Geneva motor show 2008 - Bentley Brooklands

If you like wearing kaftans, eating tofu or hugging trees, look away now. You see, the Bentley Brooklands chunters along at a multi-national-fuel-company-pleasing 14 miles per gallon… on a good day.

Everything about the Brooklands is big and, by and large, beautiful. Its twin-turbo 6.75-litre V8 is the most potent V8 in current production, boasting not only 530bhp but also a whopping 774lb ft of pull.

The optional carbon ceramic brakes (add £14,000 to the bill, please, Jeeves) are the largest of any production car. Even the rear passenger compartment is, according to Bentley, the most spacious of any two-door coupé's in history.

However, despite its monstrous 10ft wheelbase and 17ft overall length, it looks lithe and athletic – graceful even – and you can clearly detect the influence of the 1957 S-Series Continental in its styling.

Before you so much as turn the key or press the starter button, it's best to savour your surroundings for a moment. Swathes of beautifully hand-stitched leather, acres of wood and eye-catching stainless steel cover seemingly every surface.

And the conservationists out there shouldn't fret too much: only 550 of these behemoths are being built.