Compare the2023 Rolls-Royce GhostVS 2022 BMW 7 Series

For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Rolls-Royce Ghost have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision and force limiters to limit the pressure the belts will exert on the passengers. The BMW 7 Series doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.

Both the Ghost and 7 Series have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The Ghost has power child safety locks, allowing the driver to activate and deactivate them from the driver's seat and to know when they're engaged. The 7 Series’ child locks have to be individually engaged at each rear door with a manual switch. The driver can’t know the status of the locks without opening the doors and checking them.

To provide maximum traction and stability on all roads, All-Wheel Drive is standard on the Ghost. But it costs extra on the 7 Series.

Both the Ghost and the 7 Series have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver and front passenger knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, post-collision automatic braking systems, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, blind spot warning systems, around view monitors, rear cross-path warning and driver alert monitors.

The Ghost comes with a full 4-year/unlimited-mile basic warranty, which covers the entire car and includes 24-hour roadside assistance. The 7 Series’ 4-year/50,000-mile basic warranty expires sooner.

Rolls-Royce pays for scheduled maintenance on the Ghost for 1 year and -36,000 miles longer than BMW pays for maintenance for the 7 Series (4/unlimited vs. 3/36,000).

To reliably power the ignition and other systems and to recharge the battery, the Ghost has a 210-amp alternator. The 7 Series’ standard 180-amp alternator isn’t as powerful.

The battery on the Ghost is in the trunk, which protects it from hot underhood temperatures that can degrade battery life. By keeping the Ghost’s battery 20 to 30 degrees cooler, its life is increased by years. The 7 Series’ battery is in the hot engine compartment.

The Ghost has more powerful engines than the 7 Series:

As tested in Motor Trend the Rolls-Royce Ghost (base engine) is faster than the 745e 3.0 turbo 6-cylinder hybrid:

The Ghost has 11.7 gallons more fuel capacity than the 7 Series 745e’s standard fuel tank (23.8 vs. 12.1 gallons), for longer range between fill-ups. The Ghost has 3.2 gallons more fuel capacity than the 7 Series’ standard fuel tank (23.8 vs. 20.6 gallons).

For better stopping power the Ghost’s brake rotors are larger than those on the 7 Series:

The Ghost stops much shorter than the 7 Series:

For better traction, the Ghost has larger tires than the 7 Series (F:255/40R21 & R:285/35R21 vs. 245/50R18).

The Ghost’s 255/40R21 front and 285/35R21 rear tires provide better handling because they have a lower 40 series front and 35 series rear profile (height to width ratio) that provides a stiffer sidewall than the 7 Series’ standard 50 series tires.

For better ride, handling and brake cooling the Ghost has standard 21-inch wheels. Smaller 18-inch wheels are standard on the 7 Series. The 7 Series’ largest wheels are only 20-inches.

Changing a flat tire near traffic can be dangerous and inconvenient. The run-flat tires standard on the Ghost can be driven up to 50 miles without any air pressure, allowing you to drive to a service station for a repair. Run-flat tires aren’t available on some tire packages on the 7 Series.

For a smoother ride and more stable handling, the Ghost Extended’s wheelbase is 9.6 inches longer than on the 7 Series (136 inches vs. 126.4 inches).

The Ghost handles at .90 G’s, while the 745e xDrive pulls only .84 G’s of cornering force in a Motor Trend skidpad test.

The Ghost executes Motor Trend’s “Figure Eight” maneuver quicker than the 745e xDrive (25.3 seconds @ .75 average G’s vs. 26.1 seconds @ .73 average G’s).

The Ghost uses computer-generated active noise cancellation to help remove annoying noise and vibration from the passenger compartment, especially at low frequencies. The 7 Series doesn’t offer active noise cancellation.

The Ghost Extended has 6 cubic feet more passenger volume than the 7 Series (120 vs. 114).

The Ghost has .7 inches more front headroom, .3 inches more front legroom, .2 inches more front shoulder room and .1 inches more rear headroom than the 7 Series.

The Ghost has a much larger trunk than the 7 Series (17.3 vs. 14 cubic feet).

Heated windshield washer nozzles are standard on the Ghost to prevent washer fluid and nozzles from freezing and help continue to keep the windshield clear in sub-freezing temperatures. The 7 Series doesn’t offer heated windshield washer nozzles.

In poor weather, headlights can lose their effectiveness as grime builds up on their lenses. This can reduce visibility without the driver realizing. The Ghost has standard headlight washers to keep headlight output high. The 7 Series doesn’t offer headlight washers.