Rolls-Royce Ghost 2021 Review

The most affordable Rolls-Royce money can buy. It’s an oxymoron of sorts, but then to think of the 2021 Rolls-Royce Ghost as ‘entry level’ probably doesn’t do it justice anyway.

The new generation arrives in Australia bearing the title of Roller’s most advanced model yet. Granted, Rolls-Royce has never been a company tied to sales targets, but the outgoing Ghost also finishes its tenure as the British car-maker’s best-selling model ever. No small feat.

To extend the Ghost’s legacy for 2021 and beyond, Rolls-Royce has gone back to the drawing board by introducing an all-new platform, all-wheel drive and underbody wizardry.

Indeed, so comprehensively overhauled is the Ghost for 2021, the only carry-over elements are the in-door umbrellas and the flying lady up front (read: the Spirt of Ecstasy).

It goes without saying the new Ghost has a significant point to prove.

Rolls-Royce buyers would be accustomed to the term ‘embarrassment of riches’. It certainly applies to the new 2021 Rolls-Royce Ghost, but perhaps not in the way one might imagine.

As the most affordable Rolls-Royce money can buy, the Ghost starts at $628,000 plus on-road costs in short wheelbase form, extending to $740,000 plus ORCs for the larger long wheelbase variant. It significantly undercuts the $900K-plus Phantom, while the Cullinan SUV starts at $659,000.

The embarrassment of riches claim more aptly applies to the level of options on our Tempest Grey test vehicle. After weeks of probing, Rolls-Royce relented and revealed our car’s as-tested details.

As we drove it, the Tempest Grey Ghost was worth $859,454 plus on-road costs, thanks to the inclusion of 39 different options amounting to $231,454.

They included things like active cruise control, a champagne cooler and massaging front seats, and extended to the hand-finished exquisite coachwork and shooting star headliner, which incorporates 1340 individual ‘star’ lights into the ceiling, 24 of which are shooting.

So, what do you get for your initial Ghost outlay, then?

We’ll get to the underbody changes further down, but standard features in the latest model include electric doors, parent BMW’s ConnectedDrive services, a microfibre air purity system, laser headlights, real-time traffic information and parking assistance.

Infotainment is facilitated via a BMW-originated centre screen and rotary dial, complemented by a head-up display unit.

Meantime, the Ghost boasts a suite of standard safety features that includes autonomous emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian detection.

Contained within the Rolls-Royce purchase price is four years’ inclusive servicing and a four-year factory warranty.

Beneath the skin the 2021 Rolls-Royce Ghost is based on an all-new full-aluminium space-frame chassis – the same underpinnings that are shared with the bigger Phantom sedan and the Cullinan SUV.

The architecture, which will never be used by a BMW model, has helped Rolls-Royce move with the times, introducing state-of-the-art technology while also providing an ideal 50:50 weight distribution and body rigidity that far surpasses the first-generation model.

Beneath the new Ghost’s stretched bonnet resides a 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 lifted from the Cullinan and Phantom. It produces 420kW of power and 850Nm of torque – correlating with an official 0-100km/h acceleration claim of 4.8 seconds and providing adequate shove for the Ghost’s circa-2500kg heft.

For the first time the entry Roller gets all-wheel drive and four-wheel steering. Rear-drive apparently isn’t, and won’t ever again, be available.

The addition of rear-wheel steering will do the usual trick of boosting agility at low speed and increasing high-speed stability. All told, the rear axle only pivots a maximum of five degrees at low speed, while at highway speeds the system is purportedly designed to eliminate any unpleasant jolting feeling when changing lanes. More on that shortly.

New suspension tech introduced to enhance the previous model’s cossetting Magic Carpet Ride include Planar and Flagbearer. The first is a novel mechanical damper solution for the upper wishbone that, along with hydraulic bump stops, filters out the worst imperfections of a poorly surfaced road.

Flagbearer insulates occupants from big bumps, like potholes and manhole covers. It works by scanning the road ahead with dual cameras. If it detects an obstacle at speeds of up to 100km/h, it pre-arms the dampers and even disconnects the anti-roll bars to cushion the blow.

Ensuring the eight-speed automatic operates under the occupants’ radar, Rolls-Royce uses data from the sat-nav to map out the topography of the road ahead and ensure the tranny is always in the right gear for the conditions.

Reflecting trends already happening in the world of fashion, architecture and million-dollar yachts, the 2021 Rolls-Royce Ghost has been developed for a ‘post-bling’ world.

The reductive approach extends to simple surfacing, which could have resulted in a slab-sided look if the lower, gloriously-named ‘waft’ lines hadn’t been employed. A delicate pin-stripe, meanwhile, stretches all the way across the body, done by hand, and accentuates some of its muscle.

Up front, there’s a pair of slimline LED laser lamps and the car-maker’s trademark ‘Pantheon’ grille. Unlike the Phantom, it misses out on the bonnet chrome finisher, but gets unusual LED downlighting.

Speaking of brightwork, chrome has been used sparingly around the Ghost – well, for a Rolls-Royce at least – with the manufacturer even going so far as considering getting rid of it completely, using other materials like titanium in its place.

In the skin it amounts to a vehicle that is equal parts eye-catching and intriguing in its applied detail. The surfaces look clean and well-put-together.

Inside, it’s a similar story. As you’d expect for this outlay, the presentation is first-class: a tastefully-decorated space that enamours with its level of finish and the use of premium materials.

Space is equally generous, fit for a couple of adults in the rear seat and room for their suitcases in the 500-litre cargo space.

One exception with the interior is the BMW-sourced infotainment suite, which is not as intuitive to use as others on the market.

The 2021 Rolls-Royce Ghost has a new-found on-road pedigree owing to its all-new underpinnings. But it hasn’t forgotten its core focus either.

Naturally, the Ghost lives up to lofty expectations in terms of refinement and on-road composure, wafting along nonchalantly in all scenarios and cocooning occupants in a cone of total opulence.

From the rear seat, progress is gentle and considered – a cosseting passage between luncheons or boardroom meetings.

Road noise and wind noise have been hushed to almost non-existent levels, while the big V12 engine saunters away gently in the background, striking a fine balance of relaying its progress yet without disrupting cabin ambience.

The engine’s progress is linear and effortless all at once, finding peak power from a lowly 1600rpm and using the gearbox’s smarts to feed the driver’s right foot a constant wave of seemingly insurmountable go-forward.

When you ask a bit more from the engine, it responds well too – at least in the context of a 2.5-tonne limousine – and shifts the Ghost’s heft with expediency and willingness. We weren’t able to get a fuel figure on test, but we’d consider the official 15.7L/100km combined-cycle figure a tad optimistic in reality.

Dynamically, the Ghost lives up to Rolls-Royce’s assertion of a more competent performer. Doubtless, it feels like a large car on the road, with a sprawling bonnet, but from the driver’s seat you sit nicely inside the cockpit, aided by myriad technology.

The Ghost’s final steering tune preferences lightness over outright feeling and feedback, and is at times approximate through faster changes in direction. That said, it is still easy to sling the Ghost’s long (5546mm) and wide (1978mm) proportions through a series of tight corners or car parks alike.

We liken the rear-wheel steering system to an overbearing dinner host. It tends towards being burdensome with its interventions, at times accentuating the car’s initial turn-in response. The upshot is a driving experience that can feel overly complicated and unnatural.

Maybe we’re simply not accustomed to the on-road wares of this type of vehicle.

Beyond that the Ghost’s body control is admirable, with decent adhesion and feedback via the chassis. And the car’s deliberate levels of on-road feedback via bump absorption and through relaying what’s happening on the road is welcome.

The 2021 Rolls-Royce Ghost delivers on all of its claims as a peerless show of refinement and opulence.

At the same time it pigeonholes itself to an elite few, not only with its price but, it must be said, with a somewhat anodyne and overcomplicated driving experience.

To a tiny fraction of the population in the market here, it’s those very features that will justify the Roller’s placing atop the heap.

For the rest of us, it reads like the ultimate display of excess.

How much does the 2021 Rolls-Royce Ghost SWB cost?
Price: $628,000 (plus on-road costs)
Available: First quarter 2021
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbo V12 petrol
Output: 420kW/850Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel: 15.7L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 359g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Not rated