RCZ Top Gear Coupe of the Year!
The 2011 Awards issue of Top Gear named the RCZ its Coupé of the Year and celebrated by taking the car on an extraordinary road trip to parts of China tourists rarely experience. Here are some edited highlights from Sam Philip’s adventure.
“The plan was straightforward: to take the RCZ, our Coupé of the Year, to find the Great Wall of China. Not the touristy bit right outside Beijing, but the real, unrestored, Mongol-repelling thing.” Reaching Inner Mongolia, he writes: “Against a backdrop of tiny blacksmith stalls and dusty kiosks, the RCZ looks better than ever, with sculpted arches and sleek rear deck. It’s a grower this car… the RCZ is starting to look like a design icon.
“This top-spec 200bhp version, with its 1.6-litre turbo limp, is a quick little car, with more punch than its 7.5second 0-60mph time suggests. In the hands of a good driver on a twisty road it’ll happily keep tabs on the Maserati Gran Cabrio, and it devours smooth motorways with a fluency and ease that most small hot cars simply can’t manage.
“Up in the mountains, the RCZ comes alive. It is a beautifully balanced car, easy to drive quickly… the wide, low RCZ always feels completely on your side, gripping hard and only resorting to the gentlest understeer at the very limits. The RCZ isn’t as razor sharp as a Clio RenaultSport or as eye-widening as a Focus RS. The Peugeot aims for a more subtle niche, that of a small, sophisticated GT and fills it perfectly.”
Top Gear, Awards Issue
