2021 Rolls-Royce Wraith

The impressive performance of the Wraith coupe despite its heft is from a 6.6-liter twin-turbo V12 engine that produces upwards of 600 hp and torque. There have only been minor changes made to the almost perfect Wraith and hence RR has decided against making any changes for the 2021 model year. Although there aren’t any real direct rivals to any Roll Royce, buyers also consider the likes of Aston Martin DB11, Bentley Continental GT, Ferrari GTC4 Lusso, and Mercedes-AMG S65 coupe when on the lookout for an ultra ultra-premium sports coupe that comes with a sticker price of $332,000 just to begin with.

Rolls-Royce does not really believe in trims bifurcation and hence the Wraith does not get any trims whatsoever and comes with a plethora of features and luxurious amenities as standard. And that’s not all, there is also the unending list of personalizations and customizations on offer that can be added for an added premium apart from the optional packages and features that also cost a fortune. 

Which trim should you buy?

As the list of options and customization features are unending there is no limit to how many permutations one can get a Rolls-Royce in, and since budget usually isn’t really a concern for the majority of RR buyers, our regular warning of the final price to be made going sky high also goes out the window. 

The 2021 Wraith is powered by a 6.6-liter twin-turbo V12 engine under its hood that has helped many other Rolls-Royce cars keep them agile off their feet due to their expertise in motorsports for over a century. The engine is paired up with an eight-speed automatic transmission that sends power to the rear wheels only. The engine output is rated for a massive 624 hp and 605 lb-ft of torque.

That much grunt under its hood is enough to propel this large and rather bloated luxury car to a pretty impressive 0-60 mph timing of 4.3 seconds. It also covers the quarter-mile drag strip in well under 13 seconds as it has an abundant amount of torque that hits you in the face from as low as just 1,500 rpm. And although the Wraith is a luxury coupe, the engine is equally throaty when pushed hard and has a melodious exhaust tune for the enthusiast in you. 

Though the starting prices and actual prices that you end up paying for the car don’t really have any connection, to get things cleared, the 2021 RR Wraith starts at an MSRP of $332,000 and is one of the most expensive coupes on offer. The performance obviously isn’t as quick as its rivals but the Ferrari GTC4 Lusso costs almost the same and is only about half a second quicker. The Bentley Continental GT on the other hand is the quickest of the lot with the massive W12 engine’s output and also costs much less than its peers. 

How does the 2021 Rolls-Royce Wraith Coupe handle?

Rolls-Royce is known to make opulent and supple cars and razor-sharp handling is not one of its fortes and although the Wraith does better than its siblings in this regard, there is no running away from the fact that it weighs more than most SUVs sold in the market today. Therefore, there is no point chucking the Wraith into corners at high speeds and rather take it too slow into the corners while catapulting it out of the corner with its massive reserves of power on offer. 

The adaptive suspension is very well-tuned by the RR engineers and it not only flattens the road undulations effortlessly but also manages to keep this land yacht pretty much planted in the corners when pushing hard. It is an accomplished cruiser at high speeds and comes loaded with smart technology like a transmission that is aided by satellite positioning, which reads the road ahead and plans gears accordingly to offer a seamless experience. 

2021 Rolls-Royce Wraith Braking Performance

The braking performance of any vehicle that weighs well over 5,000 lbs is never expected to be exceptional if you ask any pundits of the industry. But as Rolls-Royce had decided to wow and surprise us with their Wraith coupe model, this too comes in as a surprise for many. The large 14.7-inch front and 14.6-inch rear brakes do extremely well to halt the massive 5,380 lbs car in a braking distance of just 109 feet in a panic braking 0-60 mph scenario. 

This exceptional performance brings the Wraith in line with much more performance-oriented cars available in the market. The Continental GT weighs over 5,000 lbs and it too has a class-leading braking performance to offer. The Aston Martin DB11 matches the stopping distance of the Bentley which is the shortest in this comparison. The Ferrari on the other hand struggles in this regard and travels the farthest in spite of weighing much lesser than the Wraith. 

The heft of the Wraith in itself is enough to justify its fuel-gulping nature and add to that the performance-oriented nature to it, one can not at all expect any sort of decent fuel efficiency figures. But then many of the Rolls-Royce owners themselves own an oil refinery, so fuel efficiency doesn’t really cross their minds at all. Therefore, all that matters is the driving range which isn’t the greatest at around 300 miles, which means frequent gas station visits. 

Both the Continental GT and Ferrari GTC4 Lusso are extremely powerful and offer exceptional acceleration performance and hence also have much higher fuel consumption. The Ferrari gulps the gas the most, while the DB11 does marginally better than the Wraith. Aston Martin on the other hand does really well in this regard, returning very respectable fuel economy figures which together with a sizable gas tank, offers a pretty long driving range. 

The star of any Rolls-Royce is a stunning handcrafted interior which is what costs the premium and is also the major reason for anybody opting for a Rolls-Royce. It is nothing less than a 7-star luxury hotel on wheels and the attention to detail and finesse is next to nothing. Everything is covered in extra premium quality materials like real wood, sumptuous leather, carbon fiber, and even the plastics have a premium feel to them. 

In terms of cabin space, it is no limousine but the bucket seats at the rear offer a pretty decent space to comfortably sit an average-sized American. The headroom is obviously tight but the legroom is in fact better than many compact sedans and almost on par with some midsize sedans. The front seats though are the place to be in a GT coupe where drivers of all sizes would be able to find their perfect seating position very easily. 

The rear seat occupants will find ingress and egress pretty easy, despite being a 2-door coupe due to the power rear seat easy entry option for the front seats and the wide-opening doors. There is no shortage of features as Wraith claims to offer a sporty performance without compromising the luxe appeal of a Rolls-Royce, but there are even more features that can be added to the Wraith as optional extras to further spec the cabin to personal needs. 

The trunk of the 2021 Wraith is pretty large as well, measuring over 16 cu-ft, which is also on par with many midsize sedans. Most rivals struggle the most in this regard as the DB11 has the smallest boot which is only good to carry just a couple of luggage while that of the Continental GT can accommodate one extra. The Ferrari on the other hand does well here and offers a trunk almost on par with the Wraith. 

• 8-way direction control, power reclining, power height-adjustable, and massaging lumbar support front seats w/Power Rear Seat Easy Entry
• Front Heated Bucket Seats
• Bucket Front Facing Heated Rear Seat
• Leather Seat Trim, Door Trim Insert, and Leather Upholstered Dashboard
• Genuine Wood Interior trim w/Chrome/Aluminum Interior Accents
• Power Tilt/Telescoping Steering Column w/Auto Tilt-Away Leather Steering Wheel
• Dual Zone Front And Rear Automatic Air Conditioning w/Separate Rear AC Controls
• Memory Settings w/Door Mirrors, Steering Wheel, Audio and HVAC
• Garage Door Transmitter
• Head-Up Display

What’s there to keep you entertained?

The infotainment duties in the 2021 Wraith are taken up by the iDrive infotainment system seen on all BMW cars. The only downside to this particular unit is the lack of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto integration which is standard on many budget-oriented cars in today’s day and age. That being said, everything else that one would expect comes in as standard and the 18-speaker surround sound system comes in with external microphones to compensate for the ambient noise and enhance the overall experience, and it is in fact a treat to even to the one with the keenest ears. 

• iDrive infotainment system
• 18-speaker audio system
• DVD-Audio and 20.5 Gb Internal Memory
• Wireless Phone Connectivity and Audio Streaming
• Navigation w/Real-Time Traffic Display
• Mobile Hotspot Internet Access

The bold and imposing front end of the Wraith is synonymous with most other Rolls-Royce cars and yet the shorter footprint and sloping roofline look absolutely stunning. It feels like the ultra-rich bad boy mafias of the car fraternity. The taillight design is also very recognizable for a Rolls-Royce but the sloping tail section is similar to that of the sports cars. The premium element is continued to the exterior as well with a chrome treatment, heated glass, a power trunk with an adaptive spoiler on it, and the sporty 20-inch alloy wheels. 

Though we might have called the Wraith short just now, that is in comparison to its larger siblings. At just over 208-inch in length, it is agonizingly long which also aids in opening up more cabin and boot space. All its competitors in this comparison are much shorter and also ride much lower to the ground. The Aston Martin has the most lowered down stance here while both the Bentley and Ferrari have ground clearances lower than the Wraith.

• Programmable Projector Beam High-Intensity Low/High Beam, Daytime Running, Auto-Leveling, Directionally Adaptive Auto High-Beam Headlamps
• LED Brakelights
• Body-Colored Power w/Tilt Down Heated Auto Dimming Side Mirrors and Power Folding
• Rain Detecting Variable Intermittent Wipers w/Heated Jets
• Electrically Heated Glass
• Power Open And Close Trunk
• Chrome Grille, Side Windows Trim, and Door Handles
• 20-inch Alloy Wheels

There is no surprise with the fact that neither the government nor private safety testing agencies has crash tested the 2021 Wraith in the recent past. The extremely high value and equally low sales volumes mean that it is just too expensive to get one tested just for the sake of ratings. Considering the fact that most of the who’s who and the most influential people of the world roll in a Rolls-Royce, safety should really not be a concern for anyone. That being said, many of the modern-day driver aids are not available even as an option, but then a lot of unique safety features make their way to the Wraith, a highlight of which is mentioned below. 

• Electronic Stability Control (ESC) And Roll Stability Control (RSC)
• Rolls-Royce Assist Emergency SOS
• Lane Departure Warning
• Night Vision
• Front And Rear Parking Sensors
• 360-degree view camera
• Low Tire Pressure Warning

2021 Rolls-Royce Wraith vs Aston Martin DB11

Probably one of the oldest cars in this segment, the Aston Martin DB11 offers a lot of value at a much more affordable price tag. Keeping that aside, it is also much more frugal and has superior acceleration and braking performance to offer. It too comes loaded with features and luxurious amenities, but it is no competition to the utter exuberance and lavishness that the Rolls-Royce Wraith offers. So if that’s what you crave the most, the aging DB11 stands no ground against more modern and sophisticated Wraith. 

2021 Rolls-Royce Wraith vs Bentley Continental GT

The Bentley Continental GT is the greatest rival to the Rolls-Royce Wraith because of their similarity in nature. They both are massive premium land yachts and come with a plethora of customization features. Although Bentley does not have the novelty of a Rolls-Royce, it is quicker, marginally more frugal, and extremely luxurious on the inside. That being said, the over $100,000 makes it the obvious choice over the Wraith for many.

2021 Rolls-Royce Wraith vs Ferrari GTC4 Lusso

These two coupes as different from each other as similar they try to get to each other. While the Wraith is a luxury coupe trying its hand to be sporty, the GTC4 Lusso is a supercar that is attempting to become a luxury car as well. Therefore, they both have their own strengths and weaknesses and it’s more like comparing apples to oranges. In simple words, if sheer performance is what you seek, the Ferrari is hands down the better entertainer, while the Wraith has the opulence and grandeur that is unparalleled in the industry. 

Buying an over $300,000 Rolls-Royce coupe is more of a heart decision than a head decision. Although all Rolls-Royce cars are bought emotionally, a Rolls-Royce coupe is not what particularly comes to your mind when thinking about a performance-oriented coupe. That being said, if ultra premium finesse and luxury with utmost grandeur and opulence is what you seek from a GT cruiser, then the 2021 Rolls-Royce Wraith has you all covered.