We've all heard about guys going through the dreaded "midlife crisis", which involves a guy hitting a certain age, and suddenly feeling the urge to look and act more youthful. The cliché being he goes out and buys a new sports car.

Well, it would appear it’s not just males that suffer from this syndrome. My friend Mags has been dragging me around car showrooms all week as she is desperate to own her own sporty little number.

The crisis it would appear is not being ‘midlife’ (she’s only just turned 30 for pity sake) it’s deciding which one she wants in her garage…

Here are the shortlist pros and cons:

Audi TT Coupé

Slip into an Audi TT and everything is instantly geared towards making you feel, well, smug - from the leather and suede seats to the sports steering wheel. This grin-inducing car has plenty of room in the front for two but the backseats are tiny and should strictly only be used for shopping! Every TT is packed with extra features. It’s a car that keeps on giving.

Volkswagen Scirocco Coupé

VW Scirocco handles like a chaperone on a night out: it encourages you to let your hair down without losing control. Getting into the two rear seats requires some level of flexibility, so make sure your friends are yoga bunnies and a word of warning for the back seat posse – WEAR TROUSERS this car is certainly a knicker flasher! But if you don’t mind having to keep your underwear in check, it's a chic and cheap coupé.

Honda Civic Hatchback

The Honda Civic may look futuristic but driving it is another matter: it's noisy, and the suspension is so stiff you'll feel every bump in the road – not ideal if you are trying to reapply lip gloss. Even if it can’t keep lip gloss off your face, it does get full marks for looking really cool and wait until you see the boot: it's so spacious, it screams shopping. The Civic is futuristic and affordable – meaning you’ll have money left over to fill the boot with bags!

Jaguar XK Coupé

Eeeeek the price tag certainly isn’t for the faint-hearted so it might be worth winning the lottery first. Inside the Jaguar XK there's room for four and it boasts the most tasteful dash you have ever seen with electronic everything and lots of polished steel. It’s even more high-tech than my kitchen! I love it, need it and have to have it.

Maserati Quattroporte Saloon

Don your sunglasses and let a little dolce vita into your day-to-day commute. The Maserati Quattroporte has curves to die for, and a sophisticated specification package that can have you dictate the interior look of the car. A beautiful, sporty and mean-looking car with a low-slung driving position and column paddle gear shifts. Bellisimo!

I just hope she decides which one she wants and quickly, so I can pretend to have a ‘mid-life’ crisis of my own and insist I borrow it for a test drive or two...