Estate cars are sensible vehicles, load luggers, work-horses aren’t they? Not anymore.

We have had sports estates and sports wagons in the past but a new breed of super-cars, or should I say 580PS super-estates, are now taking on the likes of exotic two-door coupes, open sports cars and a very few high performance saloons.
This is traditionally the domain of Bentley, Ferrari, Porsche, Pagani Zonda, Lamborghini plus Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz with their RS, M and AMG sporting brands.

It is the premium German brands of Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz who have now taken the load luggers to impossible heights of desirability and performance.

The new Audi RS 6 quattro Avant estate is not only the most powerful production Audi ever with 580PS from its 5.0-litre, V10 twin turbocharger petrol engine, it is more powerful than the BMW M5 Touring which has a mere 507PS and the Mercedes E63 AMG Estate which has 514PS of poke. When it comes to torque, or grunt, it’s the same story, Audi 650Nm, M5 520Nm E63 and E63 AMG 629Nm. Avant–age to Audi then.

When it comes to how fast all three are restricted to 155mph. As for 0-62mph acceleration time the 2.1 tonne RS 6 Avant takes 4.6 seconds, the C63 AMG Estate the same and the M5 Touring 4.7 seconds. 

Fuel economy is marginally better for the RS 6 at 20.2mpg, CO2 emissions are also lowest from the Audi at 333g/km but they are all in the top road tax bracket at £400 this year and rising. 

Around 600 RS 6 vehicles will be available this year and 80 per cent of that total will be Avant estate versions. The RS 6 quattro Saloon joins the line-up in November.

Audi UK said last week at the media launch that money and running costs are not issues for customers buying this type of supercar. They tend to have several cars so being wait-listed is not a problem for them.

The customers will tend to be retail buyers but they are senior executives in business, company owners, sports men and women. Audi UK said the Avant estate will be far more popular than the RS 6 Saloon because of its ‘grand tourer’ design.

With its 1,660-litres maximum luggage carrying space, it is more useable and practical than the Saloon. The Audi RS 6 quattro Avant measures 4,928 mm in length, 1,889 mm in width, 1,460 mm in height and has a wheelbase of 2,846 mm.

The interior of the new RS 6 quattro Avant is best described as ‘crafted’ with the usual impeccable Audi quality. Generous amounts of carbon fibre, aluminum, leather and Alcantara create a luxurious yet sporting feel.

The RS multifunction sports steering wheel has a flat-bottomed design and reminiscent the wheels used in motor racing. It incorporates controls for operating the telephone, navigation system and audio system.

Shift paddles for the tiptronic transmission allow rapid manual shifting, and an RS 6 emblem on the lower spoke adds a distinctive visual touch.

The clearly laid out and easily readable instrument cluster features a turbocharger boost pressure indicator, an oil temperature gauge and a lap timer, all of which can be accessed via the driver information system.

The highly contoured sport seats provide the body with the best possible support – they need to given the acceleration and cornering forces this all wheel drive can provide. They can be electrically set to precisely the desired position and feature an integrated head restraint plus a manually adjustable thigh support.

The RS 6 Avant offers generous space for five passengers and their luggage. In its normal configuration, the luggage compartment has a capacity of 565 litres; with the rear backrest folded down, the volume grows to an impressive 1,660 litres although the rear seats unfortunately do not fold completely flat.

A load-through hatch, roll-up cover blind, a luggage net, a rail system and a twin loading floor with integrated dirt-resistant liner are all included as standard features.

This really is a supercar whether you class it as an estate, grand tourer or large performance car.
And so on to the performance. It is the torque that sets this car apart from the competition.

Due to the RS 6 Avant’s huge weight and potentially power-sapping quattro all-wheel drive, it needs all that grunt to get it moving rapidly.

The six-speed automatic transmission has the usual normal, sport and manual modes. The suspension settings too can be adjusted to Comfort, Dynamic and Sports modes and to be honest the ride is better and more controlled in Comfort mode. 

There is, of course, an electronic stability programme, traction control and differential lock all to keep the huge amounts of power and torque relatively under control but these in no way dampen the car’s supreme abilities.

The engine’s power surge is huge, response is instant, and the car literally leaps forward. This latest quattro system is split with 40 per cent of the drive at the front wheels with 60 per cent at the rear.

The rear end bias is to give it stability under hard acceleration and optimum directional drive out of corners. For such a huge and heavy car the performance is nothing less than remarkable. 

The fuel consumption? It’s rude to ask but 20.2mpg on average is the official answer. In practice 12.2mpg whilst hustling the Avant around the fast sweeping roads in the South of France, with an average of 14.6mpg when I took to cruising along at a more reasonable pace.

It is one of the closest experiences on the road to owning a private jet.