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Egg-box interior quality just won't do any more, nor that horrid scrunched-up driving position. Extra safety kit had to be another given, and better refinement too.

The 207 goes up a size. It's built on the same platform as the 1007 and Citroen C3, but the wheelbase is 80mm up on theirs, and the track's wider with it.

There's also an all-new rear suspension, which is claimed to give better dynamics, though they would say that, wouldn't they, and also more space both in the back seat and the boot.

I've sat there (seat, not boot, dummy) and it feels that way too. Peugeot and Renault engineers always mark each other closely, so it's no surprise that they were going the same directions as they developed the 207 and new Clio: bigger, more grown-up, more solid.

Which means a better-quality cabin. Could hardly have been worse, you sneer. Well, yes, but the step is more than a token one.

In every model, bar the rentacar spec, acres of soft-feel plastic have been rolled out, much of it in a nifty geometric diamond grain, rather than the usual pathetically unrealistic fake leather grain.

As you ascend the range, more aluminium trim arrives on the centre console, the instruments get smarter and the aircon more sophisticated. The driver now gets sensible foot-room, and the steering wheel adjusts in 2-D, as does the seat base.

The engines come from Peugeot's standard palette. Modern enough, so no grumbles, and nothing smaller than a 1.4, because this is no baby car. In fact, three 1.4s: a 75bhp, a 90bhp 16-valve and a 70bhp diesel.

Then some 1.6s: a 110bhp 16-valve petrol and a modern, lightweight 16-valve diesel in 90 and 110bhp versions. The 110 diesel has a variable-geometry turbo and a squeaky-clean particulate filter. It ought to catapult along, given its 192lb ft of overboost torque.

Obviously, the pick of the range, especially as, unlike most other muscular diesels in superminis, it isn't ship-anchor heavy and shouldn't muck up the steering.