Immediately noticeable are the ‘Urban Blue’ seats which replace the Plus’ grey fabric offering. These feel pretty premium for a car of the C3’s price and utilise Citroen’s pillowy ‘Advanced Comfort’ design. Combined with the hydraulic bump-stop tech from the French brand’s ‘Hydraulic Cushion’ suspension, even the entry-level C3 offers a level of comfort and composure that goes well beyond the average for a car of its size.

Not that the Collection feels at all ‘entry-level’; sure there’s no heated seats, electronic climate control or built-in sat-nav like range-topping Max models, but standard equipment nevertheless covers all the basics. Over and above the old Plus, the Collection adds tinted rear windows, gloss-black 17-inch wheels, several splashes of red trim and, perhaps more importantly, a reversing camera.

As before, infotainment comes courtesy of a 10.25-inch central touchscreen and a slim head-up display above the steering wheel as in the Citroen Xsara Picasso or, more recently, the BMW iX3. As with the Citroen's main rivals, the Dacia Sandero and the Suzuki Swift, the main screen in the centre is little more than a glorified radio, or a canvas on which to project your mobile phone content via Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. It’s pretty responsive to inputs, but does take a while to switch on.

When you do turn on the ignition, however, you’ll notice two things: one, the C3 Collection still uses a traditional flip-out car key and two, there are three pedals in the driver’s footwell. That’s because the Citroen C3 is one of the very few new cars still available with a manual transmission.