Either you dander in on a breeze of sartorial elegance, a gust of fresh air among the sweating, heaving guests who've been there for hours. Or else you roll up so late that all the fun's finished and that attractive specimen you've had your eye on for the past few months has already gone home with Francis from accounts.

So which way will it go for the Peugeot 4007? The party, of course, is the SUV love-in - an orgy of micro-niching that has spawned almost innumerable variants over the past decade - and it's an entrance that Peugeot needs to get right.

Not for financial reasons, necessarily - Peugeot only expects to shift some 2,000 of its first-ever SUV each year - but the 4007 is vital to rejuvenating the firm's somewhat tired-looking line-up.

On the road, the signs look good. The 4007 behaves impeccably, belying its bulky kerb weight. It shares all its architecture with the C-Crosser that Tom Ford drove a few weeks back, so the same plus points apply: the 2.2-litre turbodiesel engine feels strong and torquey, and fits the gearbox well, giving plenty of grunt without feeling agricultural.

Peugeot has tailored the 4007's suspension set-up to differentiate it from the C-Crosser, and it's paid off a treat, feeling firm and planted without ever jarring. The steering is also reassuringly weighty, without the unbearable lightness of many of the faux-4x4 brigade.

And, unlike many of that brigade, the 4007 does the job off-road too. While I wouldn't recommend Discovery-style boggling or mud-flat escapades - unless you really want to test the capabilities of your local emergency service - the 4007 copes with potholed dirt tracks and heavy gravel competently. It shifts the torque seamlessly between front and rear wheels to keep things stable and balanced.

The stiff ride is surprisingly comfortable on the rutted stuff too, and the low-ratio first gear means you can idle through heavier mud without needing to prod the throttle.

But with so little to choose between the 4007 and the C-Crosser, a lot rests on the exterior treatment. And, to my eyes, the Peugeot falls short in the looks department.

I know it's part of the Peugeot 'family face', but that gaping, gurning grille puts me in mind of an evil clown. Which have been statistically proven to be the scariest thing in the world.

There's a 'brushed chrome strip' at the rear that looks equally over-styled; a bit glue-on active lifestyle for my liking. In honesty, with the exception of face-on, most of the 4007's angles are fairly inoffensive, but the shape isn't as resolved as that of the C-Crosser.

Yes, the 4007 has made a fashionable entrance to the SUV party rather than an ill-advised midnight gatecrash. But unfortunately it's turned up with its slightly better-looking, more charismatic brother. And we all know which one's going to get lucky at the end of the night.

Article key :  Peugeot 4007, Peugeot 2007, Peugeot 2008, Peugeot 2009, Car 2009.