Five of the best: selling cars of 2009 so far

Believe it or not, there are people still buying new cars in 2009. Lots, in fact. It's August and we're halfway through the year, so we've gathered together the top five sellers so far. The car industry isn't out of the woods just yet, but like the economy itself, there are definitely signs that things are improving. We're not just talking about the amount of outrageously powered sports cars that makers are still churning out either, but that certain models are selling in big numbers. Not the way they once did, sure, but there are still buyers aplenty out there.

Scrappage seems to have done the trick, with any number of makers heralding it as a success. In fact, almost 85,000 cars have been registered under the scheme since it started, accounting for over a fifth of new car sales in July this year - a month that saw the first rise in new car sales since April 2008.

What's amazing is that for every single month bar one, the five cars featured here have dominated the sales chart more or less in the same order, the only blip being June, when the Peugeot 207 muscled into fifth place. So, here we have the five indisputable UK favourites of 2009 - and there are no prizes for guessing what they are.