DURING a few weeks of very hard motoring for our Nissan Primera I gave it one of its toughest challenges – taking me to a management conference.

You might think that getting me there and back is the bread and butter of any car. I could even get there on a scooter, but there is a very important role a car plays at these sort of events.

When you arrive, you need to look like you are a cool, calm, modern-manager kind of person. So, no matter what the traffic is like, you need a car that doesn't pour you out at the end of a journey looking like an explosion in a suit factory.

Therefore, on the trip there the Nissan was a perfect choice. It even put a smile on my face. As with all management courses, it was in the middle of nowhere, so the satellite navigation in our SVE model proved a real benefit.

To be honest, it meant I kept my eyes on the road and drove the pants off the car around the winding back roads. Although the 1.8-litre engine feels relatively underpowered, the easy clutch and gearchange means a bit of determined stirring of the cogs produces a really fun drive.

So on to the car's second role, getting my sagging brain home after a day and a half of bang-your-head-on-desk, problem-solving tasks, designed to test your mettle in management.

Setting off in the dark, I had to pull over because the screen in the centre console was so bright, prompting some frantic stabbing at the N-Form dashboard to reduce the glare (a simple button would help here).

Arriving home it was mission accomplished, but following an urge to analyse some figures, I would argue strongly that you spend an extra £500 and get the 2.0-litre version. And if you find it a struggle to persuade the powers that be to put it on the choice list, I can recommend a management course you could go on.

Company car tax bill 2002 (22% taxpayer): £52.98 per month