SILVER SPUR

Rolls-Royce Silver Spur Reliability

Owners filed 6 complaints — 1.2 per production run against 3.73 for the market. The typical failure comes at 8 years, and the basic warranty runs out at 3.

NHTSA owner complaints · 6 complaints · 1981–1998 · Updated Sep 19, 2026
Quick answer

The Rolls-Royce Silver Spur draws 1.2 complaints per production run against 3.73 for the average car — better than typical. Failures cluster at 8 years, so only 0% of them fall inside the 3-year basic warranty.

When it starts to break

Not the calendar year the complaint was filed — the age of the car when it failed. That age decides who pays: inside the warranty the manufacturer does, outside it you do.

FIG.02·Rolls-Royce Silver Spur — age at failure
Age at failureComplaintsRunning totalWarranty
8 years150%you pay
13 years1100%you pay
ROWS 2·SOURCE NHTSA complaints with incident dates

Basic warranty on this car is 3 years / 36,000 miles. Only 0% of reported failures happen inside it — the remaining 100% come out of the owner's pocket. Powertrain cover (5 years / 60,000 miles) reaches further, but it only covers engine and transmission, and most complaints here are not either.

What actually fails — and at what age

Ordered by how often owners reported each system, with the age at which it typically goes. What waits further out is Tires at 8 years — past every basic warranty, and the bill lands on whoever owns the car then.

FIG.03·Rolls-Royce Silver Spur — what fails and when
SystemComplaintsTypical ageCrashFire
Service Brakes2
Hydraulic2
Visibility1
Vehicle Speed Control1
Tires18 yrs
Power Train113 yrs
ROWS 6·SOURCE NHTSA complaints

What else in this class

Same vehicle class as the Rolls-Royce Silver Spur, so the comparison is fair — an estate against an estate, not against a coupé. These 6 share its class; open any of them to see its own build years and failure ages side by side with the Silver Spur.

FIG.05·Rolls-Royce Silver Spur — rivals in the same class
Same class as the Silver SpurComplaints on recordRecall campaignsYears built
Dodge Charger5,7781331983–2026
Chrysler 3006,166861999–2026
Kia K5469212021–2026
Hyundai Sonata16,1581521989–2026
Chevrolet Impala10,367981981–2026
Lincoln Continental2,685801981–2026
ROWS 6·SOURCE NHTSA complaints and recall campaigns

These are totals, not rates: a model that sold in millions collects more of both. Open one to see its complaints per production run — the figure this site is built on.

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How we measure it

Reliability scores usually arrive as a number out of five with no working shown. The Rolls-Royce Silver Spur figure here comes out of 6 individual reports, and here is exactly how they were turned into a rate — two steps in it are arguable and you should be able to argue with them.

Rate, not total. Volume alone would decide the ranking, so we divide by the number of production runs — the distinct first-eleven-character VIN prefixes on record. The Rolls-Royce Silver Spur alone splits into 5 runs carrying 6 complaints — 1.2 per run against 3.73 for the market.

Age, not year. Incident date minus model year gives the age at failure, which is what the warranty question turns on. It is why our «worst year» rankings exclude anything built in the last 6 years — those cars simply have not had time to break yet.

What this is not. Filing with a federal regulator takes effort, so what you see are faults someone judged serious — not scratched paint, not running costs, not how nice the car is to live with. For the Rolls-Royce Silver Spur the file runs from 1981 to 1998, so the older years carry a full life of reports and the newest carry almost none.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Rolls-Royce Silver Spur reliable?

It draws 1.2 complaints per production run against 3.73 for the average car, so better than typical. Failures cluster around 8 years of age.

What are the best and worst years for the Silver Spur?

Not enough model years with sufficient history to rank.

How long does a Silver Spur last?

Complaints reach their halfway point at 8 years. That is when faults start being reported in volume, not when the car stops — but it is the point at which ownership starts costing money.

Will the warranty cover it?

Basic cover is 3 years / 36,000 miles, and 0% of reported failures fall inside it. The rest are yours.

What fails most often?

Service Brakes with 2 complaints.

Complaint records from NHTSA, grouped by VIN production run (characters 1–11). Rates, age-at-failure and warranty coverage computed by ForCar. Model years newer than 6 years are excluded from rankings — complaints accumulate for a decade. Last updated Sep 2026. — ForCar Reviewed by , founder of ForCar.
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