I remember the first time I drove a Caterham 7 – it was during a motoring journalist test day and I won a set of tyres for being the fastest hack around the handling track. The 7 blew me away. It was like being in a four-wheel motorbike, brilliant on the corners, raucous and outrageously good fun.

How many cars do you know that which take back to the basics? You could probably count them on one hand because safety laws, economy and ‘sensible’ design means modern cars aren’t designed for the purist.

The GT86 doesn’t have a turbocharged engine, it’s rear-wheel drive and it would be thrashed from the traffic lights by a Golf GTI. Yet, the Golf has so much electronic wizardry keeping it on the road that it can leave you rather cold. It also costs more than the GT86.

So the Toyota is a car you really can’t afford to miss if you like enthusiastic driving. It will reward you by the bucketload and at £25,000, is an absolute steal…

They only made 25 episodes of Father Ted and it’s now almost 20 years since we first watched Crilly, Dougal and Jack upset the Catholic church. I wonder how many times those 25 episodes have been repeated on the BBC, Dave and every other comedy station?

I’m guessing I’ve seen every programme but I’m also hopeful there is an episode that I’ve missed too. There must be one gem out there – like a hidden Fawlty Towers… Discovering the GT86 has been a Father Ted moment, the car’s been on the market for two years but I’d totally overlooked it.

Maybe it’s because I just read the average 0-60mph time of 7.7 seconds and assumed the Toyota was dressed to thrill but didn’t actually have the performance to match?

The passenger seats are a little hard, tyre noisy is high, the trim is nothing like a BMW and the back seats are more of a parcel shelf. Despite all that, I just love this car – maximum fun for relatively modest money.

I’ve just been watching a Toyota commercial on YouTube which was banned in the UK. It’s animated and shows a ‘man in a suit’ driving his standard issue, dull car around a city. Bored with the electronic wizardry that has sucked all the pleasure out of his motoring, he then discovers the GT86.

I’m imagining it was banned because of what follows next. He climbs in the Toyota and screams around the city, rather fast and in a terribly naughty way. Because it flouts every road safety rule in the book, the ad was not allowed on your television screen.

Madness. The advertising standards people obviously haven’t watched an episode of Top Gear. You probably have a teenager in his bedroom right now playing a cyber war game that makes the Toyota ad look like an episode of the Magic Roundabout.

It’s simply enough to find the GT86 ad on YouTube – have a look and see what you think. I won’t be screaming around a city centre in such a reckless fashion but I can tell you the GT86 is the most exciting car I’ve driven in a long time…

You don’t need a week to get to know some cars – it took four miles to appreciate the fine handling and driver focused thrills on tap in Toyota’s fantastic GT86.

Once I’d discovered the coupe red lines at about 7000rpm, it was the only excuse I needed to push the GT86 along at a very brisk pace.

Here is a car that like the Mazda MX-5, doesn’t require a dazzling 0-60mph time to put a smile on your face. It’s beautifully balanced, with a short throw, precise gearbox that totally engages with the driver.

Some reviews will tell you that the rear seats and boot space are tiny, that the car has higher than average emissions and fuel economy is average. If that worries you, then yes, the Toyota isn’t the one.

But if ‘fun’ still registers on your driving radar, it’s definitely worth your hard earned cash.