The performance of various variational and non-variational approaches to the many-electron correlation problem is examined for a simple four-electron model system consisting of two stretched hydrogen molecules in trapezoidal, rectangular and linear configurations, in which the degree of quasi-degeneracy can be continuously varied from a non-degenerate to an almost degenerate situation. In contrast to an earlier work (K. Jankowski and J. Paldus, Int. J. Quantum Chem. 18, 1243 (1980)) we employ a double-zeta plus polarization basis and examine both single reference and multireference configuration interaction and coupled-cluster-type approaches. The performance of various Davidson-type corrections is also investigated.