Peugeot RCZ takes Coupe of the Year honours in Top Gear magazine awards

It appears that it's 'real-world cars' that are doing the briskest of business at the annual Top Gear magazine awards for 2010. This is good news for us buyers without Bugatti money, but also some prominent recognition for the braver mainstream manufacturers that took some risks and produced exciting, thoughtfully-engineered, non-run-of-the-mill cars. Citroen scooped Top Gear Car of the Year for their DS3.

So, well done Peugeot for their well-deserved Coupe of the Year award for the curvy and evocative RCZ - a coupe that certainly looks exotic. But, under those sculpted lines you'll find a chassis that doesn't need Ayrton Senna to master it, frugal and green diesel engines or relatively sporting petrol-power, and all of them offering the sort of widely-spaced serving intervals that a screaming Ferrari could only dream of.

Here's what the magazine said: "The Peugeot RCZ is a beautifully balanced car, easy to drive quickly. Low and wide, it always feels completely on your side, gripping hard, resorting to understeer only at the limit. The Peugeot RCZ is positioned as a small, sophisticated GT, and fills it perfectly."

The RCZ was launched in June 2010 and Peugeot have sold 2,000 coupes in the UK to date, priced from £20,450.

Not bad for a shade over £20K

Enough leather to make you feel special and all wrapped-up by a trick 'double-bubble' roof that, by all accounts, was a bit of an engineering toughie

Makes a good-looking racecar too as Peugeot show off their diesel engine prowess. That's right, a diesel engine racecar