Rolls-Royce Ghost (2009) CAR review

This is the new Rolls-Royce Ghost, a £192k British-built luxury limo. Find the majestic Rolls-Royce Phantom a bit gauche? Some potential owners do, says Rolls, so the smaller, more demure and slightly more affordable Ghost is the answer. Read on for CAR's verdict on the new Rolls-Royce Ghost.

Demure? Surely the whole point of having a Rolls is to make a statement.

We’d have thought so too, but some potential buyers wanted all of the luxury of the Phantom in a package that they could leave on a parking meter without attracting undue attention. The more restrained presence and £192,500 list price (£80k less than the Phantom) means 80 percent of Ghost buyers will be new to the brand. And over half of those are likely to come from Bentley, not something the Crewe concern will be happy to hear.

So Rolls just chopped a chunk out of the wheelbase and made the grille smaller?

No, this is an all-new car. Well, all-new if you discount the BMW 7-series with which the Ghost shares some mechanical components. The Phantom is constructed around an aluminium spaceframe but the Ghost’s chassis is a steel unibody. Aluminium chassis are chunky affairs so sticking with steel allowed Rolls to endow the Ghost with interior space not far short of the Phantom while keeping the footprint much smaller. The 5399mm Ghost is 435mm shorter, 42mm narrower and 82mm shorter than a Phantom with the standard wheelbase.

So it’s just a 760i in a posh dress?

No, it’s a very different car with its own personality. And this one actually rides well. But if you examined their DNA, you’d see similarities. The supercharged V12 for instance, is a 6.6-litre version of the 6.0 motor in the 760i and backed up by the same eight-speed automatic gearbox. Power climbs from 537bhp in the BMW to 563bhp, and torque from 553lb ft to 570lb ft. The Phantom carries on with its own different (and much less powerful) V12.

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