Our acceleration data shows how great this car is in Jo?burg. From 0-100 it thrashes the old V8 ? this car's 6.2-seconds simply crushes the 8.2 seconds the otherwise identical 4.2 quattro achieved in 2007. And it also beats it ? albeit a little more marginally - in both its 80-120 and 120-160km/h runs. Little surprise then that the 4.2 is gone...

Looking at its rivals, it pretty much matches the mighty BMW 550i and the Merc E500 in every aspect of its performance envelope and destroys the V8 Lexus GS. And its price rivals are nowhere near.

And then we took it to Kyalami...

There, I found this car an absolute hoot to drive fast and it showed. Loose enough in the back and communicative enough through the steering to really exploit versus stodgy, cardboard Audis of old, this thing not only turned in a lap time to rival the S5 we were carrying on so vociferously about last year, but it simply destroyed the V10 S6 (which by the way, is slower in a straight line, too) around the demanding racetrack and beat the likes of the Audi RS 4 Avant, BMW's 135i, the Chevy Lumina SS and Merc's CLS 500 (by seven seconds!)

And it was just two seconds off the almighty (and double the price) RS 6 and BMW M5.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

One or two other aspects that impressed are the lock-up Tiptronic autobox that we thought all along was a double-clutch unit ? its aggressive shift when pressed is brilliant ? so good you don't need to really worry about flappy paddling it ? and if you do, reaction is awesome.

The brakes are great too and of course, you don't need to make excuses about this car's looks every time you meet someone you know while driving it. It is a touch bland, though...

So, by surgically removing the supposedly more powerful but much heavier V8 and transplanting it with a lightweight and almost as strong supercharged V6, Audi has not only turned the flagship A6 into a nimble, lithe and highly enjoyable drive, but it's pretty well made the rest of its range and all its rivals redundant...

All that remains to be seen is how long it will take BMW to slip its biturbo V6 into the five ? then at least this thing may have a rival.

Until then, this car is in a class alone ? don't even bother considering anything that calls itself a rival.

Check out the specifications on the next page