SINGAPORE – Driving a Rolls-Royce, as you can imagine, comes with certain privileges. Sublime comfort, effortless progress and the feeling of travelling in a palatial suite on wheels.

But one unexpected and unspoken privilege is deference. On the road, others seem to give you a wide berth, no one cuts in front of you (at least not without signalling) and road hoggers move out of the way without you having to shine the high-beam at them.

At the lights, motorcycles do not wiggle up to stop in front of you – a major irritation – and no one honks if you are slow in moving off.

This deference extends to the Spectre coupe, the BMW-owned marque’s first production electric car. The regal two-door four-seater is 5,475mm long, 2,017mm wide and 1,573mm tall, with a 3,210mm wheelbase.

It weighs nearly 2.9 tonnes, but with its ample power plant and exquisite adaptive air suspension, this unearthly heft is rarely felt.

Beneath its expansive sheet metal are two motors making 430kW and 900Nm of torque, with the one in the rear axle about twice as powerful as the one in front. In most situations here, less than a third of this output is called upon.

But give the throttle a big squeeze and the car’s full stable of horses come to the fore instantly to send the car from zero to 100 in 4.5 seconds. This is comparable to a cruise ship taking off like a speedboat. At the wheel, it is a life-altering experience.

Yet, the ballistic feat is executed with utmost equanimity. While several cars are quicker, none can remain as calm and unshaken as the Spectre. There is nothing which makes you grip the wheel more tightly or hold your breath in longer.

It is as unruffled as it was the moment before you stomped on the pedal. This is doubly impressive given the often challenging road conditions here.

Much credit goes to the suspension system, which smoothens out the pits and ruts lining the tarmac, and responds to directional changes deftly and uneventfully. The same suspension accords a luxurious riding-on-air sensation on straights, despite the car being fitted with 23-inch wheels – the largest the company has employed.

The tarmac intrusions felt during the first time I drove it in California July 2023 surprisingly do not manifest here.

Indeed, other than its torrential power, the Spectre feels exactly like its V12-propelled forebears. The ease it conveys to occupants is unparalleled, gliding like a kite even if it looks and weighs like a tank.

Its electric powertrain may be a degree quieter than the V12, but this is offset by its air-con blowers, which seem unusually loud even in Soft setting.

There are other teeny-weeny things which make this car less than perfect, including a fairly small boot, no additional stowage beneath its dinner table-size bonnet and enormous wing mirrors which compromise visibility.

Phone-pairing is easy enough, although there are times when Android Auto fails to display the song which is playing.

The Spectre has the largest doors among all Rolls-Royce cars. Like its oversized wing mirrors, the huge doors may not be an issue in countries with lots of space, but in a congested city, they can be a small issue – especially in perpendicular parking spaces.

Being rear-hinged, opening these doors requires you to do a small side-step like a matador avoiding the bull. And unlike the BMW i7, with which the Spectre shares many basic components, door-opening is not as convenient as in the Bavarian limo. You have to keep holding the latch to operate the servos, which is not very intuitive.

The rest of its idiosyncrasies are par for the course. Several covered carparks are out of the question for this terrestrial mega-yacht. And so are the smaller lanes and driveways in town.

That said, its excellent 360-degree camera system is very helpful. And so is automatic reversing, a technology first used by BMW.

Because its cabin is so big, the air-con consumes quite a lot of energy. When “idling”, you actually see the range dropping by the minute.

The test car averages 25.4kWh/100km, versus its declared 23.6kWh/100km and 21.9kWh/100km clocked in California last year. Based on its Singapore consumption, the car has a range of about 400km.

This obviously is not an issue for Roller owners, who will have their very own chargers at home. They are also unlikely to drive this car across the Causeway or have to park in small carparks. But if they do, all they have to do is to find three unoccupied spaces and slot their celestial carriage in the middle.

No one will occupy the spaces on either side. Trust me.

• Follow Christopher Tan on Instagram @chris.motoring

Rolls-Royce Spectre 

Price: $2,138,888 without certificate of entitlement, options
Motors: Separately excited synchronous with 102kWh battery
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Power: 430kW
Torque: 900Nm
0-100kmh: 4.5 seconds
Top speed: 250kmh
Power consumption: 23.6kWh/100km
Agent: Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Singapore
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars