There’s a significance about the Modus that pervades everything it does. From the way it finally re-establishes the long-lost French skill of making small cars funky again, to the fascinating realisation that this is quite probably the first small car ever to make anything much larger seem unnecessary, without having to qualify such opinions in terms of cost, reduced dynamic appeal or poor build quality. In fact, just to spoil things for those who always read the last sentence first, I’ll say it here: this is one of the best small cars ever made.

How something so chirpy and cuddly can be based on a platform known simply as ‘B’ is testament to Renault’s drab industrial tongue. It actually means that the Modus shares its foundations with the Nissan Micra and next year’s Renault Clio. It’s an especially rigid platform and, given the compact dimensions of the car, looks massive in cutaway illustrations. No wonder this is the first supermini to score five stars in the Euro NCAP crash tests.

What the Modus does is offer the intrinsic benefits of a big car in a small-car package like never before. As with the very safest big saloons, it’s extremely crashworthy: six airbags, a smattering of seatbelt pretensioners and anti-submarining seats.

Renault has also turned conventional supermini specification theory on its head. Whereas most automatically delete equipment to maximise profit, the Modus gets the lot. There’s climate control, a funky set of electronic dials, sat-nav if you so require, likewise a panoramic sunroof and standard anti-lock brakes with electronic brakeforce distribution – everything you’d expect to find, or be able to specify as an extra, on your £20k Laguna.