Mercedes-Benz E-Class

The honest comparison is with the S-Class, and the deciding factor is duration rather than status. Under an hour, most passengers would struggle to name what the flagship adds beyond a stretch of legroom and a slightly deeper hush. Past that, the gap opens: the larger saloon's reclining rear seat and thicker glazing begin doing genuine work. If your day amounts to a run to Heathrow and a run home, the E-Class is not a compromise. It is simply the correct answer.

Two large cases and two cabin bags is a truthful capacity rather than an optimistic one, but boot shape governs it as much as volume. Hard-shell cases stack tidily; a golf bag, a cello or a pushchair with a fixed frame will not. Three passengers each with a large case is where any saloon stops working, because the third one ends up travelling on somebody's lap. Tell us what you are actually carrying and we will say plainly whether it goes in.

Practically, this is the easiest car we arrange to live with in a city. The door apertures let most passengers step out rather than climb out, the sill sits at a natural height, and it turns in one movement on a Chelsea side street or drops into the low-ceilinged car park beneath a City office. Beyond two hours, though, a seat that felt faultless at the outset starts asking for adjustment, and that is the moment to look further up the range.