Why is there such a stigma attached to women drivers and the way they choose their car? As a female who drives i don’t understand the assumption that girls are less likely to care if a car is actually good or not, than that it is a ‘cute’ shape that looks more like something out of a cartoon. Personally, I don’t know any women who want that.Oh ok, so maybe there are a few. But they are definitely a minority. And unwittingly they are fueling a stereotype that will surey continue to plague women drivers for a long time to come.

Most car manufacturers have at least one model which people consider to be their ‘girly’ option. The Ford Ka is the most obvious example of this, it’s small, cute rounded exterior was clearly designed to be a girly car, and indeed about 70% of sales are to women. Other cars that have a reputation for being girly include the Renault Clio and the new VW Beetle. But do women really choose to buy or lease these cars because of the way they look, or is it just that the majority of women want different things from their car than the average man?

What people don’t seem to realise is there’s a difference between a ‘girly’ car and a car that a girl would want to drive. A car that is girly would be small, cute and aesthetically pleasing, and a lot of men seem to assume these are the only things that women look at when choosing a car. Actually, statistically most women are more likely to make their choice based on the car’s reliability and proven performance in safety tests. Men are far more likely to choose a sporty, fast, slick-looking car whereas women just want something that will get them from A to B without breaking down.

Men and women also seem to have very different ideas about how much they are willing to pay for a new car. Men are far more likely to splash out on an expensive sports car, women are a lot less image conscious than men when it comes to cars. If, say, they were interested in the Audi Q7, a male customer is far more likely to want to buy it outright rather than considering other options such as Audi lease deals. It’s often less about the car itself than the image and status that comes with it - and is that really so different from choosing a car because you like its ‘girly’ shape?

In fact, if they had the choice and didn’t have to worry about cost, many women would probably love to get a more expensive car. Maybe not so much an unnecessarily over-the-top sports car but something like a sleek Mercedes – they’d just probably be more likely to take a more sensible option like an affordable Mercedes lease agreement than splash their cash and buy it outright.