Audi RS6 Avant Blue

A thumpingly powerful engine has been core to the RS6 experience over the four generations Audi has built so far, the 4.0-litre turbocharged V8 in this one delivering a mighty 600 horsepower with an imposingly bassy roar if you have the Sports Exhaust. It’s standard on the Vorsprung version and a cost option on the others but, arguably, such an important part of the RS6 experience you’d be daft not to have it. Throttle, automatic gearbox and the various other systems all get progressively more assertive as you scroll through the driver modes, Audi stealing a trick from BMW M with a configurable ‘RS’ button on the steering wheel where you can call up your choice of two pre-configured sport modes. While rumbling along in Efficiency or Comfort is nice on the motorway the fun really starts in these RS settings, where the rush of turbocharged boost just builds and builds with frankly addictive force. If there’s a frustration it’s in the sense the best lies beyond what you can realistically appreciate at sensible speeds, meaning you’re more often than not reining it in just as it’s really getting going.