There’s something mysterious and menacing about the Rolls-Royce Wraith, even before you consider its haunting name. This is the company’s “evil” car, a spokesman told me. How often is a car ­– any product, for that matter ­– promoted for its dark side?

A hint of the noir can be desirable, however. That’s the theatre that comes with a Rolls-Royce. It is, after all, a dramatic automobile, and never a shrinking violet. As the garage doors open, you expect a swirl of fog to emerge and the Hound of the Baskervilles to howl. In this context, the Wraith – a long, elegant yet meaty coupe – is what Dracula drives at the weekends.

This ethereal GT is said to embody the spirit of Charles Rolls himself: gentleman, playboy, racer, pilot and blue-sky thinker. The Wraith will appeal to similarly young achievers and risk takers.

Inquire as to the horsepower of a Rolls-Royce, and the question will usually be met with an understatement, such as “adequate”. In this instance, the chaps at Goodwood have created their most powerful machine yet: 624bhp with 590 lb-ft of torque. And the Wraith needs it, given its size (5.27m long; 2m wide) and weight (2360kg unladen). It’s a car that’s impossible to pigeonhole, and that’s part of its considerable charm.

Despite its bulk, it actually looks quite trim thanks to some very clever design, like the stainless-steel door handles that stretch back from below the A-pillars. The split-level bodywork, especially when ordered in two-tone paint, compresses the shape. The suicide doors, which were the first things the designers agreed upon, lend a great sense of occasion every time you get in – and keep you on the lookout for highwaymen.

The “fastback” shape, with its wide hips and swollen arches, gives the car muscle. Even the Spirit of Ecstasy figurine, atop the recessed grille, is canted forward a few degrees for an extra sense of purpose. It’s not aggressively athletic, but you know it packs a punch.

The interior, meanwhile, is reminiscent of the Rolls-Royce Ghost – the car on which this is based, and it’s none the lesser for it. The leather, as soft as Devonshire cream, is the finest you’ll find in any car, or in any Hermès window, for that matter. The carpets are thick, there’s polished wood on the dash, and veneer-less Canadel wood panelling on the doors and centre pillar. The diagonal grain in the doors and the chevron pattern pointing down the centre of the cabin, book-matched throughout, gives the interior dynamism and makes for a more youthful, almost Scandinavian, look.

Adding a sense of kitsch fun to the options list is the Starlight Headliner: 1,340 fibre-optic lights woven into the roof lining that mimic stars in the night sky, and which will prove horribly bling for some tastes, but look rather spectacular while relaxing in the ample rear seats.

The buttons on the dashboard are unmarked – simply brush them with your finger and an LCD screen, which can be hidden when not needed, tells of what they do before you press them. To guide you through the infotainment, there’s a BMW iDrive touchpad. With so much room for bespoke customisation – Rolls-Royce encourages it – your Wraith will be as unique as your fingerprint.

Technologically, the Satellite Aided Transmission is one of the Wraith’s most impressive attributes. Using electronic wizardry first developed by the BMW F1 team five years ago, the car knows what corner is up ahead, judges your speed and selects which of the eight gears is best suited. And here’s how you drive it: slow into corners, fast out. Through fast, long corners the car is joyously solid.

I stepped into the car thinking it was a Bentley Continental GT Speed rival. After all, when comparing the figures – weight, horsepower, torque, speed (though the Wraith is limited to 250km/h, it’s just 0.2 seconds off the Bentley’s mesmerising 0-100km/h time) – it’s right in the same postcode. But, in fact, the Wraith is otherworldly. It wafts. It’s imperial. It is not at the races.

The Continental sounds like the apocalypse when you open its 12 cylinders (albeit the four horsemen are dressed in Savile Row), whereas the Wraith is almost silent, save the slightest burble designed to remind you that its 6.6 litre V12 is there on command.

Autobiography: Rolls-Royce Wraith
Engine: 6.6-litre V12
Power: 624bhp
Torque: 800 Nm (590lb/ft)
Transmission: 8-speed automatic (satellite-aided)
Acceleration 0-100km/h: 4.4 seconds
Top Speed: 250km/h (limited)