Ghost as a family car

[sealtt]

Hi, I have a young family - child and a small baby. Currently we have a Range Rover which is the family hauler and is absolutely great at that.

Interested in changing for something different this year if there is anything that is actually better! Hard to find anything better but I've always liked the look of Rolls Royce and the Ghost seems a good starting point.

So just wanted to get some feedback on the car as a family car, baby seats, pram, long distance trips to relatives, day to day durability for school run, going to beach, carrying around the regular crap, parking around town, etc.

Any advice how it will stack up against the Range Rover, or at least how well it will work as a family car?

I live a little while from a dealer so wanted some initial feedback to see if it's worth a look or just a non starter.

Thanks

[sealtt]

stain said:

It'll do most things just fine. The rear hinged doors actually make inserting children into the back a doddle but the boot isn't the biggest for prams etc. Parking can be an issue due to size and potential envy damage. And a Ghost will cause quite a stir on the school run which may not be the effect your kids will thank you for. The interior trim is quite durable but hugely expensive should your kids break any of it. In all other respects it makes a fine family car.

Thanks for the comments. I had thought that the doors might make it easier, but I'm definitely apprehensive about the pram fitting in the boot. Will just have to go and try it with our specific pram, the dealer said they could bring the car (approved used) down to me but didn't want to waste their time if it was a non starter. I suppose then the idea of pram, luggage, etc all in the boot for summer holidays might be a bit ambitious.. that sort of thing is what makes it so hard to replace the Range Rover.

My eldest girl is very good at respecting the cars, but it remains to be seen how the baby is going to be! So will keep that in mind when assessing the interior's durability, though a light colour leather is a 100% must for me I find most leather seats clean up easily.

I'm not too worried about the image here, we live in a coastal area where it's a bit different to most of the UK in that regard (thank god!!). So can't see it being much of a thing at the school.

What are residual value expectations like for these cars? I would be expecting to spend no more than £125k on a car, so towards the bottom of the price curve for this model. I know buying in at that price point on a 40% depreciated Bentley you'd still see huge losses, is it the same with a Rolls Royce Ghost? I would hope to take no more than a £40k-£50k hit over 2-3 years, is that realistic?

Otherwise it's just a case of going and testing it and seeing if I (/ we) fall in love to make the reduced practicality worth the change of cars.


I also wonder if anyone has experience with London Berkley Sq Rolls Royce - I am a couple of hours from them, would you expect them to be good at collecting the car for any repairs, sorting everything out painlessly, etc?

[sealtt]

CAPP0 said:

Someone used to park one in the underground car park at my previous office and the one obvious thing was that it was huge - much longer than my FFRR - so parking may be an issue?

Yes I had noticed that it was quite a bit longer that the Range Rover Vogue, which is a little mad!

But my issue is normally with the width of the Range Rover in parking spaces and I don't think the Ghost is any wider... so hoping that it will be manageable for most car parks.

[sealtt]

Thank you Stain, very helpful.

[sealtt]

Thanks for comments, never heard back from the dealer in London and the car is gone now so presume sold.

However I've been thinking about it and from comments and online reading I think I'd only want to buy a new-er one for reliability reasons. That then puts it up to £160k at which point I'm not a buyer.

[sealtt]

Wow, well after a test drive in a new S63 AMG Cabriolet, I have totally thrown the Ghost idea out the window!

Absolutely stunned by the S class AMG, so far superior to any car I have ever driven. Just amazing interior quality, execution of technology, interior design, comfort, engine smoothness, etc. It really has got the 'x' factor which makes it seem like it's a car that belongs to someone far richer & more glamorous than me! It even has that expensive stench of leather you'd normally expect to be exclusive to likes of Rolls Royce. I have recently test driven a brand new £180k-£200k spec Bentley GTC and that was not a touch on the S Class, not in any way trying to say the GTC is bad, just trying to explain how good that new S63 Cabriolet is. A real gem of a car and very well priced given the quality & competition.

I am going to keep my Range Rover though as it is too good of a family car, especially with the baby, and will trade in my sports car and Evoque instead to get the S63 Cabriolet as soon as I can.