V6 TDI is the pick of the A6 bunch, not only has its FSI and FSI Turbo range of petrol mills just been capped by the awesome 8300rpm 315kW V8 that will put Ingolstadt right at the top of the best engine pile for once and for all, but its range of latest tech TDIs is also at the very forefront of design.

Such struck home so significantly when we were given a new Audi A6 3.0 TDI quattro tiptronic to assess. A low-spec version prepared for the Car of the Year test days ? heaven knows if anyone will be daft enough to order such a basic car when Audi?s accessory store brims so full of juicy options ? but rules are rules and COTY cars must be bog stock.

That we missed some of the options aside then, we were delighted by Ingolstadt?s latest mid-exec masterpiece. Looks wise, Audi?s first attempt at its new global style still seems to sit a touch awkward in A6 ? but most of my concerns have been attended to in A4 and as A6 was the groundbreaker, I?ll accept it for that.

Inside, it?s a gem ? the cabin is a brilliant blend of classy retro-modernism with a driver-focussed cockpit and the very finest finishes. Full marks there ? even though we missed that spec we?ve become used to...

The A6 3.0 TDI?s strengths, believe it or not, lie elsewhere ? they are under the skin. Okay, the tester featured quattro all-wheel drive and tiptronic shifting with buttons on the wheel ? which is fine if you want to swap those cogs yourself, but that tiptronic is clever enough to be left to its own devices all the time.

But the jewel in this car?s crown is without doubt its seamless quad-cam 4-valve per cylinder piezo-injected 3.0-litre V6 turbodiesel lump. This compact and lightweight mill produces a petrol 3.0-litre like 165kW at 4000rpm and a monster 440Nm at ? wait for it ? 1400rpm. That ensured it stopped our kit at 8.2 seconds in the asthmatic Gauteng air (versus a seal level claim of eight seconds, the turbo making up for lost air pressure at altitude).

It flattens the quarter mile in 16.4 seconds at 147km/h (it wasn?t long ago that would have been a national record for a production 2.0-litre petrol car) and pulls from 80 to 120 and 120 to 160km/h in 7.1 and 8.1 seconds respectively, with a top end of 245km/h. Add to that an average extra-urban fuel consumption of 8.5 litres per 100.

If you told someone these figures fifteen years ago, they?d either tell you that you were smoking your socks or ask which science-fiction movie you?d gotten the data from. But fifteen years ago, that?d be science fiction, wouldn?t it?

So, if you add up all the mechanical and performance firsts and multiply them by the status, safety, style and luxury of the car itself, the Audi A6 3.0 TDI is one hell of an equation ? it?s the best A6 out there and the A6 is as good or better than anything anyone else can offer. Now that?s a thing?