Autoblog Consumer Editor Jeremy Korzeniewski spends a week behind the wheel of a 2015 Rolls-Royce Ghost and finds what it's like to live on the other side.
Transcript[CAR STARTING]
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Hey, everybody. This is Jeremy Korzeniewski with Autoblog, and we are in a 2015 Rolls-Royce Ghost. It's probably more appropriate to say that it's the smaller or the slightly less expensive Rolls-Royce when compared to the Phantom. For 563 horsepower out of the twin turbo V12 engine, it's got an eight-speed automatic transmission. The shifts are, for all intents and purposes, imperceptible, 575 pound-feet of torque, I think.
This car starts at something like $290,000, maybe a little bit less than that, but it's fair to round up at that price. So I was a little surprised by how few options it comes for that price. This particular model, optioned as it is, is about $100,000 more than that. It's $383,000. That's the sticker price roughly.
Some of the options it comes with, $3,000 for the leather piping on the seats, over $1,000, I believe, for the lacquered rear tray tables for the two backseat passengers, heated and cooled and massaging front and rear seats, the dual-pane panoramic moon roof. Those are all optional things. And it really seems like if you're buying a Rolls-Royce, I don't know how you buy it without those options. Maybe they should just be standard, and maybe you should just charge $350,000 for the car right off the bat.
This car happens to be a beautiful shade of blue. It's called salamanca blue. The interior is seashell and navy. It's a beautiful color combination. It's not the color combination you would choose if you wanted to fly under the radar, probably silver, gray, white. People wouldn't notice quite as much, but that's kind of defeating the purpose of driving a Rolls-Royce in the first place, I think.
So what are the drawbacks of driving a Rolls-Royce? Well, it is a big car. The hood is extremely long. I didn't take a tape measure out, but I parked next to a Volkswagen New Beetle, and you could fit that car in the wheelbase of this car. And it's not easy to drive down narrow streets. Here in Seattle, the streets are lined with cars on both sides. And sometimes it's a little difficult navigating a car this large through narrow city streets.
Should you buy a $383,000 Rolls-Royce? Is it worth that kind of money for this kind of car? And I suppose the answer is absolutely. If you've got the money to spend, if you want to drive around in the most luxurious, most iconic luxury car that there is, yes. You should absolutely buy a Rolls-Royce. And with that, it's time to go. I hope you've enjoyed watching. I have enjoyed driving this car. I've got one more day with the Rolls-Royce Ghost, and I'm going to make the most of it. Thanks again.
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