Mercedes-Benz S-Class

The Mercedes-Benz S-Class has been the default chauffeur vehicle for decades, and not by accident. Most executive saloons are designed for a driver who owns them; the long-wheelbase S-Class is designed for a passenger who does not. The extra length goes almost entirely behind the B-pillar, so a laptop opens fully, a document can be read at a sensible distance and a tall passenger sits without negotiating with the seat in front.

Air suspension and acoustic glazing mean you can read on a motorway and a phone call from the rear seat sounds like a call from an office. Rear-axle steering shrinks the turning circle, which is the difference between a smooth arrival and a five-point turn in an Amsterdam canal street. The chauffeur package, where the front passenger seat folds away and a footrest deploys, gives the rear passenger a near-reclined position; ask for it if the reclining seat is why you are booking.

It does the bulk of our ordinary executive work: airport transfers at Schiphol, Eindhoven, Rotterdam The Hague, Brussels and Düsseldorf, hourly hire across a day of meetings, and city-to-city runs where the rear seat has to function as an office for several hours. Chauffeur configurations are built around two rear passengers; three fit at a squeeze.