SsangYong Saracen is perfect workhorse.. and helped wedding go without a hitch

Maggie Barry “I do, I do, I do, I do, I do,” sang Abba cheerfully but, as anyone with a wedding in the family will know, those two little words mask a mountain of manoeuvring.

Luckily for me, as the day drew closer for my daughter, SsangYong sent me their latest Musso pickup, the Saracen, a hefty workhorse with a 1085kg payload in the four-wheel drive automatic version.

With a double cab and space in the rear cargo bed for 1011 litres, it proved invaluable for moving not quite that amount of champagne and wine to the venue but certainly more than a couple of dozen boxes, lofty table decorations, a massive Mr and Mrs sign as well as a squad of helpers inside.

The Musso Saracen is one of a new breed of pickups – able to do the hard stuff required of these types of cars but with a much greater degree of style and panache.

The Saracen – and that was written boldly across the side – is the top of the range, save for the limited-edition Rhino.

It sits high off the ground with a 215mm clearance between the axles and has a deep and striking front featuring a double grille, inset fog lights and a skid plate. It has rugged roof bars in chrome, with 18in black alloys, tubular running boards and rear corner bars.

Basically, it’s a car you can’t miss but, if you do, its name and badge is picked out in large chrome letters on the back as it sweeps by.

Inside, it’s plushly finished in leather with heated seats front and rear.

Indeed, the interior is more like a rather good SUV with a nice clean dash, a 9.2in central screen with Tom Tom sat nav, a rear v iew camera – essential on a big beast like this – Bluetooth, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

It has three driving modes – Eco, Power and Winter – and, of course, both high and low range four-wheel drive for all terrains.

There is a 3.5-ton towing capacity, which we did not test out, although for a while the bride was threatening to bring her horse to the wedding.

The default driving mode is Eco, which is sensible on a car like this that has an average combined mpg of 32.8 in the four-wheel drive automatic version.

I liked driving it with the high ride height and, with so much precious gear on board, I was not going to push it too much.

After unloading, however, I put it in power mode and was rewarded by a fair bit of energy from the 2.2-litre diesel engine, which offers a top speed of 115mph.

It was brisk and capable on the road from Loch Lomond and, while you would probably not choose it for your wedding car, it got everything we needed for the big day to the church on time. On second thoughts, though, it might look quite pretty decorated with white ribbons.