Let us reassure you that the 2011 Bentley Mulsanne is worth every single copper-plated zinc cent of one-third of a million dollars.

Wrap your hand around the polished stainless steel door handles (the insides have a tactile knurling to delight fingertips) and give it a firm tug. The door glides open, and the interior aroma spills out with it like the intense bouquet of a fine wine. Bentley reinstated its traditional tanning process for the hides within the Mulsanne's cabin. The result is a rich and aromatic leather balm, distinctly different from the synthetic "painted" leather smell in most automotive interiors.

The cabin is lavish and sumptuous, both driver-focused and passenger-pampering. The steering wheel isn't particularly meaty or sculpted, but the texture, feel and grip of the leather is so silken, it doesn't need to be. The twelve-way power-operated heated and massaging seats are as comfortable as your favorite lounge chair but devoid of excessive bolstering, and they offer overly generous fore-and-aft travel on their tracks. The vertebrae-liquidizing seat massage feature should be illegal while the vehicle is in motion – its rhythmic pulsations could render an insomniac on Red Bull unconscious at high noon.

Primary instrumentation is clear, but the countless smaller "glass" buttons on the center stack and center console will require some familiarization (but so does your kitchen's spice rack). With the engine purring on the other side of the firewall, the eight-inch high-resolution screen awakens from its resting position behind a veneered panel in the center dashboard and displays an easy-to-read version of the Audi Multi Media Interface. But it's hard to tell.

Bentley's are designed around the driver, but don't be fooled into thinking that passengers are relegated to anything short of International First Class. While the front passenger enjoys the identical accommodations as the driver, the rear passengers (two-plus-one accommodations) relax with eight-way power-operated heated and massaging seats with lumbar support and memory features. Not only are there four individual zones in the vehicle's climate control system, but the occupants in the rear are able to move the front passenger seat out of the way (as if the generous legroom simply wasn't good enough). The various controls are all smartly tucked out of the way inside the rear center armrest.