Rolls-Royce Spectre II Black Badge: 'I test drove the new Rolls-Royce - it is astonishingly quick and extravagantly elegant'

This is my latest jaunt in a Rolls-Royce and another visit to the fabulous Grantley Hall hotel and wellness centre near Ripon with its manicured lawns and stunning restaurants.

But it’s not just any Roller: it’s Spectre II, the updated and improved electric car which is quietly, very quietly, turning heads where ever it goes.

I say very quietly, but even by hushed standards of Rolls-Royce where the noisiest feature is usually the ticking of the clock, this motor is incredibly noise-free.

A slight resonant hum or a satisfying rumble of tyre on gravel is about the biggest sound this superlative sports car will emit.

I turned up in a decent motor (BMW iX3 if you must know, yours for £60,000 or so and a roadtest report will follow) and quickly worked out I could get six of those for the price of the Spectre II Black Badge.

Still. That’s not the point. If ever a car was an emotional purchase, this is it.

If you wish to get from A to B as cheaply as possibly in your own car, then get a Dacia Spring (at £11,990 each you could buy at my calculation 32 for the price of this model).

But high-achievers queue up quietly for the best cars in the world and this model is in demand.

It is second in the RR league table of sales (or commissions as the company prefers to call them) behind Cullinan and ahead of Ghost.

The price? Well, Rolls-Royce don’t talk “starting from” prices because it’s not relevant with a brand which sells bespoke models.

Every model, just about, is tailored to a customer’s individual requirement. Special colour? No problem. Specific wood trim? Sorted. And so on.

Spectre, I’m told, sells on average for £400,000 when all the individual extras are added.

Spectre Series II starts at £280,000 and the Black Badge model starts at £325,000. Nobody, even in frugal Yorkshire, settles at that.

So, what’s it like to drive? Stunningly simple and exceptionally smooth.

You quickly forget you are driving a large coupe worth the price of a detached house but press you right foot to the floor and you quickly realise this car can shift.

It takes a fraction of a second for the message to travel from right foot to the transmission to make this vehicle turns from a sedate cruiser to a rocketship.

It looks smart. Very long and no doubt a problem to park but this is not an everyday runabout. People who buy Spectres have humbler wheels for supermarket trips. This is more of an elegant tourer.

Tested here is an Ethereal Blue model. Not my favourite colour, I must say, because it reminded me of spearmint toothpaste but I suggest this car would look classier in a more subtle royal blue or radiant red.

It is a coupe with two plus two seats but there is more space than you might expect in the rear.

Since its introduction in 2022, Spectre has become one of the most significant and celebrated Rolls-Royce cars of the modern era, widely praised for its timeless design, serene performance and effortless driving character.

Spectre Series II builds on this success. Engineering updates achieve up to 18 per cent more range (390 total miles), alongside higher torque in Spirited Mode and up to 14 per cent reduction in charging times. Not that many RR drivers use public charging points.

Newly crafted interior illuminations, an expanded palette of exquisite materials, and striking exterior treatments elevate Spectre’s interior possibilities.

RR say these changes sharpen Spectre’s character while preserving the qualities that have already established it as a future classic.

Spectre's range and performance already exceeded “client expectations”, according to Rolls-Royce.

Engineers at Rolls-Royce’s Goodwood headquarters have recalibrated the drivetrain to deliver even greater immediacy and control for Series II, strengthening Black Badge Spectre’s standing as the most powerful Rolls-Royce in history.

Power output now reaches 442 kW whilst torque rises to 1,015 Nm. In Black Badge Spectre Series II, Infinity Mode unlocks 500 kW of power, while Spirited Mode summons up to 1,100 Nm torque. Its range is now expanded to 390 miles.

Spectre Series II marks the debut of a “new exterior treatment”: Gradient Two-Tone paint.

In contrast to the marque’s signature horizontal divide, this application sees colour transition from one end of the motor car to the other, inviting the eye to travel across the super-coupé’s sheer surfaces in an entirely new way.

Creating this finish required more than six months of development, during which specialists coded and calibrated the marque’s paint application systems, while refining the paint chemistry to meet exacting standards. This new finish requires up to four days to complete per car.

Spectre Series II offers new materials, treatments and crafted details of remarkable depth and variety.

Among them is Duality Twill – a contemporary interior rayon fabric made from bamboo, now available within Spectre for the first time.

This material was inspired by the extensive bamboo grove in Le Jardin des Méditerranées on the Côte d'Azur, which neighbours Sir Henry Royce’s winter home Villa Mimosa.

Rolls-Royce have taken a very good car in Spectre and made it outstanding in this second version.

As a Black Badge model, it is astonishing how quick and sporty this extravagantly elegant car really is.

Rolls-Royce Spectre II Black Badge: Around £400,000. A Black Badge base model, if such a thing ever exists, is £325,000; Two synchronised motors generating 659bhp; 0 to 60mph in 4.1 seconds; Emissions 0; Range 329 miles; Four year warranty, unlimited mileage