Rolls-Royce Cullinan

The ultimate luxury SUV takes effortless to the next (off-road) level.

- Gavin Green

THE ‘ROLLS-ROYCE OF SUVS’ is unsurprisingly the most luxurious, most refined, quietest and comfiest four by-four of them all. And at $685,000 before customisation, the new Cullinan is, by some margin, also the priciest.

Surprisingly, Rolls-Royce reckons many will get used off-road. Superrich buyers are expected to use their Cullinans to go places where no modern Roller has tread before.

The Cullinan uses the new ‘Architecture of Luxury’ platform that first saw service in the latest Phantom, and will underpin every upcoming Rolls-Royce. It’s a highly configurable box-section frame made from aluminium castings and extrusions that allows more variability than high volume press-steeled platforms.

The body is shorter, stumpier, higher, a bit heavier and far less elegant than the Phantom. It’s no beauty, at least to my eyes, and clearly prioritises engineering and marketing functionality over styling.

There’s no doubting the superb standard of finish, though. From the lustrous stainless steel exterior bright work including the temple-like grille to the superb detailing (those lower body ‘spears’, the laser lights), the Cullinan is beautifully crafted.