Features

The pads even pulse subtly on and off to prevent a film of water from building up on the surface of the discs in drenched conditions. The RS4 is a crushingly capable car, a new benchmark not just for Audi, but among all practical alternatives. But never, ever, take it for granted.

Ditches, tree trunks, wet leaves, high walls and the awareness that the default point of intervention of the stability control system has been wound right back, all conspire to keep it honest here.

As, too, does the presence of our other very red Teutonic marvel of engineering, now coursing hard up behind in the Audi's brushed alloy mirrors...

At £43,940, the Porsche Cayman S is in the same ballpark as the RS4 on price, but otherwise approaches the task of assaulting your senses from an altogether different tangent. Try two seats, a hatchback and a 3.4-litre flat-six engine mounted for optimum poise, right at the middle.

If this is a power struggle then the Porsche is already down on its luck and waiting to unfurl the white flag. There's 295bhp at 6,250rpm, accompanied by 251lb ft at 4,400rpm to play with.

That's up on the Boxster S that the Cayman S is largely based on, but just down on a regular 911; it's also a long way behind the figure boasted by the Audi. 0-62mph is done with in 5.4 seconds, although the 171mph max speed tops the RS4's artificially limited 155mph figure (said to actually be closer to 185mph with the Big Brother bits disconnected).

Where the RS4 represents a kind of surreal collision of ultra-violence and practicality, the Cayman S is built for the simple, undiluted pursuit of driving entertainment.

There's no visual vagueness to its purpose, with a squat, compact, airdam-scraping stance, large vents cut into the leading edges of its rear wings and a closely paired set of exhaust outlets staring rudely back at all cars that have just been over-taken.

Tall (optional) 19-inch alloys fill the arches snugly, a £1,256 indulgence where 19s come as a standard fit on all UK bound RS4s.

There's still greater focus inside, with a very low-set seating position, a broad transmission tunnel running close by the driver's elbow and a covering of neatly stitched leather where some unseemly plastics are exposed on the dash of a Boxster.

The Cayman's speed builds on you stealthily, especially after experiencing the full battering that the RS4 unleashes on its driver. At first the valvegear whines away under the detachable, carpeted engine cover fixed immediately behind your ears, as if to protest at being treated too nervously.