GO for a top job and somewhere, lurking among the remunerations package, will be the issue of the company car.

Thing is, if you really like cars, many of the executive-mobiles are a bit bland. Given the choice, many execs would opt for a sports car, but are prevented from doing so by company rules on the grounds that four doors are better than two when you have to take important clients to lunch.

It's a fact that sports cars are fast, furious and fun, but they are not particularly practical.

It's the same at the other end of the spectrum.

How many company car drivers do you see enjoying the lofty experience of a big off-roader? Four doors yes, but harsh ride and sluggish performance stop many being a useful proposition.

Poor old company car man or woman ends up with something in the middle; an executive saloon, which does everything just fine but fails to excite them.

Well it doesn't always have to be that way. Cue the Porsche Cayenne, a veritable Frankenstein's monster of a vehicle, which fuses lithe coupe with gargantuan off-roader.

Take your average 911 nose, graft it on to a big high body and stick a 345bhp 4.5 litre V8 under the bonnet and you have Porsche's answer to a monster truck.

Prepare to suspend all belief; belief that a sports car can be so big, and that an off-roader can perform and handle so well.

At the risk of cribbing from the pages of a Mary Shelley novel, it's the perfect creation. In the Cayenne, you have a vehicle that is fast and fun to drive, yet luxurious and functional too.

It may look like a chunky 4x4, but Cayenne thinks it's a low-slung sports car and boasts all the necessary qualities to thrill.

Performance is electric, as you would expect from a Porsche, and the handling is astounding given its sheer bulk. The brakes stop you on a sixpence, an incredible feat for something this large.

It also has one huge plus point - it's a Porsche and the dancing horse on the bonnet, steering wheel hub and key ring provide a feelgood factor matched by few other cars on the road today, and certainly none off it.

Few badges carry such kudos. Most of the luxury car manufacturers have sold out to commercialism, offering cheap versions of the brand and dragging everything down to the reaches of the common man.

Not Porsche, and they certainly weren't going to start with the Cayenne; the S weighs in at about £45,000.

It's not pretty, but it is impressive and it demands attention, which it gets every time it appears in a public place.

It attracts new friends and upsets existing ones, particularly as you bore them with "I drive a Porsche you know" comments every few miles. You can't do that in a Land Rover.

It's got to be the easiest Porsche in the stable to live with as it is immensely practical.

There are few gimmicks in the interior to talk about and everything has a function and place. The real novelty is when you put your foot down and the big V8 stirs into life.

Economy? Not as bad as you would think and well over the 20mpg mark with care, so it isn't too hard on the wallet.

The Cayenne is a vehicle Dr Frankenstein would be proud of, as Porsche successfully breathes life into a new breed of off-roader.

And like the monster that was born amid the lightning and sinister laboratory equipment, the Cayenne is there to be misunderstood and loved in equal measure.

But be warned, it is a bit frightening to look at and, if you are ill-prepared, just as intimidating to drive.

So it's just the right sort of vehicle to make an impact in the company car park