1. Audi R8

Audi R8 (2007 onwards model)

• What: Audi R8 4.2 FSI Quattro
• Where: Las Vegas, USA
• Date: January 2007
• Price: £76,725
• Available: Spring
• Key rivals: Porsche 911 C4S, Aston Martin V8 Vantage, Maserati GranSport, Jaguar XKR, BMW M6

Summary

Audi’s first mid-engined sports car faces up to some tough and established competition. And it’s more than up to the task. Excellent dynamics, great performance and superstar looks mean it’s more than a match for its chosen rivals.

Our likes & dislikes

• LIKES: Excellent performance, able chassis, bold looks and beautiful interior
• DISLIKES: Heinous fuel consumption, hopeless and expensive optional R tronic paddle-shift auto, impracticality

Audi has good reason to be excited about its new R8, and not just because UK cars are sold out for the next two years. For the first time in an Audi production car, the engine is located behind the driver. It’s the same 4.2-litre FSI V8 that’s used to such good effect in the RS4, driving all wheels via Audi’s quattro four-wheel-drive. The R8 is aluminium too, built using Audi’s ASF (Audi Space Frame) principles. Add double wishbone suspension all round, with the option of trick magnetic damping, and the R8 really begins to look worthy of wearing the badge of its five-time LeMans winning racing namesake.

American beauty

Any reservations about its styling, which in photos can look a touch awkward, vanish when spotting the R8 for the first time on the road. The R8 is a sensational looking car, looking fantastic in the Nevada sunshine. The bold tapering nose, the wide, squat rear and contrasting ‘sideblade’ panel behind the door imbue the R8 with dramatic, purposeful stance. It sounds fantastic, too. Stand beside an R8 and the V8’s engine note will be familiar to anyone that’s heard an RS4, the deep but cultured throb at idle rising to a rich melodic wail when more is asked from it.

Inside the cabin is beautifully finished in a mixture of leather, carbon fibre and aluminium trim. It’s refined in there too, the R8’s absence of road and wind noise meaning that the V8 is the overriding aural experience. That’s no bad thing; this is a sports car after all. But it’s one that’s facing some tough rivals, not least Porsche’s 911. That’s an ambitious target, the 911 traditionally inhabiting the £60-80,000 price and performance spectrum with such dominance that rival manufacturers are left fighting over few remaining customers. What’s more, at £76,725 it’s more expensive than the obvious 911 C4S rival. Audi is obviously feeling very bold indeed.

Thirsty, but a Porsche beater?

The R8 might look more expensive than its Porsche rival, but add some of the equipment that comes as standard on the R8 and the gap is much closer. Audi also points out that the R8’s performance betters the 911; its 187mph top speed and 4.6 second 0-62mph time trump the 911’s 179mph and 4.8 secs respectively. It’s a shame then that the fuel consumption’s not better. 19.3mpg in the combined cycle is heinously thirsty. The heavier RS4 managing better - surprising given the combination of the use of aluminium and Audi’s LeMans-winning, fuel-consumption-improving FSI technology.

The performance makes up for the R8’s thirst. The 4.2-litre V8 is a fantastically flexible unit. Peak torque is available from 4,500-6,000rpm, meaning thrust is an any gear any revs reality. Impressive as that is, changing gear is part of the appeal of driving the R8 – so long as you avoid dim-witted and costly R tronic paddle-shift option. The Ferrari-style open-gate six-speed manual has a crisp mechanical feel to its action, it clicks satisfyingly across its gate, each new ratio bringing more linear thurst. The R8’s other controls all offer deliver similar confidence inspiring response - the standard steel brakes deliver excellent performance and decent pedal feel, the throttle response and steering also impressing.

Friendly, fast and hugely capable

Audi has avoided the temptation to go for a variable power steering system. The result is that the steering is pleasingly direct and weighty. The chunky, flat-bottomed steering wheel rim might ultimately lack the fine precision of Porsche’s 911, but it’s not far off. It’s only really noticeable as the rest of the dynamic package is so polished. The ride with the optional magnetic damper system delivers excellent body control without detachment; indeed, it could be argued that the R8 is one of the best riding cars in the Audi range. Quite a feat for a sports car.

It’s a friendly, easy car to drive too. Not intimidating like its rivals can be, but no less exciting. The wide track and low centre of gravity (Audi fitting a dry sump to allow the R8’s V8 to sit lower in the chassis) and the quattro four-wheel-drive give the R8 enormous stability. Push it hard and initially there’s a touch of understeer, but the R8 will happily allow you to bring its rear wheels into play with power oversteer when you want it. It’s all very easy and enjoyable, the R8’s chassis and engine beautifully matched to deliver a very rapid and accomplished driving experience.

The complete package?

The R8 could so easily have been a vanity project for Audi, but they’ve really delivered. To drive it’s the match of its rivals, offering power and performance to better them in an un-intimidating package. It looks and sounds sensational too, inside and out. Only its lack of practicality, Audi’s claims of two sets of golf clubs behind the seats are ambitious to say the least, and fairly hefty fuel consumption count against it. Otherwise it’s right up there with its intended competition, over-delivering in the exotic stakes with four-wheel-drive, its mid-engined layout and aluminium structure. But the biggest compliment it’s due is that we’d seriously consider one over a 911. Praise indeed.

2. Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano

Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano (2007 onwards model)

Somewhere in America I know there’s someone grinning like an idiot as they hold their phone to their ear. I’ve no idea who they are, but they’ve just received the metallic, shrieking blare of the 599 GTB Fiorano’s 6.0-litre V12 repeatedly ripping up to 7,000rpm.

All via mobile technology and a quick flex of my right ankle. Only Ferrari can do this. Only Ferrari can make someone ask their friend hold their phone to the tailpipe of a car and get them to ask me to give it some. I’m more than happy to oblige. Whoever you might be, I hope you enjoyed it.

Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano

But the rasping, metallic cacophony of the V12 is only the half of it, and truth be told it’s actually quite quiet inside the 599 GTB Fiorano on the road. It’s the performance that’s so sensational. The 599 can reach 62mph in the time it’s taken you to read this sentence. Impressive, but if the driver had kept it pinned they’d be doing 124mph, wait... Now. Depending on how quickly you read, that’s 3.7 and 11.0 seconds respectively. That’s scarcely believable performance. That’s pace that’s no longer merely supercar quick, but up in the heady realms of cars like the Carrera GT, the SLR and McLaren F1. It’s hardly surprising then to find that under the Ferrari’s long bonnet nestles an engine that, save for a few alterations, is the same as that which powers the Enzo.

A new F40?

Sure, nobody needs a 6.0-litre, V12 with 620bhp and 608Nm of torque. But Ferrari’s development goals for the 599 GTB Fiorano were simple: create a car that’s able to provide the sort of performance and excitement of the F40. That’s messing with supercar royalty, and on paper, it’s right up there. The 599 GTB’s 0-62mph time betters it, as does its 205+mph top speed. Not that I’ve ever driven an F40, but I know several people who have and they all say the same thing; it’s an animal. The 599 GTB Fiorano couldn’t be more different then. Never has so much power been so civilised, so utterly exploitable. I can say with absolutely certainty that I’ll never drive a 599 GTB again with as much conviction as I did on the SS62 from Fornovo di Taro to Berceto.

It’s the road where Enzo Ferrari took part in his very first road race. And it’s sensational. An early start means it’s completely clear, the winding, bucking stretch of tarmac a tough adversary to any car, let alone such a wide one with such a surfeit of power. But Ferrari has ensured the 599 GTB has the measure of this challenge. A combination of elements allows it to monster this road, and any others you might consider. Firstly the 599 GTB’s all aluminium structure means its both light and strong, that Enzo derived engine sitting low and far back behind the front axle along. Some 85% of the 599’s mass is located within the wheelbase ensuring excellent weight distribution.

Outside

For the record it’s split 47% front 53% rear, the bias slightly rearward over its 575M Maranello predecessor’s 50/50 distribution. The styling, beautiful but resolute in the deep Rosso Monza of my car, is honed to produce downforce at speed. Even the flying buttresses at the rear have purpose, that being to channel air over the rear. The flat underfloor assists too, sucking the 599 GTB onto the road. Most significant though is the Fiorano’s suspension, the ‘SCM’ Magnetoreological damping key to the 599’s incredible agility. Linked to the Manettino steering wheel dial you to choose your preferred setting for the Fiorano’s electronic control systems.

On the road

They’re numerous, including the settings altering the thresholds for the CST and F1 Trac traction and stability systems. It also controls the speed of the shifts on the F1-SuperFast paddle shift six-speed transmission. Sport is suggested as the best compromise for the road. But Race feels right on these roads. Despite the challenging surface the 599 GTB’s body control is extraordinary, those trick dampers managing to contain roll in the corners while soaking up vertical movements caused by the less than perfect undulating road surface. Bumps that should push the 599 off line, or have it bucking are shrugged off, the 599 flowing on these difficult roads with quite astonishing deftness. It’s difficult to comprehend at first, the 599 goading you to try to unsettle it. You’ll not.

Interior

The quick incisive steering turns in with determination. The first few inches of the wheel’s movement faithfully placing the 599’s nose exactly where you want it. There’s plenty of feel at the rim too, though it could do with a bit more meatiness to the weighting. Once turned in it remains neutral through even hairpin tight bends, its beautiful balance clear whatever the radius of corner. Winding off the lock it’s easy to steer through the remainder of the bend with the rear wheels and power, the CST and F1 Trac allowing a degree of oversteer. In ‘Race’ it allows quite a lot. It also speeds up the shifts of the F1-SuperFast transmission. Slamming through the gears at 100 milliseconds it’s Ferrari’s fastest paddleshift transmission aside from Schumacher and Massa’s weekend playthings.

Keep the accelerator buried, tug back on the right paddle and before it’s even really registered you’re reaching for it again as the gear is devoured by the V12 ripping up to its heady 8,400rpm redline. For smoothness changing gears it’s best to momentarily lift, but there’s something gratifyingly feral about letting it register your shifts with a quick jerk, the downshifts smoothed and announced by a sharp, shrill blip from the throttle. The optional carbon ceramic brakes never fade, though the pedal needs a good shove to get them working. The pedal movement initially proves unexpectedly long, unlike the rest of the 599 the brakes take some learning, lacking the precision feedback of the rest of the controls. A bit more bite at the top of the pedals movement would instil more confidence.

While I’m on the 599’s few negatives the F1 paddles either need to reach further around the wheel’s circumference, or move with it. As they are you’re often tugging mid air exiting a corner taking off steering lock. There’s a bit of wind noise at speed too, and the carbon fibre and leather trim creaks like an old rope swing. The digital display and rev lights on the steering wheel are too much, the shrieking engine and rev counter doing the job better than any disco lights. Small complaints on what’s perhaps the most accomplished Ferrari ever. Prices have yet to be announced, but a two-year waiting list in the UK suggests buyers simply don’t care.

3. Porsche 911 GT3

Porsche 911 GT3 (2007 onwards model)

• What: Porsche 911 GT3
• Where: the Three Counties, England
• Date: April 2007
• Price: £79,540
• Available: now
• Key rivals: Ferrari F430, Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera, Aston DB9 Prodrive, Black Series AMGs, Audi R8

Summary

Trading some of the 911’s legendary day-to-day practicality for one of the most thrilling, involving drives you can have on either road or track. The GT3 is sensational.

• Likes: sensational performance, chassis balance, steering feel, noise
• Dislikes: grounding front splitter, difficulty getting into seats, we can’t afford one

Worth the effort

It takes me a while to slot myself into the heavily bolstered sports seat. Longer still when I realise I’m sat on the seatbelt buckle and need to haul myself almost completely out to get at it. It is worth it though, as once I have squeezed my not-so-sporting frame into the thinly-padded £3,130 optional fixed back carbon-fibre seat I am held in very snugly indeed. Aside from the tight-fitting seat my surroundings are pretty familiar, being much like every other 911 I have ever been lucky enough to drive. However in the centre of the rev counter there are two letters and a number that underline this is no ordinary 911. This is a GT3.

That might mean nothing to you, but to Porsche enthusiasts that letter and number combination has come to signify one of the purest 911 driving experiences ever. The GT3 is all the best parts of the 911 concentrated, designed to deliver an intravenous shot of pure 911. And it is a highly intoxicating one, which is why it is worth all the effort to get into the hip-hugging seat. Aside from it other areas of the interior signify the GT3’s intent. Grippy Alcantara covers the steering wheel rim and gear-shift gaiter, and there is a half roll cage behind me where usually there would be two ‘seats’.

No extinguisher, plenty of fire

Porsche has gone short of fitting the fire extinguisher that comes with that cage as part of their ‘Clubsport’ package, which, seeing as I am not intending on putting stickers on the doors and taking it racing, is a good thing. Plenty of people do though; indeed, it is the reason why the GT3 exists. And the link between it and the racetrack is highly credible, with GT3s and its Cup, RS and RSR relatives taking trophies every weekend. Like those racers the flat-six engine is slung out back, in typical 911 style. It is a mere 3.6-litre engine though, odd given the standard Carrera S boasts 3.8-litres.

It might be a smaller capacity engine but it is no ordinary 3.6-litre unit. The GT3’s engine has real pedigree being based on the block of Porsche’s 911 GT1 racer – a car that won at LeMans in ’98. Constant honing by Porsche has resulted in quite sensational stats – 415bhp from 3.6-litres equates to a heady 115.3bhp per litre. I could use this entire page to detail the meticulous engineering that has gone into it to reduce weight, maximise power and, crucially these days, reduce emissions and maximise mpg (a hugely impressive 307g/km and 22.1mpg combined respectively) but I won’t. All you need to know is that it is one of the greatest engines ever built.

Pedigree engine with a rough edge

Turning the key to start it fills the interior with a cacophony of metallic noise. It is a harsh noise, the flat-six sounding like it is going to self destruct messily and expensively spit out its internals. It doesn’t, instead it quietens down to a lumpy, irregular idle. Surprisingly, given its stats, it is not a highly-strung, temperamental performer. From low revs it’s enormously tractable, the linear delivery hardening from 4,000rpm right up to the 8,400rpm red-line. The performance that accompanies exploration into the upper rev reaches is phenomenal. The numbers say the GT3 is able to reach 100mph in under 10 seconds, a top speed of 193mph and 62mph in 4.3 seconds.

Honed to perfection

That performance is exploitable too; everything on the GT3 has been tweaked to allow you to extract the maximum from it. Shortened gear ratios are selected by the beautifully mechanical six-speed shifter, the brakes, Porsche’s optional carbon ceramic discs, could probably stop a fully-laden Boeing 747 all day long. The aero package provides downforce at speed, and its trick rear spoiler helps the engine breath deeply when it’s needed. The suspension has been lowered by 30mm over the standard car and for the first time features PASM (Porsche Active Suspension Management) allowing you the choice between beautifully fluid, but firm, to a rather compromised track stiff set up.

There is traction control too and a ‘Sport’ button. Why a sport button on a car already so sporting? It is there to allow you to bypass two of the GT3’s three silencers. Doing so not only increases the treat you give your ears when exercising that glorious flat six, but also increases the torque in the engine’s mid range. Add a sharper throttle and increased thresholds on the Carrera GT derived traction control and that Sport button’s worth having. That traction control is excellent too, the limits high enough to let you enjoy the GT3, even the limpet like grip from the semi-slick GT3 specific Michelin Cup tyres easy to overcome with the 3.6-litre’s grunt.

Best 911 ever?

Doing so is best left for the track. However, that doesn’t mean that the GT3 isn’t a fantastic road car, quite the opposite. The quick and super accurate steering is absolutely loaded with feel, the gearbox pleasingly mechanical and swift, the brakes hugely strong and fade free. Combined with the sensational and prodigious linear power from the engine, the aero package that helps keep you on the road (and in the case of the front splitter – regularly scrapes it), the beautifully judged suspension and chassis balance, the GT3 is not only one of the best 911 variants out there, but one of the most exploitable, enjoyable and useable performance cars you can currently buy.

4. BMW M3

BMW M3 (2007 onwards model)

• What: BMW M3
• Where: Malaga, Spain
• Price: £50, 625
• Available: September
• Key rivals: Audi RS4, Porsche 911, Mercedes C63 AMG, Vauxhall VXR8

Summary

With an F1-inspired V8 engine and some of the most all-encompassing development ever conducted by BMW, the company is hoping its latest M3 is also the greatest.

• Likes: World-class engine, agile chassis, well-judged styling
• Dislikes: Steering lacks feel, EDC dampers not standard

First impressions

What’s that beneath the power-bulging aluminium bonnet of the new M3, a V8? BMW’s four-seat super-coupé is potentially now closer to the performance of supercars than ever, and far removed from the four-pot original. That’s progress. But then, it’s heavier too, for safety, comfort and technology’s sake – sufficiently so that even the former straight-six wasn’t powerful enough. Cue the new 4.0-litre masterpiece, built on the line that casts Nick Heidfeld’s F1 engine, swimming in ion flow technology, double VANOS valve timing and other 21st century features necessitating a 50-input ECU. Yet it’s 15kg lighter than the old six.

The M3 is “80% different” to a regular coupé. Only the doors, boot, glass and lights are the same, and there’s no mistaking the hunkered, wide-arched stance. It oozes muscle, buoyed by the lightweight carbon fibre roof. Is it the coolest feature of any new car this year? You won’t be confusing it with a 320d M Sport. As for the people it’s aimed at, BMW says that the M3’s skills and character are so similar to the Porsche 911, “they’re like relatives”. Only this is nearly £10k cheaper, and faster in base guise. Is it the best M BMW ever?

Performance

No two ways about it. The new V8 is glorious. The sound captivates first. Rich and layered, there’s character that the more Teutonic Audi RS4 lacks. Then you realise it’s responding to your right foot with nerve-like impulsiveness (that’s the eight individual throttle butterflies). You’re directly wired to it. Is it this encouraging you to exploit the 420 horses, or the huge reserves of torquey response from down at 2,000rpm? Either way, it’s ever-eager. And interestingly, I was intoxicated, travelling fast, yet barely breached 6,000rpm at first. I could still get the back out, still dispatch any other traffic I encountered.

The baritone turns operatic the first time you hit the 8,400rpm redline. It’s an ethereal experience. The endorphins are still flowing inside me. Staggeringly aurally intoxicating, the M3 is also ferociously fast here, battering you with speed, not just vocals (and quad exhausts treating pedestrians, too). Such is the blistering range, two gears of the manual shift are enough. Ah, but if only the electronics were so simple. Like the M5, there are menus, ‘M’ buttons, ‘Power’ buttons galore. Only here, power never alters, just the feel of its delivery. Even BMW admits owners will set and forget after three weeks.

Ride and handling

“The whole car should unify,” says Rolf Sheibner project manager for M cars. It certainly does. An hour in and I was caning the engine yet had barely considered the rest of it. The front, so agile and light, yet grippy, the assured fluidity through tricky sequences, the unflappable composure across beaten-up Spanish tarmac. Only after being taken for granted did these towering achievements dawn. It’s how the whole gels rather than individual facets that wows: the M3, not just its nose, darts into corners with weight-defying finesse. The M3, not just its rear, adopts gracefully controlled arcs (with stability disengaged) out of them.

Pity about the steering. Oh, it’s fast and direct off-centre, while on-track brutality is telegraphed confidently. But it’s hazy at centre and faster driving can see you ‘biting’ with the wheel, trying to summon some reassurance. This, on the awesome Ascari race track, was unnerving. Simply, it lacks a Porsche’s delicate detail, despite four bespoke Michelins with, between then, three separate compounds. Cunningly, the unflappable brakes turned out to have bespoke track pads, too. BMW didn’t tell us, so we puzzled at the squeaks and grumbles and can’t say what the regular stoppers are like. Such highs, then, but not a Porsche vanquishing.

Interior and safety

M, not BMW, are responsible for the interior. So you wonder how they missed the towering driver’s seat. At least it’s firmly supportive, with electrically-squeezing side bolsters and extending under-thigh support. Those in the rear get two commodious pews, too – whose backrest is constructed from glassfibre, weighing 35% less than standard (but costing “a few times more”, too). Other expensive details include the red-needled rev counter with its extending-when-warm redline, plus a spongy, thick steering wheel and trad stubby gearlever. Both, like the damping properties of the seat foam, were specified by chassis guys, not interior designers.

UK buyers get ample kit for their £50k: sat nav, Xenons, electric seats, climate, 18-inch alloys. 19”s are optional and, said the engineer, “for those seeing a more direct front end”. Yeah, and those seeking more bling. And here’s something significant. All the test cars were fitted with EDC electronic dampers, a £1,200 option and, reckoned the engineer, a must-have. The M3 has a wider repertoire with them, both for ride and handling. It won’t be the real deal without. Here’s hoping customers realise that. And safety? Airbags and stability control are complemented by those considerably raised dynamic limits. It’s faster, but more competent with it.

Economy

295g/km of CO2 and 22.8mpg won’t have bunny rabbits applauding the M3 from the hedgerows. You may scoff at BMW’s Efficient Dynamics talk here; there’s regenerative breaking, obsessive weight saving galore – goodness, even a shift-up blinker (for the planet, not the engine’s sake). Yet even BMW is twitchy about headline economy figures. You’ll still struggle to see 20mpg. Still, stats show it’s more powerful yet more economical than before (and less thirsty than all its rivals). Building it on the regular 3-Series production line saves construction consumption too. In supercar terms, it’s moderately green.

5. Audi RS4

Audi RS4 (2006 onwards model)

Guy Smith tested a Williams-Renault F1 car in the ‘90s, won Le Mans in 2003, arrived at Goodwood last night and first drove the circuit this morning.

So I’m anything but worried, now he's turned off the ESP on the Audi RS4 he's pitching into a flat right-hander called Fordwater, "to have a bit of fun".

Audi RS4

To be honest, I thought it was already off. Racing drivers do things with cars that take mere mortal's breath away, as he is now. The car, drifting at three-figure speeds under complete control is, it seems, left in similar awe. But then, so was I of it. This is Audi's latest hyper-saloon, a 420bhp V8 monster that bellows off the walls surrounding Goodwood like some sort of full-bore GT racer (that'll be the twin-chamber exhaust). It also has workmen on the test route cheering, using day-glo jackets like matadors as they implore me to “(expletive) boot it”. Well, since they ask… it seems Audi’s new ‘high-speed engine principal’, which gives this 4.2-litre monster an 8,250rpm red line, hasn’t been lost on them. Spades aloft, they rapidly disappear as I quickly realise that, actually, I’m probably travelling a little too quickly for that looming corner ahead. Onto the delicate, modulatable but eyeball-popping 14-inch brakes. Hustle it into the bend with direct, easy steering. Marvel as quattro saves them from another digging job.

Doing the numbers

All this, like many initial experiences with the RS4, passed in a blur. 0-62mph in 4.8 seconds? 0-124mph in the time it takes a Meriva diesel to hit half that? It’s fast, and permanent quattro that’s ordinarily split 60/40 to the rear (but can divert up to 85 per cent rearwards when needed, for tail-tweaking junction action) ensures it’s almost always manageable. Less power to each wheel means each must deal with a ‘mere’ 105bhp, rather than, say, a BMW M3’s 172bhp. It’s the latest quattro system too, with a hugely clever Torsen centre differential; Guy Smith demonstrated how quickly it shifts power around for maximum traction under power perfectly. Concentrate hard and you can feel it, if you can keep up.

It took me a while to build up to this though. Audi has fitted an oil temperature meter to the RS4, so until it had reached 85 degrees or so, I was taking it steady. And still thinking it a quick car, with a distant but other-worldly-smooth engine note creamier than any V8 I could remember. The light, short-throw gearshift was easy, clutch and throttle gelled and the whole car felt all-of-one, in a way most Porsches do and in a way no fast Audi saloon has quite managed. But what really amazed was the supple, quiet ride that was remarkably free from harshness. Even cooking TDI Audi Avants can jitter and crash if suspension and wheels show focus; not this. The RS4 is the best-riding fast Audi ever. Even when it does encounter larger potholes, they are firmly damped rather than smashed over. Amazing.

On the road

And my slow, easy jaunts (still fast by most standards, note) gave time to appreciate Dynamic Ride Control too. Not another meaningless electronic acronym, but a wholly hydraulic facility that connects dampers to a central valve. This counters roll by flowing oil from one side to another – one side helps ‘firm’ the other – with an appreciable ‘planted’ feel. The traditional Audi squat and dive is also eliminated too, at last. With this, and fast steering that’s so precise and well-connected that mere wrist-flicks thread you though S-bends, motoring rapidly has rarely been easier. And if all this sounds dull, you’d be mistaken. So fluidly does the RS4 handle, with delicacy not before found in an RS Audi, real satisfaction can be drawn from the direct, measured response even small inputs draw.

Curiosity gets the better of you though, and the first time you let revs fly won’t be forgotten. Because the torque of the engine fools you into thinking it’s a slugger – but hit 5,500rpm and suddenly you’re given a kick towards the horizon at crackerjack velocity, with the V8 murmur taking on an impossibly metallic, sonorous wail until the rev limiter takes you by surprise deep into the 8,000rpm redline. Surprise because you hit it so quickly, surprise as you can’t actually lift your head off the lightweight RS bucket (with hard, race-spec side bolsters) to view the unique RS dials in the first place. Lateral G, you see. A few gearchanges (at DSG speed, it feels) and you’re illegal. But unlike some previous RS models, there’s satisfaction to be drawn from slowing down and doing it all again. The revvy V8 is just magic.

You can sharpen it with the ’S’ button on the (small, chunky) steering wheel, which adjusts the fuel mapping for sharper throttle response (and exhaust note), eases the net of ESP and even squeezes the seat bolsters more tightly. Gimmicky, and the world’s most powerful medium-size saloon doesn’t really need it, but it does have a more pleasing effect than Vauxhall’s ‘Sport’ button. Still, you won’t use it every day. You also won’t be ogled at as much as you’d think either; even with its 19-inch wheels, flared arches, S bumpers, twin exhausts and chrome mirrors, the RS4 is discreet. Even the badges are tiny, easily confused with ‘S line’. You almost want more for your £50,000. Until you see it alongside a standard model; then the squat, wide-body stance stands out, looks impossibly muscular.

Prod the aluminium starter button. It starts with a rumble and you become convinced that there’s a lot to be said for discretion. Guy Smith feels the same. “It’s so friendly and understated – you wouldn’t believe it could be almost as quick as an S1 rally car round Goodwood” he muses. But, indeed it is, as Audi later proved. That the RS4 is up there with a Group B rally car, with comfort, refinement and four-door practicality too, says it all.