THE recent pleasing weather, an Indian summer almost, has had some disturbing side effects. At a time of year when the long trouser is almost universal in the UK, men are turning out in shorts.

I have strong convictions where shorts are concerned. Essentially, after the first year of secondary school, male lower limbs should only be publicly uncovered for vigorous sporting encounters, PT or carving out famous desert war victories like El Alamein.

Even there you may have noticed Rommel was not big on shorts and I think this contributed to the allied victory. Imagine many thousands of men charging towards you in what looks like their grandmother's underwear, all with a bayonet on. What would you do?

There are many types of shorts. The shorter short favoured by the likes of Charles Hawtrey, the sensible short, khaki, no1 pair, field marshals for the use of and the long short which, quite frankly, looks like a tumble dryer malfunction.

Chaps please, before turning out in any of them, just look in the mirror. We have horrible legs. Monty may have been a hero but from the waist down he looked like a drawing by L S Lowry.

There was a time when it was regulation attire for scouts to wear shorts. This has now passed and you have nothing to fear from the short trouser by trying the Skoda Octavia 4x4 estate of that name.

The Scout is one of the Volkswagen-Audi group estates aimed at families looking for a small amount of off-road ability, practicality and a lot of space without stretching to a full SUV.

Not that this is some sort of mish-mash compromise which will leave you wheel arch deep in a field with more regrets than a karaoke My Way. The Scout has not been jacked up to tackle mountains but does have 33mm more ride height than the standard car and is fitted with protective underbody panels.

These changes do not detract from the way the Octavia drives, the standard car is a great estate with tidy handling should you be the sort of person who chooses to throw big estate cars around. However acceleration is ever so slightly diminished but with the two-litre, 181bhp diesel automatic hitting 62mph in 7.8 seconds who is going to complain?

With only one trim level it lacks nothing where refinement is concerned. Comfortable, well finished and a good, smooth drive. The cabin is well planned and there are handy touches like a storage try under the passenger seat. Instruments are the same as you see across the whole group in varying backlight shades.

What tends to set Skoda products aside is a lack of gimmicky whistles and bells. To start the Scout you turn a key. Remember that? To apply the handbrake pull this lever between the seats. Radical.

That is not to say the car is without equipment. Far from it. Upgrading to LED daytime running lights may cost an extra £900 but 17 inch alloys are standard as is sat-nav. To that can be added a trip computer which showed the car to be averaging 48mpg, rain sensing wipers, automatic lights, cruise control, air con, reversing sensors and the full safety package expected these days.

There is a lot of boot space, a reversible boot floor and passengers will have no moans about leg room.

Any complaints? Yes, I am sick of people pointing out to me ‘but it's a Skoda.' Yes it is, not a dose of bubonic plague.

The Scout is a well-priced but at £27,990 not cheap, 4x4 estate. It is economical to run although it seems pointless to give you the claimed pollution figures in the current climate but tax is £130 per annum, suggesting green car credentials given its acceleration and size.

Not that I go a bundle on the climate change debate but I will say this; if warmer conditions are to be the future we need to do something about it before shorts are being worn to Christmas dinner. Which would make us Australians.