Grand’s new flagship is the point at which the company’s most lavish internal facilities meet its most potent driving experience. In fact, the 850 represents a very complete RIB package. There’s a clarity to its internal design, a user-friendliness to its communal layout and a sophistication to its styling that make its price feel distinctly moderate. The fact that it also happens to be such a capable and entertaining driver’s boat marks it out as a very credible flagship indeed.

Step on board and the layout of the 850 feels very clear and simple. It uses a forward lounging area and an aft dining area, with a central helm console dividing the two and a set of broad peripheral walkways linking everything up.

At the front end, the long, elevated lounging platform offers plenty of storage, plus quick access to the heads compartment through the leading edge of the console. The scale of the heads itself is very impressive, as is the ease of entry; and in addition to the upward sweep of the 850’s bow shape, you also get the security of elevated steel rails built into the top ends of the tubes to help hem you in as you recline on the cushions.

Head aft to the boat’s primary gathering point, however, and the cockpit arrangement is as welcome as it is unusual. The commonplace aft bench has been ousted in favour of a much more enclosed and intimate C-shaped seating section for five. This feature is currently confined to the largest two models in the Golden Line – and to help make the most of it, there is an optional table fitting arranged in the centre of this space, plus a fridge and a couple of sinks built into the back end of the helm’s two-man seating unit. You could easily fit an optional stove beneath the ram-assisted lid to further augment the 850’s family credentials – and it’s also good to see the use of undercut mouldings in the base of the wet-bar unit.