Range Rover Autobiography chauffeur hire

The rear seats recline further than most people expect from a car this shape, and on the long-wheelbase body there is enough space behind the front seats for a tall passenger to stretch out properly. Heating and ventilation are set from the rear armrest, and the cabin holds an even temperature whatever the weather has been doing outside.

Visibility is the thing passengers mention first. The window line sits low relative to the seat, so you look out over hedges and traffic rather than at the flank of a van in the next lane, and on a country road that changes the character of the whole journey. Children stop asking how much longer, which is not something we can put a figure on and is nonetheless the most reliable effect of the seat height.

It is also the quietest place to sit in this fleet outside the Suite class. Double glazing on the side glass and a great deal of sound deadening mean a conversation at normal volume works at seventy, which is not true of any other high-sided vehicle here.

At an airport the height works twice. Loading four cases into a Range Rover happens at waist level rather than at a stoop, which is quicker in a lane where you are being watched by a camera. And a passenger stepping out at departures steps down onto the pavement rather than levering themselves up out of a low seat with a bag in one hand.

For arrivals the run is the same as everything else here: the flight is watched from the tail number, the chauffeur is inside the building with a name board, and the car comes round once the party is together. What differs is the walk to the car, which in a high vehicle is a shorter and less awkward transition than most people realise.

It is a common booking for private aviation for the same reason. FBO aprons are open, often wet, and frequently involve moving several bags from an aircraft hold to a vehicle in a hurry, and a tall square load bay makes that a two-minute job.

The car lowers itself as speed builds and raises when it is crawling, so the ride you get at seventy on the M40 is not the one you get in a car park. A chauffeur used to the car anticipates that: the vehicle needs a moment to settle after a sharp change of pace, and driving through that moment is what makes a passenger reach for the grab handle.

The weight is the other thing. Well over two tonnes means everything happens slightly later than the same input in a saloon, so braking starts sooner and corners are entered a shade slower with no correction mid-way. Held properly, the car is remarkably serene; hurried, it wallows.

The turning circle deserves a mention. It is better than the length suggests but it is not a saloon, and a three-point turn in a narrow mews becomes a five-point one. That is a matter of planning the last two hundred metres, which is the part of a route that gets planned separately anyway.