What makes Rolls-Royces special, besides astronomical price tags, hedonistic luxury, minuscule production numbers, and outsized presence? Clever details, of course! We had a 2014 Wraith coupe in the office this week, and we thought it would be fun to show some of what Goodwood put into its cars to make them unique. Enjoy—preferably with Mozart’s Flute Concerto No. 2 in D Major playing in the background.
Bent-Wood Door-Panel Trim: Currently exclusive to the Wraith, these gorgeous wood door panels are simply stunning. Each section is grain-matched—with the grains angled at exactly 55 degrees—to the one fitted to the opposite door. Interested? That’ll be $12,500, please.
Built-In Umbrellas: Fitted as standard equipment, these umbrellas feature inlaid “RR” logos on their handles and deploy from within the front fenders at the push of a button. Accessible when the doors are open, this feature debuted on the Phantom, where they pop out of the doors themselves. They are ejected with surprising alacrity.
Electronic-Closing Doors: Indulgent, perhaps, but quite useful when the portals in question are wide-opening—and quite heavy—suicide doors. In the Wraith, the driver and passenger can press and hold a button situated near each quarter-windows to motor the doors closed. The driver can also control the passenger’s aperture, as well as the power-operated trunklid. We’re pretty sure the doors have sensors so they won’t chop off an errant paparazzo’s arm, but we were too chicken to actually test it lest we bruise the Wraith’s $9450 paint job.
Weighted Rolls-Royce Wheel Caps: One of the better-known Rolls-Royce details, the wheel centers are weighted so the “RR” logo never suffers the indignity of being displayed upside-down. After all, you’d never see a member of the Royal Family in such a compromising position.
Starlight Headliner: We’re split over whether Rolls’ glitzy headliner is Lincoln Town Car limo cheesy or Fifth Avenue cool. But it’s certainly impressive given how much time and effort go into the hand placement of 1340 fiber-optic nodes in the Wraith’s leather headliner. The option costs a staggering $12,925.
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(Bonus) Spirit of Ecstasy: A Rolls-Royce isn’t a Rolls-Royce without the Spirit of Ecstasy perched in her usual place above the iconic grille. As with all modern Rolls-Royces, the Wraith’s lady can be set to automatically lower into the body when the car is parked. (If you choose to leave her in place, she will speedily retract if tampered with.) What’s more, the settings menu in the 10.3-inch central infotainment display will allow you to raise or lower the ornament while on the move, which is both hugely entertaining and massively distracting. Wraith buyers can choose from the standard chrome Spirit, one with an LED ring at its base that lights when the car is parked ($3635), a gold-plated version ($9100), or a crystal-like polycarbonate example that glows with embedded LED lighting ($7100).
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