The Clio V6 is to packaging what I am to origami, which is to say next to useless, and it doesn't even have a space saver spare. The can of tyre foam provided is fine if you've run over a nail but useless when it's the sidewall that's been pinched and broken. We filled the tyre with the foam, and got the cigar lighter-powered air pump brrr-ing, but the result was a half-hearted geyser of foam spewing from the gash in the sidewall.

Breakdown recovery was the only option. Getting a replacement tyre took three working days, with a weekend inconveniently in between, taking the wait to five days. I'm glad I wasn't on a touring holiday.

Part of the problem is that the second- generation Clio's rewarding dynamics are partly down to its second-generation Michelin Pilot Sport tyres, which are not yet widely available. I am assured that the situation is improving even as I write.