Road Test: Peugeot RCZ 1.6 THP 200 GT 2dr

The thing with midlife facelifts is that they can often go awry. Some designer gets a bit heavy-handed, and, before you know it, the car's become a caricature of itself. Luckily, Peugeot had the foresight to make a hash of the original RCZ, so all they've had to do is put that right.

Not a total hash, you understand. No, it was just the grille, a gaping great maw filled out with a boxer's gumshield of a bumper. Now there's a much more acceptable two-tier arrangement, upper and lower separated by a slice of body colour. And that's it. All is aligned. You can forget about the old one's conk and focus on what a handsome, uniquely proportioned coupe this is.

And that's almost all you need to know about this facelift, one plucked straight from the colour/trim/kit school of cost-effective upgrades. You can now have the roof arches in matt black, leather and Alcantara upholstery can be added to the base Sport model (for £1,200), while the higher-spec GT, as opted for by 80 per cent of buyers, is available with brown leather. Thrills.

However, this is a car worth taking another look at. The temptation is to imagine it as another ordinary continental coupe, more style than content. But the RCZ does feel sports car-ish. The ride is firm but not jarringly so, and it has responsive steering and good turn-in. It's quite eager and backed up by an engine that's way more punchy than its 1.6-litre displacement suggests. It even sounds vaguely enticing.

The manual gearbox is tight and sharp, and this is a satisfying car to punt around in. The gearing's a bit low and noise a fraction high, just taking the edge off refinement, while comfort is slightly compromised by a flat, firm seat that's mounted too high in the car. We don't go a bundle on the bulbous steering wheel, either. But it's a light, airy cabin with good visibility and reasonable practicality. It's a two-seater, though - the back's not for humans.

Prices start at £21,595 for the 156bhp petrol Sport, with this hot 197bhp GT as the flagship. There's also a 161bhp, 2.0-litre diesel from £23,430. Personally, I'm not sure GT trim is worth the mark-up - the pokiest engine in Sport trim at £23,980 looks the best deal to me. Oh, and the hot 256bhp RCZ R? Not here until the end of the year. Boo.