A classic Bentley Turbo R faces off against a new Mulsanne Speed in the Brecon Beacons

For decades Bentley motor cars were overshadowed by the models of the Rolls-Royce marque. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, they were made using the finest materials by skilled craftspeople, as were Rolls-Royces.

But they were effectively badge-engineered vehicles, slightly less ostentatious versions of the luxury cars regarded as the best in the world.

It was much the same when the Silver Spirit and Mulsanne replaced the Silver Shadow and T Series in 1980. At the time of their launch around 90 per cent of the models produced in Crewe wore the Spirit of Ecstasy as a radiator grille mascot with the remainder sporting the flying B.

In 1982 we began to witness a shift in how the company wanted both brands to be perceived with the launch of the Mulsanne Turbo. It produced around 50 per cent more power than a Mulsanne or Silver Spirit, and perhaps the pivotal moment that defined the start of the delineation of both brands arrived in 1985 with the launch of the Turbo R.

It's always fascinating seeing highly skilled and specialised craftspeople working in modern production. This is why visiting Bentley's factory in Crewe is always an education.

​A demonstration of how ancient techniques have not lost their place among ultra-modern technology in the production of some of the world's finest luxury cars.

This month the factory will begin production of the new Bentayga SUV. Bentley will be the first super-luxury automotive brand to launch a 4x4, and the model is expected to increase the company's sales worldwide by 50 per cent over the next few years.

It was late September in Spain. The grape harvest was upon us, people were out collecting mushrooms in the morning and olives in the evening.

Lemon and orange groves were heavy with fruit, fields being put to the plough. Birds of prey, silhouetted as they circled by a blood-red sun sinking slowly westward behind a vast range of mountains, called an end to the working day. You don’t see that from an aeroplane.

When I visited Spain in a Range Rover the previous year, it deployed the top 4.4 litre SDV8 diesel and 339ps.This time the Range Rover Sport’s unit (diesel again) was the six-cylinder 3.0 litre SDV6 producing 292ps. Slightly shorter and lower than the Range Rover, RRS nonetheless has a similarly high driving position – now too a ‘5+2’ with seats for 7 thanks to a longer wheelbase (but the back “+2s” best regarded as ‘occasional’).

Land Rover can lay claim to inventing the luxury off-road 4x4 with the Range Rover in 1970 (at £1,800). Discovery came in 1989 and soon made the Land Rover badged vehicle a ‘must have’ motor car for the more comfortably off middle class.

Built on a separate chassis, they offered manual transmission and centre differential lock, permanent 4x4 with a transfer box for high/low ratios.  Although far from “utility” vehicles, these were dual-use 4x4s still capable of a proper job of work.

Mercedes-Benz evolved a more ‘soft-roader’ approach with the M-class of 1998 - aimed initially at and built in the USA.  But the ‘Sport’ in SUV came – unequivocally – with the BMW X5 of 1999. It abandoned the transfer box but concentrated instead on a competent permanent 4x4 system which was as much of an asset on-road as off it.

Most new cars do well at launch but the shine can come off the paintwork with longer at the wheel.  Earlier this year the Range Rover impressed - a towering achievement. Now came an opportunity to put it to the test: Spain and back in five days; 2,500 miles with everything from motorways to rural upland tracks in between.

Ford of Europe has a problem on its hands. Despite class-leading products across a range of key car market sectors (Fiesta, Focus, Mondeo for example) - and top spot in the UK - it is in the red and sales heading south. Last year’s loss was $1bn apparently. The answer? SUVs – a whole new line-up of them.

Not the whole answer, it should be noted – a heavily renewed Fiesta range arrives at the beginning of 2013 and the next Mondeo is on the horizon (although the company recently announced it would not appear until 2014 because of the closure of its plant in Genk, Belgium). These follow the recently launched Fiesta-based, baby MPV-like B-Max with clever sliding doors.

It was five years ago that I mistakenly went to a classic car auction and raised my hand at the wrong time, burdening myself with a slice of British automotive history powered by a lump of iron Detroit muscle.

Come to think of it, 7.2 litres is probably as big as engines got in postwar British production cars.

The fuel bills were eye-watering, and although it had never let me down (I had called out the AA once in five years of ownership), the Jensen SP was now in its 40th year and would probably become more difficult to maintain.

I never expected to keep it five years so it was perhaps more surprising that I hadn't put it up for sale before now. Within a week of advertising it was gone. A gentleman who already owned two royal blue Jensen SPs and decided he needed a third, giving him a 1.3% share of all the SPs ever built.

“Mon Mam Cymru” – “Mon the Mother of Wales”, is how Anglesey is described in Welsh.

Its better known 20th century offspring however is the Land Rover.

When Rover Managing Director Spencer Wilks visited Chief Engineer brother Maurice at their estate there in 1947, he asked what he would do when the ex-Army Jeep he had wore out.  “Try to find another one” he said, “there’s just nothing like it …"