Audi celebrated the 21st birthday of its ground-breaking quattro with a real blast from the past.

As part of the birthday celebrations, the German car maker offered me the chance to turn back the clock and drive its 1990 muscle machine.

The Audi quattro 20V, a low, sleek, mean machine, was always a street-prowler with attitude.

One of my abiding rally memories is of the brilliant German driver Walter Rohrl hurtling a similarly-shaped fire-belcher through impossibly small gaps between trees in dark Welsh forests.

It was competition that inspired Audi to build the car in the first place. The plan was to make just the 400 necessary to comply with international motorsport competition rules.

But demand for a road-going version was so strong that Audi kept turning them out. In ten years more than 10,000 had taken to the roads, a quarter of them in the UK.

When it rolled out of the showroom back in 1990 it delivered a whacking £33,800 hole in the wallet, putting it firmly in the realm of luxury high-performance vehicles.

The classic angular profile of the standard right-hand-drive four-seater coupe still cuts the mustard, though the interior design instantly places the beast back in the 1990s. A colleague suggested a white suit, hat and spats were needed to carry off the Shaft-like aura generated by the sloping radiator grille, pumped-up wheelarch extensions and large rear spoiler.

The heart of Audi's road car, lovingly prepared and run by Norman Gault Motor Sport, is the growling 2.2-litre turbo-charged, 20-valve engine, which can rocket the four-wheel-drive car from a standstill to 60mph in less than six seconds.

Despite such enormous power from the five-cylinder engine, the car is remarkably easy to manage and disposed of the fears that all turbo-charged engines lack low speed pulling power and always come with in-built 'turbo lag'.

Having said that, the clutch pedal is so heavy that after a couple of days you can feel Daley Thompson-like muscles developing in your left leg.

Regardless of the car's age, it still delivers a feeling of balance and complete control. Power is delivered through a five-speed gearbox and a Torsen differential which automatically spreads the power to the axle which has the best traction. Electronic anti-lock brakes help keep the car in check.

Suspension is taut, which delivers a hard ride on rough surfaces, but the car feels nailed to the road. Passengers need to mind their head when getting in the back, but once inside there is plenty of room for four.

The boot appears large, but is awkwardly shaped with the spare tyre bulging out on the left side taking up an irritating amount of space.

Instrumentation and switchgear - sliding controls for heating and ventilation - are clear enough, but angular and antiquated with a ghastly orange digital dashboard.

Though the dashboard is dated, there are still plenty of goodies, including central locking, electrically operated windows and remote-control-led door mirrors.

The sports seats are trimmed with Jacquard satin and leather, with heating for both the driver and front seat passenger.

The quattro 20V's standard specification also included a sunroof, stereo radio/cassette players, four speakers and an electric aerial. Audi claimed in its publicity material at the time that fuel consumption of the car was "moderate".

However, in the couple of hundred miles I spent with it, the on-board computer solemnly reported average fuel consumption of little more than 19 miles per gallon.

Another scary statistic to chew over is that it now costs more than £70 to fill the fuel tank from empty.. .

Autofacts Model: 1990 Audi quattro 20V

Price at launch: £33,819

Fuel consumption:

*19.5 mpg Urban Cycle

*36.2 mpg constant 56mph

*28.5 mpg Constant 75mph

Fuel tank: 19.8 gallons

Comfort: Good

Luggage space: 11.7 cu ft

Dimensions: 173 x 67.8in