An interesting configuration for an engine, the 'W' designation is a little misleading, suggesting a pair of V6 engines mounted side by side. In fact for this engine, VW has effectively joined two of its narrow angle VR6 engines (first seen in the Corrado) onto a single crankshaft. Aside from being cheaper to make (the existing VR6 tooling can be used), the main advantage of this configuration is size - or more to the point, the lack of it. The W12 engine is amazingly compact for one displacing six litres, and with it developing 420PS (about 414bhp), it's not short of oomph either.

Power is not the raison d'être for the Phaeton though; a closer look at the specification shows a large engine in a fairly modest state of tune. Refinement: that's what this engine is all about.

Our car was black, so deep and lustrous a black as to be very imposing. The interior was swathed in a creamy yellow, which is not the most practical colour, and a little too yellow for my liking, but there was no escaping the quality. At £68,000 some might say there should be no escaping the quality. That's right, £68,000 for a Volkswagen; the car of the people, though the Phaeton range starts at just under £43,000 for the entry-level 3.2-litre V6 model. But we didn't come here to drive the baby of the range; we went straight to the top.

Forget the badge, forget the notion of £68,000; this is an awesome car. Just sitting behind the wheel and looking around brought on that feel good factor in spades. It has so much kit as standard it would be easier to list what it doesn't come with - a butler is the only thing I could think of. If you've seen it fitted to any car, it's here. From the mundane, such as the multi-zone climate control (with separate settings for every passenger), satellite navigation with 7" colour screen, computer controlled air suspension, all the way through to the more extreme, such as rear side window blinds to shut out the hoi-polloi. One item that was fitted that may have been better omitted was a fuel consumption gauge (it couldn't possibly be called a fuel economy gauge), which shows such scary figures that maybe ignorance truly is bliss.

I started the engine. At least I turned the key (even the key has a controlled, damped motion). Nothing. Then I noticed the rev counter needle had moved; the engine was indeed idling. In absolute silence. £68,000 worth of soundproofing? Time to move off, the familiar VW automatic gearbox gave both normal automatic control, and Tiptronic shift where gears could be selected manually. Let's start with 'Drive' and let the car take the strain.

Release the brake, and whoa! The sharpest step-off of any car I've driven; to be honest, too sharp. No doubt of the intent, even if it is silent. Out on the road, changes between the six gears were imperceptible, with no change in volume - or level of silence - and no telltale jerk, not even a slurp; just perfect seamless changes every time. Tread on the pedal and oh-my-god we're off. This is one truly quick car, the power and torque of the 6.0-litre engine totally overwhelming the equally massive (over 2 tonnes) weight. But still every gearchange was seamless; still everything was silent. Only the speedometer gave the game away, and some very high numbers came up in very short order. A full-bore standing start will propel this car from 0-62mph in 6.1 seconds, the 4 MOTION four-wheel drive system ensuring top-notch traction and no trace of wheel spin. As with most German saloons these days, the Phaeton is restricted to 155mph, but it is claimed to be capable of 186mph. I can well believe that claim.

So, a big heavy car, big engine up front, magic carpet ride - going to be hopeless round corners then? Actually, no. For a car of this size, it's nothing less than incredible round corners. It's an old cliché, but the Phaeton shrinks around you and feels no bigger than a Golf to drive - so long as you remember it isn't when threading through gaps. Circulating a large roundabout while steadily accelerating showed supreme grip and resistance to any notion of understeer. By the time even the slightest hint of running wide became apparent, we were travelling much quicker than would be prudent on the public road; still the Phaeton remained silent. No doubt where the money went.

There has to be something wrong with this car; there is something wrong with every car. But so broad are the talents of the big Phaeton, that to be critical is to nit-pick, even beyond what is reasonable when you (or your company) has just shelled out £68,000. The W12 has those steering wheel mounted levers to change gear, "flappy-paddles" in Clarkson speak. I'm not a fan of these, not because they gave a bad gear change, more because I don't see the point. The Tiptronic shift already allows sequential manual selection of gears for those rare occasions where the gearbox doesn't guess right - when you want to change down to overtake, but without having to bury the throttle and unleash all 420PS for instance. But that's just preference - the real problem here with the paddles is that they get in the way. To accommodate them, the other stalks are moved downwards from a more usual quarter-to-three position to more like twenty-to-four, and every time I went to indicate, I caught my hand on the paddle. Annoying.

After that, we are into serious nit-picking - the auxiliary gauges are very small and very stylish, but the way they are scaled means the needles are a long way over to the right when all is normal. At a glance this looks like the engine is about to overheat or similar. The dash itself was plastered in buttons for this, that, and anyone's guess what. Too many buttons, no clarity as to what they do other than look very decorative. Half an hour with the handbook may have thrown some light on things, but I was stuck with too much heat, a dubious radio channel and no chance of finding where I was going. Admittedly, an owner will soon get used to the layout. The Touareg uses similar size small gauges and near enough as much standard kit, but the execution is better. The Phaeton would be a better car, if that were possible, if it shared more of the Touareg's dashboard, but I guess VW wanted to make a statement with this car.

Finally there is fuel economy, and then there is the Phaeton. Fuel economy and W12 Phaeton do not sit well in the same sentence. All too often I saw single figure mpg readings laughing at me from the centre dial on the dash - for goodness sake, hide the gauge somewhere I can't see it. Even the richest plutocrats have a conscience these days.

I've harped on about £68,000 for good reason. In truth, the W12 Phaeton is a bargain. It's just not easy to get one's head around a £68,000 people's car. If it was badged Bentley, they could charge £80,000 and it would be a sell-out, such is the fickleness towards the right badge of the car buying public. More importantly the Phaeton would be worthy of the Bentley badge - a shame that many people will pass it over because a VW badge on the key fob doesn't carry the right kudos in their social circle.