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Don't worry - you've not suddenly timewarped into the late Eighties and found yourself mulling over the new Nissan Cedric before turning the page and finding an advert for Brut aftershave and the new Austin Metro - this is actually a new car: the Nissan Cedric Taxi.

OK, so it's not a car you can buy in the UK, and will never be offered in the Nissan range, but it's one of the most brilliant things in motoring.

After I wait for the guffaws to die down, I think I should explain why. This is the Cedric Crew Taxi that was originally launched in 1987 and continues today virtually unchanged. Why? Because it's brilliant at one very specific job: being a taxi. This is Japan's Black Cab, its TX4, the sight most associated with urban Japan.

But it's just a saloon. Well, yes, but Japanese taxi drivers took it to their hearts and made it their own, which is why you can still buy a box-fresh version today, pre-modified for the taxi grind and engineered for 500,000km. Think about that. It comes with a lever on the driver's side, down by the seat base, that opens and closes the rear left-hand door mechanically so that potential fares don't actually have to smear the door handles.

There's a large sneeze guard on the driver's left shoulder that prevents, one assumes, aggressive breathing on the driver's neck. There's a receipt printer pre-installed on the centre console, a meter on the dash and a 'for hire' light in the left-hand corner of the windscreen. At least that's what I think it was, because I can't read kanji.

The dash is completely rectangular, appealing to those of us that have a relationship with simplicity that extends beyond designer minimalism. There are white gloves, which you must wear to remain honourable.

Once the magician's handwear is firmly stretched over too-large gaijin hands, there's a 2.0-litre four-cylinder LPG engine to explore via the huge auto gear-selector. With just 85bhp in a car that weighs 1,400kg, it's not particularly fast when mated to the four-speed auto. But it doesn't need to be.

What it does need to be, according to Nissan, is comfortable for passengers and provide - and I quote - the 'least stress in long hour rides and comfort behind the wheel'. Which it certainly does. It rides superbly, and simply hasn't got much cornering ability beyond the fact that the tyres squeal at every opportunity and lose grip early.

But it's a tremendous driving experience because it's so new, and yet so old. And so square. Even the wing mirrors are, for once, literally positioned. In a world full of gimmicks and styling for styling's sake, I wish wholeheartedly that we could still buy a car like this. Unadulterated by the passage of time, it embodies the true meaning of 'modern classic'.