Gently, Bentley

IT WAS an honour, a privilege, a definite perk of the job. But the smile on my face as I picked up the keys was more fixed than sincere.

With its six-figure price tag and seven-foot mirror span, the Bentley Continental Flying Spur was going to be a bit of a responsibility for the three-day test drive.

Then there was the problem of coming up with some meaningful words afterwards on the car in which one motoring mag did a four-up run at 208mph.

The Flying Spur, most road testers agree, always feels as if it is doing 50mph less than it really is.

Well, 35 doesn't feel like reversing at 15mph, but you don't have to be too silly with the accelerator to see what they mean.

For two-and-a-half tonnes of leather-lined, four-door, five-seat lounge, the performance is awesome. There is no other word for it.

The six-litre twin-turbocharged W12 engine delivers a whopping 552bhp and a massive 479lb/ft of torque from just 1,600rpm.

Bury the gas pedal in the plush carpet and the passengers get shoved backwards into the seats – and that's without bothering with sport mode on the six-speed auto or using either the tiptronic facility or the steering column paddle shifts to do the job yourself.

Not that the changes are anything other than silky smooth. Unless the driver is pressing on hard, and few will need to, the gearbox is programmed to change up earlier than in two-door models, taking advantage of that massive torque which, unusually, doesn't seem to tail off as the red line nears.

Wring the last ounce of acceleration out of it and the quintessentially British Bentley sprints to the 60mph British benchmark in, they tell me, less than five seconds.

It seems incredible but drive and you'll believe.

The last few years piloting people carriers might have helped, but I found the big Bentley an awful lot easier around our lanes and gateway than I dared hope.

Granted, the proximity sensors were going off on three of the four corners as I backed it into our drive, but considering that even with its mirrors folded, it is 6ft 6in. wide, it feels rather narrower than, for example, its Audi Q7 cousin which is, within a whisker, the same width across the metal.

This magical shrinking carries across to the handling, too. It is far, far nimbler than it has any right to be.

And to the brakes – you'd never believe they were pulling up two-and-a-half tonnes, although the discs are massive.

Wafting along the coast road to work early one morning – for all the performance the Flying Spur wafts like little else – my swift, silent approach surprised, at different times, rabbits, gulls and a couple of magpies variously bumbling across the road or gorging on litter or roadkill.

A dab on the brake, a flick of the wheel or even both together and the Bentley's sharp responses made sure we didn't add to the toll of fur and feather.

And so to the interior – a case of saving the best till last.

Yes, the all-wheel-drive system is Audi A8 and the parts bin of Bentley's owners, Volkswagen Group, contributes an estimated 15% of the Flying Spur.

The real input of the parent is in its investment and research and development muscle – 200mph saloons need wind tunnels and lots more besides.

And only British craftsmen could have done that interior.

It's an intriguing mix of new and traditional.

The seats are upholstered in leather of a quality which I did not expect to see again, but the fronts are also 16-way electrically powered, air-cooled and heated and with new electro-mechanical lumbar control.

Craftsmen lavish five hours' trimming and double stitching the leather steering wheel, which is high-tech multifunction, while the tiny electronic parking brake sits on a transmission tunnel the like of which the front-drive generation will not have seen.

The areas behind the interior door levers and grab handles are protected by a metal plate that prevents rings on fingers damaging the precious leather lining.

The burr walnut unbleached premium wood veneer on the fascia, front and rear consoles and waistrails is cut using the latest laser technology then lacquered by hand before being machined and polished and then mirror-matched to create perfect symmetry, with one side exactly reflecting the other.

Bull's-eye ventilation outlets with their organ stop controls sit alongside chrome knurled switchgear that was inspired by blending the style contemporary jewellery with switches from vintage Bentleys.

De nos jours cabin features include four-zone climate control, LED mood lighting and an advanced infotainment system that seems pretty intuitive to use – more than you can say for some.

It was surprisingly good as a family runabout, although it's a bit short of oddment space, even if the expanding doorbins offer more room than at first appears.

The boot can swallow serious amounts of luggage as well as children, as mine were eager to demonstrate, operating the optional power-close facility to make sure they won a game of hide and seek.

And whoop de doodle ooh. You can put a toddler into a Britax Cruiser child seat behind the driver and the little beggar can't reach the pilot's chair to kick it.

For those on non-Bentley incomes, the Skoda Superb does offer the same capability more cheaply. They're the only two to do so, as far as I am aware.

Another great family feature is the power latching that takes over and shuts the door after someone has made a half-hearted attempt at doing so. It would be great to see that rolled out on more ordinary motors.

But back to the extraordinary.

Each interior takes 11 hides from northern European cattle – further south flies affect the quality – so that stops a fair bit of bovine methane production, helping offset the car's hefty carbon footprint.

In the UK, 20mpg is achievable but in the island the inevitable stopping and restarting an automotive stately home will take its toll and even its combined CO2 emissions of 396g/km are enough to get flat earthers marching you off the edge.

Still, given the duty-free gallons per mile consumption of some marine gin palaces, I'm not going to get too apologetic over the emissions of a vehicle which can at least part-justify its keep by doing useful things such as getting us to and from work, albeit with a wonderful degree of overkill.

It was far and away the car the kids have been sorriest to say goodbye to. I felt rather guilty as I handed back the keys.

But what really made me feel guilty? My sigh of relief.

• Bentley Channel Islands is based in Jersey but Gary de Jersey at Jackson’s Airport is the recommended point of contact for Guernsey customers. The Continental Flying Spur costs £100,000 ex-works and delivery to the island adds another £995. The test car featured the optional 20-inch wheels, power boot and contrast upholstery stitching, adding approximately £2,850. It is currently for sale for £100,000. A customer placing an order for their bespoke car faces a wait of approximately five months although Bentley CI will advise on stock vehicle availability. Bentleys carry a three-year unlimited mileage warranty with pan-European breakdown cover.