But that's what's being claimed for this new Bentley, the long-awaited Continental GT, a classical two-door four-seater, a Grand Tourer in the style of Bentleys of old. Something tells me this is going to be a bit special.

Right now, though, sitting in the beautifully trimmed driver's seat, it's the quality of the interior that's leaving me spellbound. If there's a better-finished car interior, I've yet to see it. It's Teutonic logic meets classic Bentley style and rather than ending up as a dreadful mis-match of materials, it's a triumph. Designer Dirk van Braeckel has neatly blended potential eyesores such as the sat-nav-cum-climate control screen with traditional wood and leather. The wood trimming remains an art form, with mirror-imaging of the veneer across each panel, and matching wood throughout the car (meaning that if just one piece gets damaged during the build process, the whole lot has to be scrapped), all of it hand-finished to a glass-like sheen. Mix this exquisite carpentry with the most beautiful leathers available, together with discreet flashes of aluminum, and the list price of ΂£110,000 seems almost too modest. The only things that don't look quite right are the dials, especially the tiny fuel and temperature gauges, hiding down long plastic tunnels that make them almost impossible to read.

Itching to drive the car, I thumb the now ubiquitous starter button down beside the gear selector. Ahead the engine thrums into life, while a distinctive, lazy, classy burble emerges from the rear of the car. I make a few final adjustments to the mirrors, the rear view seemingly hampered by what appears to be a rippling of the acutely angled glass of the rear screen just where you don't want it. Pressing the 'B' button on top of the gear selector unlocks the lever and it slips gently into Drive.

Bentley has brought us to the northern tip of Scotland to assess the car over a couple of days. Ahead lie miles of some of the best sweeping roads the UK has to offer, perfect for a car with the mile-munching ability of this one.

A few miles in, I'm surprised by the general lack of drama. The colossal horsepower is hardly making itself felt, yet a glance at the speedo reveals just how fast the speed is actually building. You barely seem to be using any revs even as you pull out of corners. It all feels so easy, the burbling engine so unstressed that initially I feel disappointed. That feeling isn't helped by a slightly slower steering ratio than on previous Bentleys, so I seem to be twirling the wheel a little more than I'd like. It's a consequence, I guess, of the GT's dramatic 200mph top speed making high-velocity stability a bigger priority than low-speed agility.

The ride, though, is amazing. The GT defaults to 'comfort' as I move off, but it hardly feels wallowy at all, squashing road imperfections beautifully yet remaining almost roll-free through corners. The electronic dampers come into play when you turn in, the outside pair stiffening through the corner to help control roll. A button behind the gearlever lets you choose between four settings; later I find that 'standard' (one up from 'comfort') seems almost perfectly judged, leaving the car taut yet relaxing to travel in.

The suspension is also helped by the immensely stiff body, 15 per cent stiffer than any of the GT's rivals, according to Bentley's own figures, leading to terrific suspension control and a creak-free cabin.

Use the paddles hiding behind the wheel to drop a couple of ratios, prod the throttle enthusiastically and the car instantly changes character as it storms off into the distance. The noise of the engine hardens as boost builds, helped by clever valves in the exhaust that open to allow the W12 to breath more easily (and doubtless give the Brussels noise detectives something to worry about). Bentley has worked wonders here; in normally-aspirated form the W12 is a very poor relation to most V12s in terms of inspiring sound quality - in the Phaeton it becomes surprisingly coarse as you approach the red-line.

The Bentley's exhaust howl does start to tail-off near the top end, but you hardly notice it as your senses are under such serious attack from the ridiculously ferocious acceleration. This is a monumentally quick car once stirred into action. You'll never tire of watching cars you've just overtaken simply disappear behind you, nor of exiting corners with the four driven tyres clawing at the tarmac, displacing the surface gravel chippings and firing them into the wheelarches as you release another flood of excessive power.

The brakes cope well, but then they are reputed to be the world's biggest production discs, 405mm in diameter and 36mm thick, clamped by Teves callipers. They need to be this size not only because of the sheer speed of the GT, but also because it weighs so much. The kerb weight is 2385kg, marginally lighter than previous Bentleys but ridiculously heavy by modern standards. The Mercedes CL55 is a 425kg lighter.

Such porkiness does the car no favours, beyond helping the ride a little. Blasting across Scotland, there was always that unnerving feeling as you lifted off and went for the brakes that maybe you should have lifted off a bit earlier because that's when the Bentley's colossal momentum really shows. It also makes the turn-in a little lazier than you'd like, the GT dithering slightly before locking onto line.

Then there's the fuel consumption. As we pulled into Ullapool for lunch we were nearly out of fuel and had only covered 178 miles. The trip computer showed a figure of 10.0mpg at an average 41mph. Pretty hopeless in my book. A quieter blast back to Inverness airport produced 12.5mpg but that's nothing to shout about either. This car can drink for England and Germany combined.

After two days I'm both mildly disappointed and confused by the GT - what does it want to be? On the one hand it's beautifully built and absolutely flies; Bentley quotes 0-60mph in 4.7sec. But then it doesn't seem nimble enough to compete against the likes of the Vanquish or 575M. The steering feels a bit slow and the four-wheel drive dulls the handling.

If it's a true Grand Tourer as Bentley claims, then yes, it's beautifully relaxed to travel in, seats four, has a fabulous ride and is more than sufficiently fast to fulfil the role. And yet having to stop every 190-200 miles to fill the tank would be utterly frustrating if you were undertaking the long journeys you're supposed to do in a car like this. Perhaps the excellent interior space robbed the engineers of the chance to fit a decent-sized fuel tank to help eke out a little more range.

Maybe I was just expecting a little bit too much from the car; perhaps we should be thankful that the great Volkswagen machine has finally brought Bentley bang up to date. Moreover, at ΂£110,000 for what is a genuinely hand-finished car from one of the greatest names in motoring, the GT is truly a Continental-sized bargain. I guess it's just not the car we wanted it to be.