Regrets, I’ve had a few… and now there’s a new one to add to the list: opting for the four-wheel-drive 1.6T petrol version of the Jaecoo 7 rather than the 1.5 SHS plug-in hybrid model.

When I got my car, the price difference between the two (both in Luxury trim) was £2315, but that gap has narrowed and now the PHEV is just £1220 more, at £35,165. More significantly, when I did a bit of shopping around for leasing options, I discovered that some providers were offering deals comparable to the £30k entry-level 2WD Deluxe model, despite the PHEV being Jaecoo’s flagship.

That wouldn’t be quite so much of a problem if the car were no better than what I already have, but I recently got the chance to sample a PHEV for a few days and frankly now think I’ve made a mistake.

In place of a 145bhp 1598cc turbo petrol four driving all four wheels through a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, the PHEV deploys a 1499cc four-cylinder turbo four combined with an electric motor and an 18.3kWh battery, driving the front wheels via a CVT.

The PHEV’s two powerplants muster a combined 201bhp and 229lb ft of torque (to my petrol car’s 203lb ft), but the difference feels much greater. It’s still hardly a dynamic masterpiece, particularly in terms of ride and handling, but where in the petrol car you suffer frustrating start/stop delays and have to keep the engine on the boil to make meaningful progress, the PHEV’s performance feels both instant (0-62mph in 8.5sec rather than 11.8sec) and effortless.

Even if it were significantly costlier, you would soon claw that back at the pumps: where my petrol car’s on-board trip meter has been showing a paltry 30.4mpg average, the PHEV didn’t drop below 40.7mpg and was consistently nudging into the 50s (admittedly rather different to the ridiculously optimistic official figure of 403mpg).

Even better, its claimed 56-mile electric range is enough for me to get to work and back on a single charge without burning any fuel.

When it does spark up, the engine can be intrusive (when the battery depleted on the motorway at 70mph, it suddenly came to life and thrashed away at high revs until it had topped up the charge level) and stomping on the throttle delivers an alarming ‘overboost’ sensation that gives the impression of a runaway train, but on the whole it made for a far more relaxing and refined companion than my petrol car.

One major surprise about the PHEV was its interior. I had expected a few minor variations but, apart from having the same seats and basic cabin architecture, it felt very different from my petrol car, even though both profess to share the same Luxury trim level.

There were new door cards that lack the faux off-roader accents of my four-wheel-drive model, along with a whole new centre console with a split-hinged storage box and, yet more surprisingly, different switchgear, with even the gear selector moved from the centre console to the steering column.

Jaecoo told me the differences are because buyers of electrified cars favour “a more futuristic look”, and the PHEV is certainly classier and more premium in its soft-touch feel.

The only real downsides I could find were a slightly smaller boot (412 litres compared with 500 litres) and a tendency to overwhelm the front wheels too easily if you’re not gentle with the throttle pedal, exacerbated in the rain or the snow. I was reminded of that in the recent cold snap, when my four-wheel-drive petrol car handled snow- and ice-covered roads with significantly more aplomb, aided by the multitude of drive modes that it features to back up its off-roader credentials (the PHEV has just three: Normal, the default Eco and Sport).

Small mercies, I guess.