Welter decided his team needed a bit more of that. So they flew back to the studio and, double-quick, put an extra dose of WRC attitude into the 207's front wings, bumper and air intakes.

As these pictures show, the 207 is no wallflower. Why so in-yer-face? Because, says Peugeot's boss, Frédéric St-Geours, at launch, the 206 had 30 competitors; the 207 will have 55. So it needs to stand out, almost for good or ill.

Actually, we like it. There's lots of lineage here too. Look at the glazed shapes, the lights, the stance. And the surfaces - curvy like a 206, not ironed like a 307.

You can have two different mouths: shouty (standard) and positively hollering (sporty). The latter takes in the whole bumper, and half the foglight discs.

The hollering-mouth version also has a top lip that comes down below the badge plinth and slightly intrudes on the mouth. On basic models, it stops short. This is merely an extension of a pedestrian-protection bulge over most of the bonnet.

In the absence of the chance to try it myself, I asked St-Geours how his new car drives. "Well, it has strong brakes, greater security on the road and very good electric power steering - it's weighty in town and direct, compared with the new Clio, in the country."

Is that so, Mr Unbiased? But Peugeot has always been proud of the way its little cars drive and, actually, with damn good reason. The challenge with the 207 is to keep the 206's lizardy vibe in a car 200mm longer, of which 97mm are in the wheelbase.

Worse, there's an extra 130kg to lug about, making it even heavier than a new Clio. And, of course, electric power steering is a notoriously tricky customer: it may save fuel, but it tends to feel artificial.

While Peugeot wanted to keep the 206's good bits - style, distinctiveness, dynamics - the company doesn't lack the self-awareness or motivation to correct the faults.