True length - length(unclass(x)) - without having to call unclass()?

Is there a low-level function that returns the length of an object 'x'
- the length that for instance .subset(x) and .subset2(x) see? An
obvious candidate would be to use:

.length <- function(x) length(unclass(x))

However, I'm concerned that calling unclass(x) may trigger an
expensive copy internally in some cases.  Is that concern unfounded?

Thxs,

Henrik