The nights are drawing in, the leaves are changing colour, and your local Tesco Express has whacked some cheap plastic spiders up in its window. Spooky season is upon us, and just in time, here’s the freshly updated Rolls-Royce Ghost Series II. Woooooooo, etc, etc.
This, though, actually is quite spooky, because Rolls – a company once famed for its aversion to quoting such ghastly things as performance figures – is actively touting the latest Ghost as its most driver-focused car yet. That doesn’t mean some evil spirits wearing Sparco racing booties have taken over its Goodwood factory – it’s just Rolls recognising the fact that its increasingly young, international customer base is more likely to want to drive themselves than pay someone else to do it.
To that end, the Ghost – which retains its eerily silent 6.8-litre (sorry, six-and-three-quarter-litre) twin-turbocharged V12, four-wheel drive and eight-speed automatic – has had some choice chassis tweaks. While we’re promised a more agile chassis than ever, none of this is aimed at tempting the last-of-the-late-brakers away from their M5s. It’s more about making the car as effortlessly pleasant to pedal as possible.
A new upper wishbone damper unit works together with the variable shock absorbers and self-levelling air struts, which apparently contributes to an even smoother ride than before. Also aiding this is the Flagbearer system, which scans the road ahead for nasty lumps and bumps and pre-prepares the suspension for them.
Rolls-Royce Ghost Series II – interior
The transmission, meanwhile, uses the car’s GPS position in order to choose the best possible gear for exiting a turn – this may be the most ‘driver-focused’ Rolls yet, but there’s no expectation for the driver to do something as tiresome and rigorous as pulling a paddle.
The biggest change visually is those new, more pinched headlights, while there are also new taillights and a choice of two extra 22-inch wheels. Like the facelifted Cullinan, the inside now gets a single pane of glass spanning the width of the dash, encasing the instrument cluster and central screen. Oh, and there’s an optional Champagne cooler which has two distinct modes – one for vintage Champagne and one for non-vintage. We’re not making this up.
Rolls-Royce Ghost Series II – rear
There is, unsurprisingly, a huge focus on personalisation. Buyers can choose their own exterior colour and reserve it for themselves and nobody else, and on the inside, they can have their very own artwork engraved in the illuminated panel on the dash and even worked into the seats’ leather using tiny perforations.
Ironically for this supposedly more driver-centric Rolls, pretty much the only things we don’t know yet are the company’s old foes – performance numbers. Well, those and price – but if you have to ask…
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