First Drive: Rolls-Royce Ghost Black Badge 2022 Review

Many years ago in my first job, I worked at a little agency on the edges of Soho. Long hours were nothing unusual and the local minicab firm was often visited after the last tube had left. It was the usual offerings of Mondeos and Vectras but on one occasion the owner told me, with a wink, “you’re going to like this one” and summoned a Rolls-Royce from the ranks. OK, this was a brown 1970s Shadow of dubious provenance, but it still made 20-something me feel special as it glided through the drunks in Soho. It was decidedly not cool however, lacking any sort of edge to its presence.

Rolls-Royce has done much to revise its image since the days of the metalflake brown Shadows however, particularly with the Black Badge series that has helped bring the average age of its customers down into the 30s. Latest in this lineage is the Ghost Black Badge which promises, of all things, the Rolls-Royce equivalent of a Sports Mode. You can hear the retired Colonels choking on their Pink Gins from here, can’t you? We went to Budapest to find out whether the Black Badge can mix it on the mean streets.

As is often the case with second generation cars, the Ghost has received a comprehensive nip and tuck, taking the first model as a template and tautening, sculpting and smoothing all round. Side-by-side the two cars could be the automotive equivalent of the ‘before and after’ ads you see for personal training. The headlights have been slimmed down which, rather perversely, has made them more of a feature of the front of the car, but the real change is the famed grille, the top of which flows back into the bonnet rather than sitting proud of it while the slats are machine polished.

The upper and lower body creases are sharper, with a hand-painted coachline accentuating the shoulder line and reducing some of its heft. Stripes are apparently slimming on cars too and yes, they really are applied freehand by one of only three people at the Goodwood factory with the eye and the steady nerves to do so. The rear is less defined, a victim of having a truly gargantuan boot, but the Black Badge tweaks, including the dechroming and the unique diamond cut wheels with carbon fibre barrels sharpen the car’s look still further.

When Rolls-Royce adopted the twin-turbocharged V12 from BMW the power output of its cars went from ‘sufficient’ to ‘steady on’. It became a not unusual sight to see a Ghost hunting down sportscars at the Goodwood Motor Circuit, at least on the straights. The Ghost Black Badge ups the ante yet again into ‘oh I say’ territory with power going up 29PS and torque 50Nm for a grand total of 600PS (441kW) and an astonishing 900Nm (664lb ft). What the Black Badge also adds is, for the first time, the Rolls-Royce equivalent of a sport mode. Labelled ‘Low’ and accessed via a button on the steering column stalk-mounted gearchange, it halves the gearchange time, makes the full 900Nm available from just 1,700rpm and – monocle drop – increases the exhaust noise.

Full bore starts do border on violent as this 2,490kg car is hurled to 60mph in 4.5 seconds, a few tenths quicker than the standard Ghost. Thankfully the brakes are both strong and smooth in their application to haul everything back to more stately speeds. We were fortunate enough to drive the Ghost at the Hungaroring of all places where the delightfully thin rimmed steering wheel gave little clue what the front tyres were up to, but it heeled over far less than expected due to beefed up air springs and a system that uses the cameras to prepare the car for upcoming corners. Everything remained tidy and secure however, thanks to the all-wheel drive and four-wheel steering. The latter came into its own on Budapest’s narrower streets while the numerous potholes we encountered in a more industrial sector of the city were dealt with with aplomb, as one might expect.

How much really needs saying about the interior of a modern Rolls-Royce other than it is exactly as exquisite as one would expect? There are of course some differences with the Black Badge to reflect its positioning. Chief amongst them is that, in place of the traditional timber cladding the dashboard doors and centre console, there is a stunning carbon fibre weave incorporating strands of aluminium that together produce an intricate and slightly mesmerising three-dimensional effect.

Naturally, the doors are equipped with the Rolls-Royce umbrellas – that can be provided in two colours to match two-tone leather options. Our car also came with both a champagne chiller and whisky decanter compartment. And until you have seen one, don’t dismiss the Rolls-Royce Starliner headliner as a gimmick until you have experienced it; it is genuinely charming in action.

The dashboard of the Ghost is now a digital and analogue mix, but well executed so the traditional and modern complement rather than detract from each other. There is of course much technology that we have come to expect from most new cars today including radar-guided cruise control, 360-degree camera systems to aid parking and manoeuvring, night vision, LED headlights, WiFi and a Heads-up display. Parent company BMW was one of the first to tackle the burgeoning demands of a modern Human Machine Interface (HMI) with its iDrive system, and today that means a rotary controller supplemented by dedicated buttons, lag free actions and common-sense menu structures.

There is also plenty of unexpected, higher-end tech to be enjoyed. The previously mentioned system of cameras to prepare the cars for corners has the portentous name of ‘Flagbearer’ while the Satellite Aided Transmission pinpoints the car anywhere in the world to make sure it is in the correct gear for where it is and what it is doing. Meanwhile your damp umbrella will be drying in its compartment thanks to blasts of hot air, while you won’t even hear the HVAC system thanks to felt-lined ducts.

The Ghost, like any modern Rolls-Royce, was already a phenomenal product with the company now a standard bearer for clever and intuitive technology as well as luxury and comfort. The Black Badge helps position it as a product worthy of consideration for the tech bros and other modern millionaires who would have looked askance at the sort of image that a Shadow projected. Black Badge variants now account for between three and four in 10 Rolls-Royces purchased. If you have the means, I can highly recommend picking one up.