The latest Citroën TV advertisement is a take on the transformer toys of old, kitsch Japanese cartoon characters created for the sole purpose of marketing overpriced fiddly plastic toys.
The ad sees the new French car turn into an all-singing, all-dancing robot that would undoubtedly save the world if given half the chance. It certainly can shake that boot-y.
The idea, we guess, that the car is not only packed with super-hero advanced technology and gadgetry, but also awash with its own personality.
For most cars it's a pretty outlandish claim, but if you think back to cars such as the 2CV and DS, Citroën is one of the few marques capable of such a bold claim. Admittedly the C4's predecessor, the Xsara, had as much personality as a toll collector on a wet Monday morning, but there has always been something about Citroëns which brought out their owners' forgiveness . . . forgiveness for wallowing handling, less than rock-solid reliability, and questionable build quality. The cars' "quirky" personality kept owners coming back for more.
Now we have a Citroën that seems to offer some of the personality without initial signs of cost. No doubt it's a relief to its Irish importer.
Citroën holds a less than inspiring 2.2 per cent of the Irish market, worrying for the French considering the brand's relatively strong presence in other markets. The target is a 43 per cent increase on current sales this year - sounds spectacularly ambitious but it means raising market share to 3.2 per cent. Much of this growth is earmarked from the new C4.
So on to more important fundamentals, such as design. There's no denying the new C4's impressive looks. As one onlooker put it, Citroën seems to be back on track. An avowed VW Golf fan, he did everything but strip the body-panels from the C4.
In the comfort of a shopping centre car park, with no salesperson breathing down his neck, his only company a rather weary motoring hack worried about ice cream melting in the boot, he was won over by the car's charm - and, most surprising of all, its build. Will he buy? We'll get to that later.
The new front nose is pretty and the prominent double chevron is more sporting.
The smooth rake on the roof - and large windscreen - is very impressive. It swoops back from the windscreen pillar to the sharply angled rear; on the hatchback it looks good, on the coupé it looks positively racy.
The three-door coupé is undoubtedly the icon of the model range. Citroën has been racing through the world's forest collecting World Rally Championship titles, but it was always impossible to relate its high-powered antics with any of its lacklustre road cars. Now we can.
In one of those odd Gallic twists, no sooner has Citroën built a car which finally fits the racing image than it announces it's withdrawing from WRC. You can almost hear the gun go off as it shoots itself in the foot again.
Surprisingly, the coupé is cheaper than the hatchback and, with its sporting looks, may well win over the sort of people who were taken some years back by the old Mazda 323F, though it lacks the pop-up lights.
The C4 is built on the same platform as the Peugeot 307, yet it's both longer and wider, though not as tall. Legroom is fine for two adults in the back and boot space at 341 litres with rear seats up is good for shopping, if a little tight for golfing kit.
The ride is, as always with Citroën, soft and supple. The car soaks up bumps with aplomb, suffering only on really rutted back roads where the suspension sometimes bottoms out. Handling, however, is well honed.
Our test car's 1.6-litre HDi diesel offered plenty of power for this body. We suspect, however, that the 1.4-litre petrol may be a little underpowered for a high-mileage motorist.
The interior is well put together. The central console, identical to the sibling Peugeot one, is high quality and feels premium.
The C4 is awash with new technology. At least it is on the continent. Here the likes of the innovative lane departure warning system (€750 extra) is an option on the top of the range coupé.
Cruise control, a standard feature, is very useful on motorways - it stops you sneaking over the limit and incurring those dreaded points.
Not that your speed will go unnoticed, because Citroën has created the ultimate toy for backseat drivers. The enormous centre-mounted display shows your speed in large thick three-inch numerals, which invites everybody in the car to air their views on your driving. The radio's mute button is close by, letting you kill the music and threaten to do the same to the next person commenting from the back.
Anyway, rear-seat barrackers can be reigned in thanks to the seat-belt warning system applying to all five seat-belts. As Kilian Doyle mentioned in his Emissions column recently, an unbelted rear passenger will hit front seat occupants with the force of a baby elephant in a crash.
Another useful safety tool is the automatic hazard warning lights which come on in the case of emergency braking, particularly useful in avoiding motorway pile-ups.
However, one disappointing omission from the standard pack is the stability and traction control system. It's available as standard only on the range-topping 1.6 HDI VSX hatchback and VTS coupés.
The most striking new feature is the fixed-centre controls on the steering wheel. The buttons don't travel with you when you turn the wheel. This means you have to let go to successfully change volume etc, somewhat defeating the purpose.
We get a strong sense of "gimmickry" about the whole thing. It's hardly the greatest innovation since the two-stroke engine, but it's quirky and brings to mind a time when every double-chevron car was strong on personality. This sort of individuality helped Citroën survive several years of poor reliability.
So the C4 has personality, style and looks. These traits should see it hold its own in Ireland's most popular car segment. The problem is that in a like-for-like comparison, it's quite pricey at €20,000 for the 1.4-litre entry-level petrol. Against the likes of the Peugeot 307 (€19,495), the Ford Focus (€19,730) and even the VW Golf (€20,310), it's hardly priced to give these well-established models any real trouble.
However, taking discounts on offer from the start by Citroën and suddenly it's over €1,000 less than its equivalents. The discount puts a whole new light on the deal and makes you take a closer look. But the offer closes on January 31st. After that, if the scheme is not extended, we would return to our earlier reservations.
So, will our Golf fan buy a C4? He's impressed with the specification compared to the rather barren VW. But he's holding out until he sees if Citroën knocks more off the price when the New Year rush dies down. And that's the problem with discounts - no one believes terms like "once-off offer" any more.