Sector: Luxury saloon Price: £140,900 Fuel: 19.2mpg CO2: 343g/km

For executives immune from this age of austerity, or chauffeur fleets looking for a high luxury workhorse, there are few better choices than the new Bentley Flying Spur saloon because it is more comfortable, quieter and roomier in the back, and underpinned by the best technology Volkswagen Group can muster, so it won’t let you down either.

The cabin is lined from top to tail with thick leather, 108 square feet of swirling wood and soft fleece carpets, and its vast two-turbo, six-litre 12-cylinder engine just helps you along silently, like a gentle zephyr wafting a sailboat. Even the glass is extra thick to keep the world out while you catch up on reports and paperwork.

Whereas the last car was more overtly sporty, this is more of a limousine and life in the back is really rather wonderful: chairs that recline, a handy fridge for drinks and a little tablet that allows you to access the internet, look at maps, heat up and cool down seats and play music on the screens ahead.

Bentley really is on a roll: despite the fact the luxury car market shrank in 2012, its sales continued to grow, by nearly a quarter to more than 8,500 cars, with an operating profit of €100.5m, and a turnover of nearly €1.5bn. Unsurprisingly China and the USA are strong markets, but the UK is fairly healthy too.

And should you have given the driver the day off, you can always get behind the wheel, and employ 616bhp to seismic effect. From a silent glider, it grows to a barreling roar. It is very fast for such a vast machine.

It’s more expensive than the last one, at £140,000. But whereas the outgoing car was a higher-end competitor for A8s and S-Classes, this one feels more like a good value alternative for Rolls-Royces and the Bentley Mulsanne. It’s tough at the top, isn’t it?