If nothing defines you quite so much as your car - think Mondeo man or Starlet nuns - then your entry into MPV world is the motoring equivalent of finding those first grey hairs.
When car enthusiasts find themselves in need of a people carrier, their hearts rightly sink. In comes the MPV and out goes aspirations of sports cars.
Thankfully, just as there are several tricks to holding back the tide of time on your body, there are ways to overcome the onset of MPV ownership. One way - for those with the financial wherewithal - has been to join the SUV brigade.
As an alternative to the suburban off-roader, Mercedes has brought some of its inventiveness to the people carrying market.
Karl Benz once said that he believed a "love of inventiveness would never die" and since then Mercedes has been trying to be as inventive as possible.
To its credit, the company has earned a stellar reputation over the decades for innovation. Yet in recent times this hunger for innovation has fallen foul of the constant threat of invention; overstretch and teething problems. The E-Class is a case in point. While a new version is due to arrive before the end of the year, the current model was launched amid great fanfare that it hosted several great innovations.
Yet within two years the recalls were mounting and amid falling rankings in quality reports, its vice-president for electrical and chassis development announced the firm was removing 600 electronic functions from its vehicles. Functions, said Stephan Wolfsried, that no one really needed and no one knew how to use.
The fact is that half the battle is to come up with something new, the rest is to test that it works in everyday situations and then to explain its benefits to buyers.
Mercedes have always been good at the first element of this trio and that has never been questioned. The second - quality control and testing - went awry for a few years after the millennium but seems to be back on track. The last element remains a challenge that faces Mercedes.
Take the R-Class for example. To some it's a people carrier, to others an estate. To yet more it's a challenger to the SUV class. To Mercedes it's a grand sports Tourer. Parsing that down in the presence of the car, there's no questioning that it's grand. Enormous would be another apt description. Going to the final descriptor - touring - that it does with aplomb, offering the luxury of a top-end saloon with the legroom of a business class flight.
Sports is the most doubtful factor. Given its size, it's hard to argue for the sporting character of the car. A little marketing exaggeration perhaps. That said, the size should not be taken as too much of a complaint.
Certainly when you go to park it, the R-Class shows its true size. Measuring in at 5 metres (16 feet) in length and 2 metres in width, you need to judge your parking spots wisely.
For all that, Mercedes deserves great credit for getting the styling so right. Compared with the ego-centric SUVs and bulky estates on the market, Mercedes has carried out a very impressive job in the design studio. It's big, but somehow quite dignified.
In terms of performance, the engine range offers ample power to carry the 2.2 tonnes of metal in the R-Class. There are 300bhp 5-litre and 3.5-litre 270 bhp petrol engines and Mercede's well-reputed 3-litre turbocharged 221bhp diesel unit, which powered our test car. The diesel never slouched and the power was well-distributed through the seven-speed automatic gearbox. This impressively smooth transmission operates from a dinky 'direct shift' lever on the steering column, similar to that featured in the BMW 7-Series.
But for greater involvement - and fun - you can also drive the car as a manual, using gearshift buttons on the steering wheel.
Perhaps the most telling sign that the sports description was a marketing excess is in the ride and handling. Admirably, the car does not handle as awkwardly as you would expect such a cumbersome vehicle would, but it's certainly not racing and the compromise in terms of ride is very much towards comfort. Cabin layout, unfortunately, is of the old-school styling and doesn't take its cue from the elegant new S-Class interior. It's a pity Mercedes didn't wait and bring the R-Class up to speed.
In terms of the all-important seating, the decision to offer just six seats means those in the middle back row are spoilt with captain's chairs and plenty of room in between.
The same cannot be said of those in the very back. Two versions of R-Class are on offer, a regular version, which is really a 4+2 arrangement with room for two children in the very back row, or a full six-seater if you opt for the long-wheelbase version. With a price difference of €2,500 on an €80,000 car, it would seem silly to opt for the regular version.
Mercedes could have made this a seven-seater simply by replacing the middle row with a bench. Perhaps it would have compromised on the comfort and made entry and exit a little more difficult for the very back row, but it would have made sense.
In the shorter wheelbase version, with the back row of seats up, the boot space is a disgrace for a car so big. We've had superminis with more storage.
The R-Class is yet another first from the Stuttgart-based brand, and takes the lead on arch-rival BMW, which is set to launch two MPVs by 2009. The first will be a rival to Mercedes' B-Class. The second, the V5, is aimed at going head-to-head with the R-Class.
If you have €80,000 to spend, there is not much in the way of competition from people carriers. In the estate market, there's the BMW 5-Series and Audi A6 to name but two.
Of these, neither is as big, nor offering the extra seat options. Yet open it up to SUV competition and there are some really tough and experienced competitors out there. The Volvo XC90, for example, has a premium badge reputation and seven seats to boot. Indeed, if you are determined to carry a three-pointed star there are still competitors in its ranks, such as the M-Class SUV and the admittedly van-like Viano (at nearly half the price).
Yet the R-Class has more kudos than most of these and several passers-by who stopped to chat thought it was some form of new S-Class estate.
The R-Class was designed with the US market in mind. Sadly the US consumers don't seem to know exactly what it is for and this confusion has led to a drop in prices on the forecourts.
For €80,000 it's a lot of car. Yet that money can buy you a lot of very smart rivals in the SUV category. That may mean owning up to the motoring reality of family life - those motoring grey hairs - but it may be the biggest problem faced by this otherwise impressive grand tourer.