• I got behind the wheel of Rolls-Royce's first electric car, the Spectre. 
  • The Spectre starts at $420,000 and is extremely luxurious inside.
  •  Three awesome features stood out during my test drive. 

When you buy a Rolls-Royce, you're choosing to spend your hard-earned (or perhaps hard-inherited) money on craftsmanship, exclusivity, and class — not flashy gimmicks.

So when the iconic British brand set out to build its first electric car, the Spectre, it didn't load it up with huge screens, video games, or neck-snapping acceleration. Leave that to Elon Musk. Instead, Rolls-Royce made it a Rolls-Royce. That meant focusing on what it does best: luxurious materials and a tranquil, hovercraft-like driving experience.

The 2024 Rolls-Royce Spectre.
The 2024 Rolls-Royce Spectre.
Tim Levin/Insider

But Rolls did include a few fun features, which I got to experience when I drove the Spectre for a day in July.

Starlight doors and headliner

EMBARGO 10/18 8 AM ET DNP: The Rolls-Royce Spectre.
The Rolls-Royce Spectre.
Rolls-Royce

An ceiling that looks like a twinkling night sky has become an iconic Rolls-Royce add-on. And for the Spectre, Rolls extended the option to the inside of the doors. That means you can be surrounded by 270 degrees of stars. Their brightness can be adjusted to the customer's liking, of course.

EMBARGO 10/18 8 AM ET DNP: The Rolls-Royce Spectre.
The Rolls-Royce Spectre.
Rolls-Royce

Pro tip: the glimmering stars are best experienced at night as a passenger.

Auto-close doors with brake pedal

The 2024 Rolls-Royce Spectre.
The 2024 Rolls-Royce Spectre.
Tim Levin/Insider

When you pay half-a-million dollars for a car, who could possibly expect you to go through the physical labor of closing your own door? Not Rolls-Royce.

When you get behind the wheel of the Spectre, all you have to do is hold your foot down on the brake pedal and the driver's door will automatically swing shut. (There are also switches between the front seats that operate both doors.)

The 2024 Rolls-Royce Spectre.
The 2024 Rolls-Royce Spectre.
Tim Levin/Insider

I'm poking fun, but the auto-close feature actually comes in handy. The Spectre's doors are so large and open so wide (and backward, mind you) that it can be cumbersome to close them manually.

A car that brakes like a chauffeur

The 2024 Rolls-Royce Spectre.
The 2024 Rolls-Royce Spectre.
Tim Levin/Insider

The Spectre has a common EV feature called regenerative braking. That means when you lift off the accelerator, the Spectre will start to slow down, capturing energy and feeding it back to the battery pack, rather than coasting like usual.

Rolls-Royce teaches drivers who go through its chauffeuring training program to brake so gently that a passenger won't spill their champagne. And it programmed the Spectre's regenerative-braking system to do the same.