2011 Peugeot RCZ GT

What we're driving is the 2011 Peugeot RCZ, a shapely concept car from the 2007 Frankfurt Auto Show that has finally reached production. It promises to make Peugeot an exciting brand again. Remember, this is the car company that made the Peugeot 205 GTi into the car of the decade in Europe during the 1980s, and then made it into a world-beating rally car, the 205 T16 Group B. Of course, we remember only the Peugeot 405 Mi16, the last car the company sold in the U.S. before it went home to France in disgrace in 1991.

Sure, we're talking about French cars here, but these were great-handling French cars, if rather less mighty when it came to construction integrity. Since then, the quality has slowly improved, but Peugeot has lost its way with the dynamics, producing ever-duller cars when it comes to coursing through corners. And we've been repeatedly told that Peugeot will never again build cars like the 205 GTi again, partly because Citroen is the cute partner in the PSA Peugeot Citroen concern and partly because (goes the unspoken word) the 205 GTi would challenge inexperienced drivers with its lift-off oversteer.