PRANCING HORSE OF PRACTICALITY

Brace yourself, Ferrari has joined the school run race, just don't expect it to park on the muddy sports field

- Pawan Dhingara

Firstly, let's get the pronunciation right because this is one of those rare occasions where Ferrari hasn't just slapped three numbers to their new model, called it a day, and gone to the local pizzeria. Instead, Ferrari's first crossover needs a name that is as unique as the car it represents with four syllables to curl your tongue around.

On paper, it's written as Purosangue but PurOh-San-Gway - the Italian word for thoroughbred - is actually how it's said. And you're likely to be saying it a lot in the coming months around every barbeque or car meet because it could totally transform the company in the same way that the Cayenne upturned Porsche's profits.

Another faux pa to avoid would be to call the Purosangue an 'SUV'. According to Ferrari, this is a crossover, but probably not in the same rhetoric that the Ford Puma is also a crossover... It's easier and more elegant to call it Ferrari's first four-door, four-seater - the closest thing to it being the GTC4Lusso, but that only has two doors.

Nevertheless, one of the longest waits is finally over and we can happily say it has been worth it. It almost feels far less controversial and sacrilegious in pictures than it initially did in principle.

The proportions are spot on. It's not a small thing (two meters wide and five meters long) but it's low and sleek and tucks all the hardware, including a V12), in a purposeful way. It points a royal middle finger to modern downsizing trends. It looks as though they got the DNA just right - much like Aston's DBX - and didn't take the easy option of trying to build an 812 Superfast on stilts. On that subject, this is not even a Maserati Levante in disguise - the Purosangue rides on its own platform with aluminum and expensive carbon fiber giving it a strong core.