The present invention refers to an aqueous coating composition comprising A) at least one binder combination of A1) 60 to 90 wt% of at least one water-dilutable (meth)acrylate copolymer comprising a) 10 to 80 wt% of at least one reaction product of a monoepoxyester and an an unsaturated acid functional monomer, b) 0 to 40 wt% of at least one hydroxyl functional unsaturated monomer which is different from component a), c) 1 to 8 wt% of at least one unsaturated acid functional monomer, and d) 0 to 70 wt% of at least one other polymerisable unsaturated monomer, wherein the wt% of a), b), c) and d) are adding up to 100% by weight, and A2) 10 to 40 wt% of at least one water-dilutable epoxyester resin, wherein the binder combination is prepared by mixing together both the at least one binder A1) and A2) after their preparation and jointly neutralizing this mixture by adding the appropriate amount of a base and conversion into an aqueous dispersion, wherein the wt% of A1) and A2) are adding up to 100% by weight, and B) at least one isocyanate compound as cross-linking agent, wherein the wt% of components A) and B) are adding up to 100% by weight. The aqueous coating composition according to the invention is particularly useful as top coat for direct coating of metal surfaces, particularly un-treated steel surfaces, providing high corrosion resistance and highly performed adhesiveness on the un-treated steel surfaces as well as high performance on appearance, e.g., gloss and flow.