Cars and Drivers

Rolls-Royce Ghost Reaps Award as Best Luxury Car

Paul Ausick

Published: January 14, 2016 11:10 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 3:02 pm

The experts at the U.K.’s What Car? car-buying website have announced their best cars of 2016 awards in 15 style categories and four general categories. They chose the new Audi A4 as their car of the year, and in the luxury category, What Car? chose the Rolls-Royce Ghost Series II extended wheelbase model.

By definition, a luxury car in this ranking costs more than £100,000 (about $144,000 at the current exchange rate), and the Ghost II easily qualifies with a list price of £250,272 (about $360,000).

What does a buyer get for that cash? For starters, a 6.6-liter, twin-turbo V12 engine that develops 563 bhp that claims a top speed of 155 mph and highway fuel economy of 20 mpg. The car moves quickly too, from a standing start to 60 mph in 4.8 seconds. Pretty good for a car that weighs nearly 5,500 pounds.

The Ghost Series II was introduced to U.S. customers at the New York auto show in 2014, and according to RR:

[The] Ghost Series II offers the latest technological advances to our growing base of highly-successful customers – the Captains of Industry, entrepreneurs and successful business men and women who are the wealth and job creators in our economies – consolidating Ghost’s position as the most popular car in the $250,000+ class and a cornerstone of Rolls-Royce’s success.

Regarding the What Car? award, the company said, “This marks a decade of dominance for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars in this prestigious class within the What Car? Awards, and the second win in succession for Ghost Series II.”