IT'S not only the name of Toyota's beefy two-seater Supra that harks back to another era.

With its long, tapering nose, straight-six engine and rear wheel drive, the Japanese muscle car is an appealing throwback to the Eighties.

It looks mean and purposeful - if not exactly pretty - in perhaps the same way as the late lamented Marcos 3.0 coupe did.

Yet there's nothing old-school about the abundant clout when you floor the accelerator. With 335bhp on call and 369lb ft of torque to help out, it eclipses the 62mph sprint in comfortable below five seconds.

The result of a collaboration between BMW and Toyota, the straight six engine is a thing of beauty offering symphonic sound alongside a rare smoothness which enhances the experience of hard driving.

Don't expect the Supra - a recreation of the Eighties barnstormer - to offer the sort of delicate finessed handling and dynamics of say a Porsche or an Alpine. Instead you get a sledgehammer experience not dissimilar to that of an F-Type.

In many ways it takes on more of a grand touring role than an outright sports car thanks to its mile-eating ability and relaxed disposition. Once you've throttled back, noise levels are pleasantly low making it a refined and comfortable cruiser.

Even under harsh acceleration, the background deep bark from the straight six is music to most people's ears.

Handling is playful and predictable with high limits of adhesion. Though not in the supercar class, most owners will be more than satisfied with its capability. Steering is pleasantly weighted with a sharp turn-in though a little lacking in feed-back.

The eight-speed automatic gearbox with steering wheel paddles complements the Supra to perfection. For those who hanker after a greater retro experience, Toyota has dutifully provided the option of a manual box. Personally, we'd stick with a bit of new technology here, and put a tick by the auto option.

Changes are super-rapid and you even get a few cracks and pops from the exhaust when you back off the power. One of the few boy racer features of the Supra.

There's a choice of drive modes between ‘normal', ‘sport' or individual. We found sport to be nicely responsive without being over-aggressive.

Although there's space just for two onboard, there's ample space for weekend luggage in the hatchback rear boot which can soak up 290litres of cargo. Plenty of tasty kit on board too, including head-up display, electric folding door mirrors, leather trim, and sports seats which are heated.

The cabin is classy and well laid out with more than a splattering of BMW switchgear, no bad thing. Finish and fit is top notch and the infotainment system is a synch to use and works well. Not a great deal of cabin storage space though.

Despite the abundant shove, it's pretty miserly on fuel. Our average of 29mpg during testing wasn't far behind the official combined consumption of 34.9mpg.