Audi A4 3.0 TDI

With 265bhp to put down and handle, there’s no scope for messing around. The A4 gets a hi-tech suspension, fat rubber and most important, the Quattro system. Grip is phenomenal, dry or wet, and it is possible to make full use of all that power, both in a straight line as well as on a winding road. The A4 3.2 is a ferociously quick point A to point B tool.

For a start, straightline stability is rock solid, even at speeds close to 200kph on the track. And the massive stopping power of those big discs is very comforting — especially on our roads where you need to pounce on the anchors often. And because you can bleed speed very fast and as the A4 corners relatively flat, you can carry massive speed into corners. And then, despite the speed, the quattro system allows you to chuck even more power down to the road as you apex and exit the corner. The electric steering gets heavier and weighs up as you approach triple-digit speeds, and steering ratio is tightened too. But the steering feels rubbery and there isn’t any real communication between the car and your fingers, especially as you unwind steering lock. And despite the rear-biased 40:60 torque spilt, push the A4 too quick into a corner and it will want to carry on straight and understeer, so you have to be aggressive with the steering just when you don’t
want to be.