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Blithe spirit

Words: Mark Lipman .

It's the most powerful Rolls-Royce ever - but don't think of the Wraith as a sports car, says its maker .

'This isn't a sports car - it's a gentleman's well-mannered GT,' says Rolls-Royce's head of design, Giles Taylor. That may sound a bit surprising, given that the Wraith has 624 bhp on tap from its 6.6-litre twin-turbo V12, but Rolls-Royce firmly believes that With power comes responsibility'. And, in this case, your responsibility is to appear classy and serene, not arriviste and impatient. In an important sense, the company is Looking backwards with the Wraith. The name itself was first used in the Late 1930s and it's the dolce vita era of the Late 1940s/50s that Rolls-Royce is seeking to recall. Taylor admits that one of his favourite car designs is the 1947 Cisitalia 202 coupe, and says that the high-waistlined Wraith was deliberately designed for two-tone paint. The interior makes stunning use of heavily grained wood with a natural matt finish instead of the more common high-gloss Lacquer; here the inspiration was the 1950s Butterfly stool by Japanese designer Son i Yanagi. 'A Rolls-Royce is all about the materials,' adds Taylor. On the road, you notice the power, of course, but you'll also notice improved steering feel and response compared with the Ghost and Phantom; there's enough precision for you to really hustle this big, 2360kg car. And it may be a two-door coupe, but there's acres of room in the rear seats and a simply huge boot that seems to extend forwards forever. You could get a whole flight of Butterfly stools in there.

While the car is utterly silent at idle and virtually so at any legal speed, there's more than a hint of metallic menace from the V12 when you gun it, and a delightful warble under acceleration in a higher gear. Much thought went into how much exhaust note to provide, and Rolls-Royce has judged it just right. As with the 2014-spec Ghost, the Wraith has a GPS satellite-guided shift system that 'reads' the road ahead and selects the ratio in its eight-speed transmission that's best suited to the approaching corner, hill, junction or whatever. It proved impossible to explore the Limits of the car's handling on a rain-sodden Alpine test route but the impression was of a predictable and benign machine, within the parameters set by its sheer size and weight. It's staggeringly fast, too, with a claimed 0-60mph time of 4.4sec. Yet there are niggles. Initial throttle response is not Linear, with a slight delay before power comes in with a surge. It's mildly imitating on a clear road; distinctly nervewracking when backing into a tight parking space. And the gearbox in our test car would emit a very un-Rolls-tike 'clunk' when dropping down a couple of gears on a trailing throttle. But neither flaw would merit much comment were it not for the Wraith's base price of around £235,000, before options are factored in. While it may not (yet) be absolutely perfect, this is a car that will give decades of pleasure to its fortunate owner. We'd have one in a heartbeat.