New Rolls-Royce Ghost

Drive gets comfortable in the smallest Rolls-Royce (a lot of) money can buy. By JEZ SPINKS.

Don’t call it a baby Rolls-Royce or, worse, a deluxe BMW 7-Series.

Such references to the all-new Ghost limousine will incur the wrath of the luxury British marque, even if there is a grain of truth to both.

Drive was given a personal tour of the new $695,000 Rolls this week as it arrived in Sydney to be showcased in front of prospective buyers – ahead of its May 2010 local release.

The Ghost is only Rolls-Royce’s second model line, and is smaller than the $1m-plus Phantom range that first went on sale in 2003.

At 5.5 metres long, however, the Ghost is still significantly longer than the BMW 7-Series on which it is based.

It's also more than half a metre longer than Australia's two favourite large cars, the Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore.

As well as sitting on a stretched 7-Series platform, the Ghost’s drivetrain comprises a V12 and eight-speed gearbox shared with the $386,000 760i flagship Seven.

However, there are two turbochargers, so power is an "ample" 420kW, while torque is double that of most six-cylinder family cars, at 780Nm.

Rolls-Royce says the engine has also been retuned for more low-end torque, to provide a quieter and more relaxing driving experience in the tradition of the company’s cars.

Despite the emphasis on comfort, the Ghost is still claimed to accelerate from 0-100km/h in less than five seconds, though, despite weighing 2.4 tonnes.

Rolls-Royce Phantom Price

Rolls-Royce Phantom $320,000

Rolls Royce Phantom

Rolls Royce Phantom

Rolls Royce Phantom

Rolls Royce Phantom

Rolls Royce Phantom

Rolls Royce Phantom

2009 Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupe

When one thinks about the ultimate luxury automobile, it’s hard to argue that any short list doesn’t include the Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupe.

On any Rolls-Royce car, its always been apparent that craftsmanship is the key. The company refused to build a custom, all-chrome Phantom Coupe for a famous rap artist because the chrome couldn’t be finished to the company’s exacting specifications. Now that is setting the bar high.

Exterior paint of the new Rolls-Royce Phantom is hand-finished between each paint layer and then polished for five hours. Incredibly there are more than 44,000 different hues to choose from.

The Phantom Coupe’s hand-crafted interior combines a bit of bling and a lot of grace. For example, the rear curved sofa is flanked with hand-crafted wooden fold-down trays. The ceiling has 1,600 stars (boulevard lights) that can be adjusted for brightness.

The seat leather also receives much TLC. The Phantom comes with R-R hides that are barrel-dyed to ensure uniform color. The leather is then checked by hand and eye for any kinds of blemishes.

Additional interior features include: new front and rear door cappings, bi-directional double reading lights in the C-pillar and repositioned electric window switches

Rolls-Royce’s new model showcases a stretched-out front end and beefy 21 inch wheels. The engine is a 6.75-liter V12 and produces 453 hp and 0-60 in 5.6 seconds.

It was recently announced that the 2009 Rolls Royce Phantom will offer a brand new front bumper design and a more shallow stainless steel grille.

These changes are targeted to merge the models with the front appearance of the Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe and Phantom Coupe.

Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars

will unveil its new Phantom Drophead Coupé at the Detroit Motor Show on Sunday 7 January. Production of the new car will start at Goodwood in the summer of 2007. The two-door, four-seat convertible is a less formal interpretation of classic Rolls-Royce design. Using the lightweight rigidity of an all-aluminium spaceframe, it marries modern technology to a sleek, streamlined convertible body. Its exterior lines echo the timeless styling of the great Rolls-Royce cars: a long bonnet, large-diameter wheels, short front and long rear overhangs and the quintessential dynamic line descending along its flanks. Inside, the design emphasises the airy openness of top-down motoring, embracing the elements and creating a stunning, social environment.

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Chief Designer, Ian Cameron, said, “This car gave us the chance to think about the very nature of convertible motoring and in particular what it means to Rolls-Royce. Above all we were determined to make this car a joy to live with and engineered it to give years of effortless service to its owner.”

A number of features first seen on 100EX, the experimental convertible shown by Rolls-Royce in 2004, have been engineered into the new Phantom Drophead Coupé. Two of the most visually striking of these are the brushed steel bonnet and A-pillar and the teak decking for the rear hood cover. The brushed steel is machine finished to give a uniform grain before undergoing extensive hand polishing to achieve a perfect sheen. At the rear, the teak decking is treated with a carefully blended mix of oils to preserve a natural finish and a long lasting lustre that is as beautiful as it is hardy.

Rolls Royce Dealers

Rolls Royce Dealers in the UK are few and far between but the ever popular distinguished brand of cars will allways draw a croud. The Rolls is distinctive enough to be recognised at any angle!

If your looking for rolls toyce dealers and cars for sale in the UK then we recomend rolls royce cars from the clever people at Car Compound.

The New Rolls Royce site offers a limited range of excessively luxury vehicles for the high class lifestyles of the rich and famous.

Rolls Royce dealers can be found online by visiting sites with listings of Rolls Royce Dealers.

Used Rolls Royce and New Car buying guides along with a collection of important info to help you make your final decision when looking to purchase a Rolls Royce

Rolls Royce 'Ghost' arrives in Saudi Arabia

Rolls- Royce Motor Cars has launched its new model, the Ghost, in Saudi Arabia. It was unveiled in Jeddah in the Kingdom of Saudi-Arabia for the first time in the region today.

"Since we first announced that work had begun on a new model series in 2006, anticipation has been building for the launch of this car. The feedback so far shows that the Ghost has surpassed all expectations," said Peter Schoppmann, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars' Regional Director for the Middle East, at the official Middle East premiere in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

"Ghost is attracting new buyers to the Rolls-Royce brand who appreciate its fusion of timeless elegance, new technology and contemporary style," he continued.

Anees Jamjoom, Managing Director of Mohammed Yousef Naghi Motors, the sole dealer of Rolls-Royce in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, commented:

"We are honored to host the Middle East premiere of the new Rolls-Royce Ghost in Jeddah. We have already had significant interest in Ghost and will continue to ensure the sustained success of Rolls-Royce in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Our proven experience in the luxury automotive segment gives us the confidence to consistently exceed our customers' expectations."

Ghost embodies the core values of Rolls-Royce and delivers contemporary, effortless refinement.

While less formal than the Phantom family, the Ghost retains the essence of Rolls-Royce, and is engineered to be more driver-focused and powerful than any Rolls-Royce before it. A brand new 6.6 litre twin- turbo V12 engine, unique to the model, delivers a feeling of endless, surging power to the driver.

The central principle of simplicity runs throughout the Ghost. Everything is designed, engineered and crafted to enhance the driving experience from the spacious design to the intuitive layout and advanced systems and technologies.

The Rolls-Royce design team sought inspiration in architecture and yachts when seeking to create a modern interpretation of Rolls-Royce's values. As a result Ghost's flowing lines are dominated by its majestic 'yacht line' styling. Large, uninterrupted surfaces flow between finely sculpted horizontal lines to create a powerful, defined exterior.

In keeping with its' fluid design, Ghost is built around a steel monocoque body, with no separation of chassis and body. The advantage of this construction is a reduction on exterior dimensions while preserving interior space.

As one of Rolls-Royce's most advanced, dynamically engaging cars, Ghost embodies the 21st century Rolls-Royce; a sleek, modern expression of over 100 years of engineering and design excellence.

After the premiere in Jeddah appearances across the Middle East region will follow over the next three months, with the Ghost set to make an impact beyond several national debuts at the third edition of the EXCS International Luxury Motor Show in Riyadh at the end of October. In addition the Ghost will be seen at Jewellery Arabia, the largest and most prestigious jewellery exhibition in the Middle East, held in the Kingdom of Bahrain in November and the Kuwait International Automobile Exhibition 2009, in December.

2010 Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe - Road Test

It’s always been easy to make fun of a Rolls-Royce. “At 60 miles an hour, the loudest noise is from the ticking of the bomb planted by the IRA.” But drive a new Phantom drophead coupe and the wisecracks will, ahem, drop right out of your head. There is a 453-hp, 6.8-liter 48-valve V-12 making the car capable of zero to 60 in 5.5 seconds (much faster than the IRA moves these days) and producing a top speed of 148 miles per hour. Computer limitation keeps the Rolls from accelerating further. I did not quite reach limited velocity on the corduroy- and moon ­crater–textured squiggle of my local New Hampshire roads. Or, if I did, I’m not saying so within Google-reach of small-town police departments.

But I will say the Phantom goes faster than the stink of how rich you’d have to get to buy one. It handles with the educated precision of the Nobel Prize–winning physicist that you’d have to be to repair it. And, thanks to brake discs the size of precious and irreplaceable Edith Piaf original vinyl LPs (14.7 inches in front, 14.6 in back), the Phantom comes to a halt as abruptly as the fall in net worth among Rolls-Royce’s customers while the drophead coupe was in its poorly timed production-planning stage.

Combine the Phantom drophead coupe’s cardinal performance virtues with a 0.37 coefficient of drag (better than an E-type’s) and a six-speed automatic (two more gears than I can usually find when I’m trying to drive fast), and you get a car that makes you feel like you could win Le Mans. And you probably could win Le Mans, at least back in the day, before Gurney and Foyt and their Ford GT40 got into the act (and assuming Gurney and Foyt were driving your Rolls).

2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost Unveiled at Frankfurt

Roughly a week ago, the 2009 Frankfurt Auto Show wrapped up an exciting ten or so days of new cars being paraded around for industry insiders. A few days ago I presented a video clip in this blog documenting what Edmunds.com believed to be highlights of the Frankfurt festivities. One of the new cars coming out that caught my attention was the 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost. So I spent this evening doing some digging around on what this latest Rolls-Royce production model was all about, and this video is the best synopsis of this classy ride.

This video produced by CarAndDriver.com goes through all the neat interior and exterior features of the 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost. This new Ghost is nothing like the car of the same name made in Britain in the early 1900's - the technology within is beyond state of the art and genuinely clever (check out the back doors that close themselves with the press of a button!). This new Rolls has a retractable hood ornament (thieves be damned!) and a beautiful V12 engine that can go 0-60 in 4.7 seconds. Some critics claim that the 2010 Ghost, while bearing some internal and external similarities to the Rolls Phantom, is perhaps a more modest, "everyday driver", at least as far as Rolls-Royce goes. But you better be an everyday baller if you wanna get one of these - estimated U.S. cost is rumored to be around $250K.

Rolls-Royce 200EX RR4

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has confirmed further details about the production version of 200EX, the experimental car shown at the Geneva motor show early in March 2009.

Rolls-Royce CEO, Tom Purves announced the details at a press conference in New York where 200EX is currently being shown to potential customers on the first leg of a world tour.

Speaking at the event, Mr Purves said, “There has been a great deal of interest in this car since we first talked about producing a new model series in the autumn of 2006 and the reaction 200EX received at its unveiling at Geneva was very positive. As we move another step closer to the start of production at Goodwood, it is exciting to be able to share some of the specific technical details with customers and the media.”

He continued, “RR4 will deliver an authentic Rolls-Royce experience to owners, so expect peerless comfort and build quality. However, we have consciously engineered this car to be more involving and dynamic for those owners around the world that will wish to drive it themselves.”

RR4 will be powered by a brand new 6.6 litre turbo charged V12 engine unique to Rolls-Royce. The engine will be combined with an 8-speed automatic ZF gearbox. This new drive-train will significantly improve fuel and CO2 efficiency over the already class leading Phantom series of cars. Engine power will be upwards of 500bhp.

Further details about RR4 will be released over the coming months.

Rolls-Royce 200EX






Rolls Royce RR4