While both male and female drivers look for a flashy model into their early 20s, women tend to lose the urge to impress a long time before their male counterparts.

This is according to research conducted by Fool.co.uk, which found that between 46 and 60 per cent of motorists aged between 18 and 25 want to drive a flashy car.

However, women drivers were shown to change their opinion later on in life in favour of factors such as how green the car is.

Men were shown to not lose the desire to impress with their vehicle until the age of 49.

David Kuo, head of personal finance at Fool.co.uk, said: "Jokes are often made about flashy cars representing mid-life crises, but it's no laughing matter when one in six people say upcoming car purchases will be made on credit.

"If you have to buy a car then paying for it either partly or entirely from savings will greatly reduce your motoring costs."

Meanwhile, Adrian Bryant, of Halifax Credit Cards, urged drivers to think about how they plan to finance large vehicle purchases and smaller motoring costs such as filling the car with fuel.

Find out about best-buy cars and how to run 'greener' vehicles in future.

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