open to an unusually wide 83 degrees, making it easy to get in and out of the rear seats.

The Ghost doesn't have U.S. government crash-test ratings. However, its weight and long list of safety features mean it's probably very safe. In addition to the lane-departure warning system and other optional safety features already mentioned, standard equipment includes traction and stability control, a full array of airbags, seatbelt pretensioners, and protective beams in the doors.

Buy It or Bag It?

A Rolls isn't for everyone—even those who can afford one. Many Rolls-Royce owners own a half-dozen other cars—and sometimes dozens of other cars if they happen to be collectors. For many, the Rolls is like a wardrobe element that is only brought out at certain times. Certainly, it isn't a car most owners would want to risk on bad roads or in terrible winter weather.

Keep in mind that the Ghost's many options are tempting but pricey. Such add-ons as a panorama sunroof ($7,000) and rear-seat entertainment system ($6,200) are more expensive than in most luxury cars, and there's a long list of quirky options that can really add up. Lambswool floor mats go for $1,000, and a monogrammed "RR" logo on the headrests for $725. Leather- and wood-trimmed picnic tables that fold down from the backs of the front seats cost $2,800, and a rear-compartment cooler box $2,400. Whichever options you order, expect to wait perhaps six months to take delivery on a Ghost. Demand is high and the new model is already sold out into this summer, a spokesman says.

The Ghost's most direct competitor is probably the new Bentley Mulsanne (due out this fall; starting price $287,595), but I haven't driven that model so I can't make any comparisons. I have to say, though, that I liked the Ghost better than I expected. It has most of the luxuries of the Phantom, but is smaller, speedier, less expensive, and a tad less ostentatious. It will make more people dream of owning a Rolls-Royce.

Click here to see more of the 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost.

Thane Peterson reviews cars for Businessweek.com.

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