Mercedes-Benz S-Class

The real decision sits between this car and the Maybach above it. The S-Class is the point at which a luxury saloon stops improving in ways you notice constantly and starts improving in ways you notice at the end of a journey. For anything up to two hours, the Maybach's extra length is a pleasure rather than a necessity, and we will say so. Beyond that, or when a passenger genuinely intends to sleep, the longer car changes the arithmetic.

Read the stated luggage capacity as a shape rather than a number. The boot aperture is wide but shallow, because this is a flagship saloon and not an estate, so the constraint is usually case height rather than floor area. Two large cases and three cabin bags is genuinely accurate, and a fortnight in the sun for two people fits. Two people with skis, a folded travel cot or a large instrument does not. For those, an MPV or an SUV is the better and often cheaper answer.

In practice, the length that gives you rear legroom also gives your chauffeur something to manage. Long-wheelbase examples need a longer kerb space and a wider turning circle, which occasionally means stopping a few metres from a narrow Georgian doorway rather than directly outside it. The sill is low, so passengers with restricted mobility drop into the seat rather than step across, and a hand from your chauffeur on the way out is offered as standard, not on request.