Audi RS6 4dr vs A6 3.0 TDI quattro

THE twin-turbo RS6 looks cheap when you see how far it has dropped from its £57,700 new price, but hold off until you’ve seen our alternative. Diesel sounds much less dull when you look at the parallels. Four-wheel drive is standard with the A6 3.0-litre V6 TDI, and you lose only two cylinders. So not only do you get 33mpg vs 19mpg, you’ve lost a mere 100Nm of torque.

Better yet, service intervals can jump from 10,000 miles for the more specialised V8 to 19,000 miles, due to variable interval gaps. There’s no difference in road tax between our 2004 examples, but the muscular TDI saloon was the first of the current A6 range, the RS6 the last of the old model. So there’s better refinement, cabin quality and, of course, residuals, all for £4,500 less.