Should you buy one?

If you want a fast estate and don’t want to spend six figures, then yes, you should seriously consider the Audi RS4 Avant. While it ultimately won’t deliver thrills you can find in the BMW M3 Touring, when you take price into account, a well-specced RS4 is very appealing indeed.

Although it’s fast, it’s also easy to live with. Not quite a supercar without compromises but remarkably close. Yes, the suspension is firm and it lacks the ultimate handling precision and feedback of more focused sports cars. Yet on the right piece of road at the right time, it can deliver real thrills. Be sure to try out both the standard and the adaptive suspension before making a final decision, especially when it comes to the dynamic steering of the Vorsprung variant.

The limited edition RS4 Competition is worth seeking out if you’re an especially committed driver in the market for a car that can serve multiple purposes with remarkable fluidity. The coilover suspension won’t be for everyone, but all of the other improvements feel very worthwhile – think of it compared with the regular models as being like a hi-fi system with the Loudness button engaged. A bit more of everything all the time.

What we like

Very punchy straight-line performance combined with all-weather driving security, thanks to the Quattro four-wheel drive system. Plenty of bells and whistles, almost all of which work very well.

What we don’t like

Without repeating ourselves too much, it’s not the last word in dynamic finesse, and the steering could communicate more. The ride quality can be a little jarring at times, too.