First Drive: Rolls‑Royce Cullinan

The idea of a super-luxury SUV is no longer anathema to most people - Bentley bravely fought that battle with the Bentayga. After Cullinan you can expect to see Ferrari’s SUV and Aston’s crossover. McLaren say they never will, but we’ll see. It’s the new fiscal reality we live in.

And actually, it’s not such a new reality. Rolls-Royce has been off-roading since the start of the 20th century. Not only did T.E. Lawrence cross the Sinai Peninsular in armoured Silver Ghosts, but in 1907 a Silver Ghost travelled the length of India, in 1922 the Tank Corps took them to Africa and a Silver Shadow even took part in the Paris-Dakar. So yah-boo-sucks to all you SUV haters out there.

The Cullinan has the same slab-sided appearance as the Bentayga, but looks more comfortable in that skin - the Phantom is hardly a small car, after all, and sits pretty high off the ground.

The Cullinan is a new car from the ground up, made of aluminium panels, sharing only the four corners with the new Phantom. The dimensions are vast, the bonnet almost at shoulder height, the rear boot, which conceals a split tailgate, with a pert bustle.

Inside, Rolls-Royce customers will feel entirely at home - there are the familiar buttons to close the doors from inside, for a start. The four doors open outwards from the B-pillars to reveal an Aladdin’s cave of luxury. There are deep lambswool carpets, the finest leathers tightly sewn, perforated and embroidered. Customers can choose from a range of open-grain woods, from pale oak to dark, smoked teak, and the leather pallets range from sombre creams and blacks to vibrant oranges and reds.

In the back, customers, or “patrons of luxury” as Rolls so delightfully refers to them, can choose a standard bench seat for three adults or two individual seats separated by a huge console housing campaign flutes and whisky decanters and other such essentials. A unique option is a glass partition separating rear passengers from the luggage compartment, to save rear occupants getting chilled when the tailgate is open.

In three-seat form, the rear seat backs fold electronically, with the head rests sliding forward to allow the backs to lie completely flush. At the touch of another button, the boot floor rises to create a ramp to the ridge of the rear seats, for a completely flat floor to load long items. When everything’s down, the Cullian has a longer load space than the Range Rover Extended Wheelbase.

In the front, Rolls has thankfully kept the thin steering wheel. The familiar power reserve dial is still there, as is the gear lever mounted to the right of the steering wheel. BMW’s fantastic infotainment system and touchscreen has best-in-class resolution graphics, and the sound system is bespoke for Rolls-Royce, with amazing high-end clarity, bass and surround sound.

Gently push the starter button and the 6.75-litre V12 engine ticks silently into life. Twirl the steering wheel lightly and the huge 22in wheels turn. The bonnet, although not as decadently long as the Phantom’s, still has presence, with the Spirit of Ecstasy pricking the horizon.

Press firmly on the throttle pedal and the nose lifts amusingly into the air, the rear dampers pushing the tyres to Tarmac for maximum traction.

This is the first Rolls-Royce with power directed to the front wheels. Under normal road conditions, 80 per cent of power will go to the rear, but venture off-road, and up to half the power can be directed forwards for better traction.

In keeping with the understated luxury of the marque, the Cullinan has just one button marked “off road”. Push it, and you can then select one of three modes on the touch screen for various levels of traction. There’s another button for hill descent control (there’s no low-range box, so it just brakes individual wheels), which you can set as low as 2mph.

Off-roading in a Rolls is a disorienting experience, unless the Cullinan is your first taste of the marque. It seems indecent to be throwing the Sprit of Ecstasy over rough terrain, rocks slapping the hand-painted aluminium, wheels scraping high banks. On the other hand, it feels terribly like one is back in the glory days of the Empire, fighting for territory, pushing on through the bush, establishing the new frontier. One thing’s for sure - you barely feel a whisper of tyre hitting rock - that waftability maintains off-road, which is due in no small part to bigger air struts creating more volume between jolting tyre and cosseted passenger. This is a genuine new concept: the Rolls-Royce of off-roading. It turns out, that’s a very discombobulating thing indeed, which we think, in the end, is rather a good thing: not many cars are head scratchers as well as head turners these days. It also proves Rolls hasn’t just rested on its laurels, but realised how much was at stake for the brand with the launch of an SUV, and worked hard to assimilate the Cullinan into the existing family. It has pulled it off with elan. If you’re one of the lucky few who can afford to take your next skiing holiday in Jackson Hole, expect to see a few Cullinans around town.

Stat attack:

Engine: 6.75-litre petrol twin-turbo V12

Transmission: eight-speed auto, four-wheel drive

PS/Nm: 560/850

0-60mph: 5sec

Top speed: 155mph

Price from: £210,000 exc local taxes