As far as conditions for taking a Rolls-Royce for a test-drive go, it was less than ideal. The roads were beginning to fill with cranky rush-hour commuters struggling to get home, the skies were heavy and ominous with the promise of a thunderstorm to come, and the last thing the weather-beaten roads of Petaling Jaya needed was a five-metre-long behemoth of a car strutting out. Undeterred, The Peak headed to Putrajaya in Rolls-Royce’s brand new Wraith to put it through its paces.
It didn’t take long for the first fat raindrops to fall, and visibility was quickly reduced to a paltry 10-metres as the heavens unleashed their fury on the hot, humid and congested highways. Despite facing slippery roads and a near-horizontal wall of torrential rain, the Wraith was completely unperturbed by the adverse conditions outside, remaining rock solid throughout the drive even when pushed to lawbreaking speeds of 160kph.
The Wraith packs a leviathan 6.6-litre twin turbo V12 petrol engine and is the most powerful Rolls-Royce to date. Its sheer power and solidity was matched only by the seamlessness of the eight-speed automatic transmission that delivered a driving experience as smooth as butter. This was made possible by the innovative new Satellite Aided Transmission (SAT), which uses GPS data to predict the driver’s next move and takes into account the road’s gradient and nature of bends to select the ideal gear without requiring driver input. Rolls-Royce has even gone as far as to remove the gear revolution metre on the dashboard for the purpose of reducing visual clutter. And as expected of a car whose name literally means ‘ghost’ in the Scottish dialect, it should come as no surprise that the Wraith is all but silent, both within and without.
Compared to the marque’s other offerings, Ghost and the Phantom, the Wraith positions drivers at a lower height to reflect its more aggressive and agile nature as a coupé. While it’s not small or light by any stretch of the imagination, the 2,360kg Wraith is slimmer and sleeker than its larger siblings, with looks that are more menacing.
Its trademark grille, inspired by the Pantheon in Rome, is deeper and wider, almost snarly, and serves to give the Wraith a ‘Darth Vader’ vibe when matched with the two-toned diamond-black and silver-sand exterior finishing. Even the trademark sculpture, the Spirit of Ecstasy, mounted on the bonnet is angled lower as if it is about to race ahead.
Despite the focus on performance, Rolls-Royce says the Wraith is not its take on a sports car. The Wraith is still as blue-blooded and true to the brand’s DNA as any of its stable mates. And that means it offers that gratuitous yet breathtaking level of extravagance expected of a Rolls-Royce. Here, the traditional rear-hinged coach doors, complete with frameless windows, make their return and, despite being highly impractical in most circumstances, they are universally adored for their old world charm, serving to mellow out the Wraith’s brutal and imposing demeanour.
As we stepped past the immense coach doors, we were greeted to an interior that is simply fabulous – as in Phantom-level type of fabulous. This cocoon of opulence is created through the harmony of the luscious ‘Canadel’ open-grained wood panels, the acres of sumptuous leather seating and wool carpets deep and fluffy enough to lose a toddler – just the kind of materials one expects to find in a multi-million dollar yacht. And for the first time outside of the Phantom line, a celestial starlight headliner in the ceiling is offered, featuring thousands of tiny fibre optic lamps painstakingly woven by hand into the fabric for passengers to lose themselves in its beauty on those long road trips.
What is noteworthy is how modernity co-exists with tradition in this Rolls-Royce; it comes with the best multimedia and connective technologies amidst a traditional setting to ensure that occupants are never out of touch with the world around them. In addition to a 10.25-inch HD multimedia display located in the dashboard behind a sliding wood panel, the Wraith also features Bluetooth connectivity, wireless hotspot, as well as 18 in-house designed speakers that deliver active surround sound.
For the icing on the cake, there is a wide array of bespoke options that gives owners the freedom to add literally anything into the Wraith. These include fitting cigar or timepiece holders in the armrests, outfitting the boot space with a portable picnic set, complete with fine porcelain and silverware, engraving one’s name onto any surface, and even conceiving an exclusive patented colour scheme that owners hold the rights to. To quote a representative from Rolls-Royce: “You’re only limited by your imagination.â€
It’s no exaggeration to say that if there is just one car to own in the world, it would be a Wraith. Rolls-Royce has once again created a physical manifestation of perfection itself.
