By about my fifth try, I was finally getting the hang of drifting the 2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe. The 3.8-liter, 306-hp V-6 engine had no problem kicking out the rear end, and the Torsen limited slip differential that was part of the Track package on the car made for nice, controllable and extremely smokey powerslides. If the big grin on my face was any indication, Hyundai’s new coupe is going to make a lot of enthusiasts very happy.

The most amazing part of all this, to me at least, is that destroying the rear tires on this car while banging its engine against the rev limiter came not surreptitiously in a hidden corner of some parking lot found during a boring press drive. No, it was in front of Hyundai’s PR and engineering staff, with none other than Genesis Coupe project manager Derek Joyce giving me thumbs up and egging me on while he waited for me to get the hell off the loop so he could have another go.

Clearly, Hyundai is serious about this car, and wants the world to know it.

The sport coupe arena is littered with the bodies of the fallen. Enthusiasts have high expectations, and if a car company decides it’s going to enter this Colosseum, it must have its act together. Which is why the 2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe is such a revelation. Sure, the company’s been on a roll lately, but not even the extremely competent Genesis Sedan prepared me for the way Hyundai absolutely nailed the sport coupe formula. This car pegs all the “I want it” benchmarks with virtually no deal breakers, and all of it at a bargain price.

Oh, the price. That’s the best part. It starts at $22,000 for the turbocharged four-banger, and if you opt for the V-6 and check every single option box, you’ll still barely crack $30,000. All of you clamoring for an inexpensive, fun to drive, front-engine, rear-drive sport coupe, it’s here. And it’s a freakin’ Hyundai.

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For Toyota, launching the third-generation 2010 Toyota Prius must feel a little like being the crew of Apollo 12. Quick…what are their names? Don’t know? Didn’t think so. It’s not because their mission was less important (it wasn’t) or because they were less capable than Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins (they weren’t), but because Apollo 11 was an impossibly tough act to follow. That’s where Toyota finds itself with the new Prius, but with a wrinkle even Conrad, Gordon and Bean didn’t face: Now the Russians are on the moon, too.

OK, enough with the moonshot analogy, and enough of the teasers. The question is: What is the new Prius like to drive?

The 2010 Toyota Prius is a great car in many ways. It improves on the second-generation Prius with more power, better styling, and more technology than you can imagine. Toyota nailed all of the high points it needed to, and the Prius will probably continue to sell extremely well, thanks to its built-in fan base and well-deserved reputation as the leading eco-car.

The problem is that even with all the improvements, it’s still not a driver’s car. For that, there’s the 2010 Honda Insight. Sure, the 2010 Insight isn’t as thrifty as the 2010 Prius, and maybe it doesn’t have as many gizmos. So what? They both get amazing fuel economy, since Toyota will hold the line on Prius pricing the Insight will be cheaper by thousands of dollars, and the reality is that the money you save in gas costs with a Prius won’t even buy you an extra bag of groceries each month.

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