If you want your transport to delight for the right reasons, you need something more glamorous than an elongated mobile disco. Such as the Maybach, an extra-special limo with no whiff of trash about it (if you need reassuring, it will cost £500,000 to buy). Funnily enough, I had no reservations about swapping my usual C2 bus for a chauffeur-driven day of luxury in a vehicle beloved of ambassadors and pop stars alike (Alicia Keys features the car in one of her videos).

The plush carpet makes you feel you have a sleeping panther at your feet, and electronically controlled curtains cover the windows. Initially I felt a little as if I’d been laid out in a very grand coffin, but after sinking into the leather chairs to enjoy the solid-silver champagne flutes and personal DVD players, I realised why it has been compared to a private jet. The seats will adopt more than 100 positions, and even have a massage facility. As my companion remarked, the only problem with this car is that it doesn’t take off.

The interior is so roomy that one bride recently hired a Maybach because her dress wouldn’t fit in a Bentley. I was too comfortable to care what impression it made, although when we arrived outside Harrods the doorman rushed to open the car door faster than you can say “£50 tip”. As we parked to get a coffee in Primrose Hill I got some disappointed looks as I stepped out in scruffy jeans.

And did I really hear someone whisper “Is she in Emmerdale?” as I was heading home? The Maybach’s “wow” factor still hasn’t left me. You can take the girl out of the car . . . unfortunately you can also take the car off the girl when the hire fee is up.

Maybach 62 from Royal Silver Service: 08701 993910

Times recommends

• Jamie Oliver's boiling over
• Family homes for the 21st century
• What makes men commit?