Occasionally, Toyota pauses from building cars which meet the needs of many to build something that will meet the needs of a few – like its new Celica.

From any angle, the Big T’s sporting flagship looks ready to kick some very serious arse, until you realise the shapely hood covers an engine of just 1.8 litres…They can’t be serious, we muttered.

But that deceptively small engine carries a decent kick. With 140kW of power and 180Nm of torque, it’s knocking on the door of some considerably larger engines.

Lower yourself in and notice that the seats are soft enough to avoid `num-bum’ syndrome, but with firm support everywhere it’s needed. Excellent lateral support, and with no lumbar adjustment, probably for the simple reason that it’s not needed.

I found a near-perfect seating position, with good headroom too, despite the car’s low sweeping roofline and the bulk of its power sunroof. This is a definite 2+2 though – the rear seat will comfortably take a couple of kids, but a pair of adults would find it impossible for more than a short suburban hop

Looking around carefully…
Cast your eyes to the dashboard with its big analogue dials, and controls that are the usual ergonomic sensibility expected of Toyota. A comfortably grippable rim makes the leather-wrapped steering wheel part of the deal. Perfect for the busy exec is the centre console with two drink holders moulded in, of slightly different sizes. One holds a flavoured milk bottle or the other a 375ml can - the space left vacant makes a good mobile phone holder.

Stereo is AM/FM with a single CD player, with reasonable audio quality with tweeters at the tops of the doors, but the ventilation system was a bit disappointing. Flow-through of fresh air is limited without the fan, though with the air-con running it is actually a reasonable climate control system, albeit manually controlled.

Its low seating position, high waist and rear wing give Celica an enormous blind-spot at the rear – a blind spot that obscures just about everything. The sweeping rear pillars add to the confusion, so it’s just as well the mirrors are power adjusted! And while we’re at the rear end, the luggage hatch is a bit unfashionably high, so heavy loads can be a bit of a `Uuugghh!’ lift.

Back at the pointy end, full marks to those innovative headlights. It took us a while to figure out that the uppermost lens units are actually the low beams, which direct their light in a full, even spread. And the lower mounted high beams project a swathe of light that’s well matched to the car’s ability.

NVH is reasonable for the car’s sporting intent, with a forgivable level of road rumble, though when you hit ripple-strips on the highway, you’ll know it.

Let the fun begin
Celica now offers E-shift, which is Toyota's answer to a tiptronic auto with control buttons on the steering wheel, but our test car had the 6-speed manual. (Give me a third pedal anytime!) A 6-speed gearbox doesn’t necessarily mean a higher top speed, as the sixth cog is usually a similar ratio to top gear in a five speeder. It just means that you have a lot more fun getting to the posted speed limit!

And Celica’s gearshift is especially good fun with very direct action, a short throw and ideally spaced gears. Its general feel is uncannily similar to a rear-drive box with the gear stick thrust directly into it. Front wheel drive? You could occasionally be forgiven for being fooled…

This is actually a volatile little beast, the 1.8 engine with VVTL-i (Toyota’s `intelligent’ variable valve timing system) spinning eagerly to about 5500-5600rpm, where the power and torque arrive with a bit of a wham – a harder edged effect that is rather enjoyable. And oh, the sound when it does!

Its rev-happy nature, coupled with the 6-slot box, means paying close attention to the chosen gear to ensure the engine is in the right rev-range, but that concentration is rewarded with some exhilarating moments.

Cruising the highway, 3,000rpm at 110kmh is pretty well on par with the vast majority of cars today, though it sounds a bit busier. Fuel consumption (it demands premium unleaded of course) averaged out during our test at 10.2 L/100kms or 27mpg.

Celica’s gearbox is not the only thing that often doesn’t feel like a front wheel drive car.

Its handling would be difficult to fault, the nose turning into corners in a very obedient manner. On a couple of `nice’ country roads I occasionally left the brakes a bit later than might be normally expected, but the four big discs are most efficient at pulling it into line.

The binders are quite `state of the art’ with ABS and EBD (Electronic Brakeforce Distribution), the pedal having a solid but progressive feel and they resisted fade even when worked fairly hard.

Of course, on the highway or freeway you can set the cruise and relax without the distraction of keeping your speed low enough to stay out of trouble.

But no matter how well you restrict your speed on the straights, when any twisty bits appear you can almost guarantee that you’re going to leave bends and corners more quickly than you arrived at them.

Celica ZR is just that sort of car – the sort that makes driving fun again.