CONSIDER if you will the idea that there are three ages to a motoring life.

In the beginning all is governed by speed and gay abandon or cars decorated loudly, inside and out which broadcast what you think is an exclamation of individuality but everyone else reckons makes you look bit of a silly billy.

Statistics show that this is likely to be a young driver's wildlife period, the time when anything that is to be discovered about the secret lives of ditches and hedgerows will be. We'll call it the Springwatch years.

In age two there's a settling down. This is often marked by a ceremony involving two previously estranged families. It is called marriage. For some enthusiasm and need for performance, now comes cloaked in a more mundane body hiding many horses. For others it's about baby seats and school runs. You have finally made the crossover.

I've now discovered what it means to enter the third age, the one before the fuel tank of human existence runs dry.

Getting into a VW Scirocco I was suddenly acutely aware that my love of Range Rovers, Shoguns and all things wide-doored is not about a rural existence, having unrestricted access to the countryside and the fact that you can't get the dog in a Citigo.

It is because my joints have ceased to enjoy any real discourse with my brain. My body has fallen out with itself. We have nothing in common any more.

So there is my wife laughing as I struggled to match arthritis to leather sports seats in one of the latest versions. A diesel, a quick diesel with style and refinement, still turning heads on the street.

The latest manifestation has had a mid-life tummy tuck which amounts in the case of the R-Line trim, six-speed manual, 148bhp two-litre diesel, to a 10bhp increase in output and some inside and out styling titillation.

There are those who say they do not like the modern Scirocco shape with its squat rear and slightly hunched shoulders. To them I say I don't like my modern shape but the coupe has in fact improved with age and at least has no trouble accelerating away, 0-62mph comes up in 8.6 seconds but as impressive is 60mpg and a tax-saving 119g/km of naughty carbons.

The sporting appeal is obvious and while not the most compelling of cars in bends it is fun and stable and you will feel you have bought into class and style.

Not just because the VW build quality is there. This is helped along by a redesigned cabin and driver position. The downside of the body style is limited rearward vision and the headrests don't help but you will get over it.

Not least because the dash makeover has produced a workable and pleasing instrument cluster. Oh and the trick of using the VW logo as a boot release is carried through from the Golf.

For the £27,375 asking price the is a good deal of equipment covering all the expected modern needs and adding benefits like stop-start, touchscreen navigation with the full DAB and Bluetooth device ports and cables.

There is nothing unusual in the safety package, it is just extensive, that's all, all the three letter driver aids and plenty of air baggage.

So long as you don't need to barrel-roll in and out you will look good and financially reassured in a diesel Scirocco. The ride is smooth, road noise is minimal and while there is the compulsory lack of space in the rear demanded by the niche, it is practical with useful boot space. Ask the dog.

The blend of comfort, fuel economy and performance makes the R-Line diesel a choice for longer range work, great on the motorway but without the panic-button performance of a fully engaging sportster.

And of course, it will take years off you.

Finally one further thought. My late grandfather found a fourth age of personal transport. The mobility scooter.

Never one to fully leave motoring's first age behind he was on the verge of an engineering triumph involving the piggybacking of two batteries thus enabling hell's pensioner to play the slots at Blackpool unfettered.

Sadly the pit lane took him before he could try it out. We found him having gently passed over on the stair lift to heaven. I dread to think how he would have modified that.