The Grapes Of Wraith

SPRING IS SURELY meant to have sprung by now.

- Jamie Kitman

But as I write, New York has just been treated—freakishly, fiendishly—to its second April snowstorm. So I needn’t dwell on why it already seemed like a good idea back in blowy March to drive all the way down to Florida with my spring breaking 9-year-old son to catch some spring training Pittsburgh Pirates games in the hot sun.

Rolls-Royce loaned us its vast coupe, the Wraith, for the 2,000-mile drive, which, beginning in New York City, would burn through several states then take in parts of the Carolinas and Georgia before hitting the Gulf Coast.

Traveling great distances is the best test of a hyper-luxury automobile’s ability to cosset you. Long stints on the interstate are where big, fancy cars really ought to shine. It’s where you get to overlook your luxury car’s dimensional immensity and focus not just on its climate-controlled opulence but also on its road manners, which should be both stately and sporty, engaging you in your drive yet sparing you from its worst elements. Driving joy is the great differentiator among all cars, and it’s the job in building a hyper-luxury car that I most care be done right.