You know what it’s like. You’re looking for a family saloon, something that comfortably accommodates four adults and their weekend bags yet is sporting enough to satisfy the 10-year-old that resides somewhere deep inside your psyche, but that S-Class just doesn’t possess either the luxury, or the exclusivity, that you crave.

No, what you really want is a Bentley but things are tight and you’ve only got the odd £150,000 lying around so, what do you do?

You’ll be relieved to learn that there is a solution. You can, in fact, become the proud owner of a brand new Flying Spur for a bargain £146,000. And one with the mighty 6.0-litre W12 under the bonnet.

Admittedly you’ll have to make do without any options from what is a very long and comprehensive list.

Fortunately, I wasn’t weighed down by any of those concerns when the luxury car manufacturer from Crewe loaned me a Flying Spur for the week.

Resplendent in a sumptuously rich Rubino Red the car is certainly going to turn a few heads. The interior is, of course, swathed in leather. The seats, door panels, fascia and centre of the steering wheel wear Porpoise, a silvery-grey, while the top of the dashboard, arm rests, window sills, rear parcel shelf and steering wheel rim are adorned in Fireglow, a deep scarlet.

I can’t imagine that I would have ever chosen grey for anything, let alone the interior of a luxury limousine, but when worn in vivid contrast to the sumptuous Fireglow red suddenly the interior extends remarkably seductive invitation. One that I repeatedly found impossible to resist.

There’s wood veneer as well, of course. It’s burr walnut on this occasion and so finely polished that you can see your reflection in it. Like the other materials on show in the cabin you’re left with the impression that everything has been carefully, and individually, selected which, Bentley will tell you, is absolutely the case.

Included with my test car was the excellent Naim for Bentley premium sound system which only dedicated audiophiles would argue represents good value for money at a rather lofty £5,720. It does, however, produce rich, accurate and sumptuously detailed audio.

Rear seat passengers - and with my test car in four-seat specification that employs a full-length centre console there’s only room for two of them - can enjoy a nice cold drink on the go courtesy of the refrigerated bottle cooler.

Ditching a rear bench in favour of two chairs liberates a substantial amount of elbow room for passengers in the back to enjoy while there’s no shortage of leg or headroom, even with four six-foot-plus people aboard.

The absence of a fifth seat also does away with the uncomfortable and often undignified proposition of having to straddle the transmission tunnel. Something that would be particularly unseemly for someone riding in the back of a car of this calibre.

The exterior is typical Bentley sharing, as the Flying Spur does, a number of cues with the Continental GT and, to a lesser extent, the Mulsanne. The rear end reminds me of the old Jensen Interceptor, which is no bad thing. The light clusters are deceptively simple and only reveal a more complex array of LEDs when illuminated.

The front is dominated by the large chrome grille flanked by twin headlamps, the outermost pair contained within a ring of LED daylight running lamps. A mesh grille runs the width of the car below the bumper line to create an imposing face.

The flanks are uncluttered aside from a swage line that runs from just behind the front wheel arches where it meets a chrome flying B to the rear door handles. Another crease runs from the headlamps, under the windows before blending into the muscular haunches.

My test car had the mighty 6.0-litre W12 engine under its long, elegant bonnet, though you do have the choice of a 4.0-litre V8. The smaller of the two units, with 500bhp and 442lbft of torque, will hit 60mph in 4.9 seconds. Opt for the higher capacity engine, with 616bhp and 590lbft of torque, and the 0-60mph sprint takes just 4.3 seconds on the way to a top speed of 200mph.

Those figures are all the more impressive when you consider that this car weighs in excess of two-and-a-half tonnes.

It’s not just about headline figures, however, it’s how that power is delivered. Savage beauty is a phrase that springs to mind whenever I asked for a little bit more from the power plant. It matters not what speed you’re travelling at either. Ask, and the Flying Spur will deliver.

Drive with a gentle right foot and you’ll find the cabin is whisper quiet. Even at motorway speeds the interior is as quiet as a library which left me with the urge to go ‘shhhhhh’ whenever anyone tried to speak.

There’s little point in spending too long talking about the handling because the Flying Spur is a big, heavy machine so the tightest corners are best enjoyed at a leisurely pace. That has the added advantage of allowing you to revel in the quality of the ride, which is beautifully isolating, keeping a respectable distance between the occupants and all those unseemly lumps, bumps and potholes that litter our highways.

The Flying Spur, as far as the average man in the street is concerned, is an expensive car. That same man would also probably agree that running costs are high. Very high. The simple truth is, however, that buyers of luxury cars are unlikely to concern themselves with how much it costs to fill up at the pumps, nor the price of a new set of tyres.

People who are lucky enough to be able to afford the finest things in life, want the finest, regardless of cost. I can’t, in all honesty, claim that The Bentley Flying Spur is the very best luxury limousine on the market today – it’s all subjective anyway – but it is certainly one of the very best.

Bentley Flying Spur

Price: £146,000

As tested: £190,555

Engine: 6.0-litre twin-turbocharged W12

Transmission: 8-speed automatic driving all-four wheels

Max power: 616bhp

Max torque: 590lbft @ 2,000rpm

Maximum speed: 200mph

Acceleration (0-60mph): 4.3sec

Urban: 12.6mpg

Extra urban: 27.8mpg

Combined: 19.2mpg

For more information about Bentley motor cars visit www.bentleymotors.com