I drove the electric Rolls Royce Spectre – every inch of it has impeccable luxury and engineering excellence
TO be a chauffeur in a Rolls-Royce you have to pass what they call the “champagne test”.
That’s being able to drive your VIP in the back without spilling Dom Perignon down their £5,000 dress.
The conundrum Rolls faced when developing Spectre is that when electric cars accelerate — even the cheaper ones — they leave your head buried in the back of the headrest.
The solution?
Rolls added an artificial delay to the throttle so it takes off nice and smoothly and naturally. Not like a jet-heeled Tesla.
The Spirit of Ecstasy figurine sitting atop the stately front grille is not allowed to jump or dive under acceleration or braking.
That’s not to say Spectre is slow. Because it isn’t.
It’s 584hp and 900Nm. Similar to a Rolls V12 petrol.
Actually, everything is just as a Rolls should be — impeccable craftmanship, second-to-none luxury, whisper-quiet.
Art meets engineering excellence. It just happens to be electric.
The experience of driving — or being driven in — a Spectre in the daytime is truly satisfying. Like gliding inches above the ground on a magic carpet.
Strip club
But at night, when thousands of tiny starlights in the headliner and doors come alive, it is magical. There is no other word for it.
No other car comes close.
Arrive at your destination to find the heavens have opened?
That’s OK, darling. Your hair won’t go all limp and frizzy. There’s an umbrella hidden in the door opening.
Those huge rear-hinged doors are pure theatre, by the way.
Press the brake pedal and the driver’s door closes automatically.
The illuminated front grille gives Spectre even more presence at night. Sounds naff but looks class.
The centre caps on the 23in wheels are self-levelling so the R-R logos are always the right way up.
You can even have the digital driver’s screen colour-coded to match your upholstery.
Every inch of this car has been finessed to make it the best it can possibly be.
Apart from maybe one thing. The Rolls-Royce app is called Whispers.
Sounds like a strip club.
Wait until the other half sees “Whispers” on a bank statement. Questions will be asked.
Spectre costs £330k. Yet most customers are dropping another £100k on personalisation.
Order books are full until 2025.
The 102kWh battery provided by owner BMW has an official WLTP range of 329 miles.
More like 270 miles in reality. But if you are travelling that far in one go, you’d take the helicopter.
Or go in another motor.
Because the average Rolls owner has SEVEN cars in their garages.
Here’s another number for you: Spectre weighs almost three tons.
But it has the biggest air suspension of any car in the world to help mask that bulk.
Rolls has said that every new model from now on will be pure electric.
So expect Spectre to be followed by a battery-powered SUV (like Cullinan) and a four-door limo (like Phantom).
Maybe even a convertible (like Dawn) one day?
I think we all agree. If ever a car suited a smooth, silent, non-smelly powertrain it’s a Roller.
Boss Torsten Muller-Otvos said: “Spectre is a Rolls-Royce first and an electric car second. It is the most perfect product that we have ever produced.”
I’ll drink to that.
Key facts
ROLLS-ROYCE SPECTRE
Price: £330,000
Battery: 102kWh
Power: 584hp, 900Nm
0-62mph: 4.5 secs
Top speed: N/A
Range: 329 miles
Charging: 80% in 34 mins
CO2: 0g/km