Audi RS6 Quattro Avant
£77,730
CO2 per km: 333 Grams
Miles per gallon: 20.3
Good for: alpha males
Bad for: beta blockers
Jonathan grips the squared-off steering wheel in both hands and shouts at the track surging towards us: 'It's an animal. It's a beast...' He lets out the kind of laugh Peter Mandelson probably did when he 'got the call' from GB, and pushes the accelerator further towards the carpet. The massive engine ignites, sending us hurtling into the future. There seems to be no limit to the power available to us. It's a 12-course gastronomic menu of automotive adrenaline. Jonathan seems composed and capable, but my heart is in my throat with the vision-blurring velocity we are travelling at. I begin to worry my heart might actually burst out of my mouth. But then I remember he is a heart surgeon, and I calm down; he'd be able to shove it back in. At last, he hits the massive six-piston calliper brakes and we slow to a gentler pace, as does my heart... Audi should consider offering a 'cardiac consultant' as an optional extra on some if its models.
The RS6 is the most powerful production estate car available on the road. There are only six other production cars which have a comparable level of horsepower shovelled into them. They are the Strasbourg geese of the motoring world: the Bentley GT Speed, Ferrari 599, Pagani Zonda F, Lamborghini Murcielago and a pair of Mercedes-Benzes, the SLR and the S65 AMG. Notice that there are no Porsches in the club. No Aston Martins. No Maseratis. No Jaguars. This Audi is a supercar, and yet it is also a family estate. Which raises the obvious question: who will buy a £77,730 estate car with a 572bhp, V10 Lamborghini engine squeezed under its aluminium hood? The first answer is: not very many people. The planned total volume, to be drip-fed on to our streets over the next three years, is a meagre 1,400. Will the owners be family men who like to drive fast? Surely not. No one wants to do 155mph with their little darlings strapped into the back and a terrified Labrador behind the dog guard. High-mileage salesmen? The pitiful fuel consumption would soon put them out of business. Publicity-shy celebs? Possibly, but they aren't going to need five seats and a big boot. It can only be high-speed smugglers. They need the ample storage space for contraband and the rocket-like acceleration to out-gun the cops. The real answer, actually, is me, or Jonathan, or you - if only we had the cash. And the reason is simple. You will never drive a more exhilarating yet practical, understated yet beautiful car.
The RS6 has more power even than the R8 racing car which won Le Mans in 2005. The standard measurement of power is bhp, or brake horse power. Years ago, as small boys, we used to talk in hushed reverence of a car's top speed. But manufacturers can now make cars that go so fast their engines have to be electronically limited - usually to 155mph. So BMW's M5, Mercedes's E63 and the RS6 all do exactly the same speed, 155mph - it's death to Top Trump players. Therefore we small boys have to get excited about the time it takes you to get to those speeds - and the more bhp a car has, the greater its acceleration. And the RS6 has more bhp than any other car in its class.
