In all fairness, I do believe there are hardly any really bad cars on the market these days. However, we can still be discerning and separate the sheep from the goats – something my old biology teacher used to say in every lesson. Too late, I finally think I understand the meaning, especially when it comes to cars; they all look good and drive well, but which one stands out from the crowd? I still don’t know which one it’s best to be. Sheep are cuddly and cute, tow the line and follow the crowd. Now goats seem rather wicked to me with that slightly malevolent look, rebellious nature and agile manner…

What on earth has this got to do with cars? Well, quite a lot when it comes to driving the all-new Spark with its funky style heralding a new era for Chevrolet, gently started with the Cruze earlier this year. While the Cruze is large and more traditional, the Spark is young, dynamic, cheeky and off the rails – or rather it almost was as a load of journalists were let lose on the streets of Athens for their first taster of this city car.

So when I thought of Greece, goats came to mind. The Spark, out next Spring to UK buyers, is agile and sure-footed. It’s quick, responsive, angular, bold, aggressive and looks altogether a little wicked and helped us hapless journalists cope with the hell of driving in a crazy city, where no one seemed to take notice of other cars, whether they had right of way or not. No point in being hesitant like a sheep – best to leap into the fray and get on with it.

It was rather an amazing scene, a convoy of brightly coloured Sparks disappearing into the distance, easily spotted by their distinctive rear lights. This is a smart city car with an edge. It’s spacious, stylish, fun to drive and different. But it is a city car, and while it does have the benefits of five doors and five seats, you wouldn’t want to travel too far with five adults on board, despite space for legs, heads and shoulders. It is what it is, and none the worse for that.

Rather than being slightly apologetic about driving a cheaper car (starting price £6,945), this is a car you can be proud to be seen in and look forward to driving, its green credentials offsetting the guilt of driving a car in a city. And yes, there are other city cars out there who can do all that this car can do, but do they offer such value for money and still look good?

We owned a Peugeot 205 many years ago, courtesy of a dear friend. He kindly donated it to us when he became too old to drive safely, only for it promptly to be written off by my husband who drove it into a wall to avoid hitting a sheep!

So now, years later I found myself in the 205′s upgraded self – a 2009 Peugeot 207 courtesy of a Peugeot Service Department as my 807 was dispatched for some repairs. I should add that this isn’t the car featured in Debby’s video above, which was lent to us by the nice people at Peugeot UK…

Having been used to a diesel automatic, with an engine not quite large enough for the size of the 807, it was rather a joy to slip the 207 into gear and zip away. My mood immediately lightened, distracted from thoughts of impending repair bills.

Unfortunately, this all coincided with a self-catering, boating holiday on the Norfolk Broads. We had a long journey ahead in our new small friend and frankly we approached it with some trepidation.

But instead of the miserable, cramped journey that we had been anticipating (the 207 is, whichever way you cut it, smaller than an 807), we had a lovely trip with luggage and provisions fitting nicely into the impressive boot, husband not too cramped in the passenger seat and toys mercifully limited due to the normal-sized cabin.

The only complaint from said husband was when I refused to overtake numerous lorries on the A-roads. This however, is no reflection on the 207, but rather on my driving, having endured a near-death experience a couple of years ago with the aforementioned under-powered 807 and a huge lorry hurtling towards me.

Apart from the slow journey then, there were no further complaints and we arrived at our destination full of beans (literally, thanks to a Little Chef) with plenty of petrol still in the tank.

I suspect there’d be even more fuel left in the tank had we been in the new Economique (doesn’t “economical” sound better in French?) derivative of this best-selling Peugeot, which not only produces 99g/km of CO2 but is exempt from tax. It’s little wonder that sales of the 207 are very good despite all the other new Peugeots on the market (see our recent 3008 test here for instance).

We suddenly wondered whether our friends and neighbours had been right all along to sneer at our enormous people-carrier, while they smugly drove their nippy city cars.

Who needs big, gas guzzling monsters, which only encourage you to pack for all eventualities when a smaller, greener car will do? If only we could afford to downsize!

There are tried and tested ways to launch a new car. Take a load of journalists to a hot and sunny place, put them up in the best hotel in town and offer them an endless supply of food and drink seems to be the established route, but hardly the most imaginative perhaps? After all, you can just see the world-weary hacks being unable to remember one launch from the next, blurring people-carriers in Cannes with supercars in Sardinia.

So you have to hand it to Chevrolet trying something a bit different with their soon-to-be-launched Spark. It’s a cheeky-looking car, sure enough, and along with the equally new but much larger Cruze marks a new face of Chevrolet in the UK; still good-value, but now good-looking as well. And there’s clearly something in the water that Chevrolet’s European team drink…

The setting was Berlin Fashion Week and the stage was the Chevrolet Young Creative awards night. I walked in to the venue brimming with confidence, video camera to hand but within minutes felt extremely old and dull as everyone seemed to be either nineteen years old, or nineteen years old and wearing clothes so cutting-edge it almost hurt. I tell a lie actually: there were older people there, but they all looked like George Clooney so that didn’t help. A very bleak prospect for your correspondent.

Such petty thoughts were soon put aside though as I started to look at the entries, the quality of which was astounding. And then you realise that the whole shebang is sponsored by a global car company and not a fashion house. Chevrolet will of course garner publicity and credibility from the project, but they’ve also given some young kids the chance to make a name for themselves and collect perhaps the first of many trophies for the mantlepiece. It’s an enlightened strategy.

So what about our Spark then, in all its diminutive glory? Chevrolet decided to hand one over to Mischa Woeste of the Smeilinener label and it’s probably fair to say that what same back would have raised a few eyebrows at the monthly Chevrolet marketing meeting. Even the Spark’s designer, who was on hand for the evening, looked a trifle stunned, but then he started laughing. At least I think it was laughter.

So when you see your first Spark on the road, you might just smile too as thoughts of sequins and Dulux flash before your eyes…

This piece written by Paul Harmer (Content Director for Women and Wheels) as Kate was away on half-term and couldn’t make the trip to Berlin!

The Suzuki Alto is full of delights and surprises. My first surprise being that I had to fight to get a look-in, and couldn’t figure out why it was so popular with the men. I should have known it would have been all about engine noise! Boys and their toys…

However, I’m rather pleased I left my normal cutting comments to myself, as once I got behind the wheel I soon understood what all the fuss was about. I have to confess, I soon got hooked on the noise this zippy city car produced. This I’m reliably informed is down to the three cylinder engine – just don’t ask me to explain why, as I zoned out at that point. However, I did recognise that we had heard a similar off-beat thrum before in the form of the Smart, so felt progress was being made in the pub-quiz stakes.

But at first all I felt was embarrassment as I zipped around North West London, wanting to poke my head out of the window and apologise to all those that were being affected by my throaty engine. Except whenever I did have the window down I couldn’t hear it. I soon realised that this lovely noise was all internal and I could enjoy it without feelings of mortification. Isn’t that clever?

So not only was the internal sound a joy, but so was the interior; there was nothing surplus to requirement, yet nothing was lacking. All the storage shelves and cubby holes are there but done in such a way as to appear frugal, but sufficient. It has that holiday cottage feel about it. Plain, simple and clean looking, which somehow makes it easy to live with, to the point where you want to transfer that simple-living feeling into your everyday life. It took me quite a while to forgive my own car for all its clever gadgets, many of which stopped working just after the warranty expired.

This car gave me thrills with its engine noise, to the point that I kept imagining myself in a little sports car, only to be faintly shocked back to reality when I stepped out. The engine note is only intrusive when accelerating fast, which just means you do it more often. The Alto’s rather funny, easy to park, fun to drive, has low running costs and emissions and is a cheeky looking number to boot. A perfect city car.