The Rolls-Royce Wraith is a large rear-drive luxury grand tourer with seating for four passengers. A twin-turbocharged 6.6-liter V-12 is rated at 624 hp and 590 lb-ft of torque. With an eight-speed automatic transmission, the Wraith’s fuel economy is predictably not a strong point of this 12-cylinder car, at 13/21 mpg city/highway.

As the most powerful Rolls-Royce, the Wraith accelerates with authority and belies its heavy curb weight with an as-tested 0-60 mph time of 4.1 seconds, allowing it to hang with many performance cars in a straight line. The Wraith’s handling, however, isn’t up to the same standard as cars that prioritize driving dynamics, making a better cruiser than canyon carver. Ride quality remains typical Rolls-Royce, with the car gliding smoothly and quickly on the highway.

The Wraith presents like any other modern Rolls-Royce. Its tall, upright nose carries a large rectangular grille, flanked by rectangular headlights, and a relatively simple facade otherwise. In profile, it gets much more interesting, with a long, gently sloped fastback profile, smooth slab sides, and a bluff, neatly sculpted tail. The Wraith almost gives the impression of being compact and sporty until you appreciate its scale: the Wraith is 17 feet, 3 inches long, 4 feet 11 inches tall, and weighs 5,203 pounds.

Everywhere in the cabin, materials are intended to be the finest possible, and they are. Rich, soft leathers, finely crafted woods, and machined metal trim elements wrap around the occupants in both rows.

A stately ride quality is as much a Rolls-Royce trait as the Spirit of Ecstasy on the car’s bonnet, and it’s achieved in the Wraith with an electronically controlled air suspension. Seating is laid out in four individual positions, with comfort essentially at the maximum possible for a wheeled vehicle.

Crash safety, likewise, is untested, but here, the mass of the Wraith works in its favor, as does Rolls-Royce’s very solid construction and inclusion of standard safety equipment like force-limiting seat belts, smart airbags that adjust to occupant size, and the Advanced Crash Management system, which uses sensors within the car to take 2,000 measurements per second, and, in the event of an accident, to deploy the appropriate pre-emptive safety measures.