Peugeot 408

This sleek-looking, comfortable range includes a brace of hybrids, one of them a plug-in for business car taxpayers; the only non-hybrid is a weedy £30,765, 1.2-litre 130PS unit.

Front-wheel drive and an eight-speed automatic gearbox mean the 408 won’t be challenging the BMW 3-series for driver pleasure, but dynamically it’s really not bad. The interior is

nicely finished although the Stellantis Group touchscreen, while improved, is still tricky to master and the lanecentring system is awful.

It’s the abrupt response to the accelerator and brakes, however, which most let down the 408. Oh, and the fact that Stellantis has a better executive hatchback based on the same chassis: the Citroën C5X. Why that wasn’t in the seven-car shortlist is a mystery.