By now the first reviews of Casino Royale will have been written, in advance of the movie's general release on November 16.

Plenty has already been said about Daniel Craig's buffed, steely eyed, slightly wooden reinterpretation of 007. About the über-voluptuous Eva Green's diverting performance as tragic heroine Vesper Lynd. And about the appropriately named Mads Mikkelson's darker and ultimately even more violent 21st century Bond villain.

But what we really wanted to know is: are the car chases any good?

Having gone deep cover at a preview screening, we can now bring you the verdict. One piece of casting that won't be the cause for controversy is the Aston Martin DBS.

Loud, brutally quick and vastly more menacing than any of the many forms of transport featured in the film, this thuggish reworking of a DB9 follows a long tradition of Bond cars spectacularly unsuited to the role of moving an M16 agent about discreetly.

The machine guns, ejector seats and oil-slick generators of Q-specced Astons of the past are gone, replaced here by a simple but nonetheless effective Walther PPK (fitted with silencer) hidden in the glovebox.

There's only one other gadget on board - a defibrillator. See Casino Royale and you'll realise why this would have been a short film indeed if neither had been called into action.

Hopefully no surprises will be spoiled by the mention that the DBS's role is a brief but spectacular one. The inevitable chasing of evil henchmen through eastern European countryside (actually Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire and Dunsfold in Surrey, home to the Top Gear track) culminates in one of the biggest real-time crashes ever caught on film.

Seven barrel rolls, from a starting speed of 85mph. No CGI here, just the true and agonising destruction of a great car.

Alongside spurious other inclusions of a Range Rover Sport, a Volvo XC90 and random Jags, one further product of the Ford empire makes a cameo appearance. That's the still-to-be-launched Mondeo, finished in metallic turquoise and complete with Craig's supposedly cooler, harder Bond at the wheel in holiday slacks, cruising along the coastline of the Bahamas.

He really should have left the cheese to Roger Moore.