PERHAPS unfairly I've always thought of Audi's A6 as more of an also ran in the executive estate market - a battleground that is to all intents and purposes dominated entirely by the established Teutonic triumvirate.

But the latest A6 is a genuine contender against its familiar German rivals and a strong case could be made for the allroad version of it leading the entire pack.

In truth choosing between a BMW 5 Series, a Mercedes E-Class and an Audi A6 ultimately comes down to personal preference - the BMW generally edging it as regards to driving dynamics, the Mercedes offering a sublime ride and acres of luggage space while the Audi boasts the kind of interior ergonomics that are the envy of all.

But the latest A6 really has upped its game all round. It looks far classier than its predecessor - particularly the estate - is incredibly spacious and crucially offers a far more rewarding drive.

Add in a four-wheel-drive quattro option and it starts to look like one of those runaway winners in the Eurovision Song Contest claiming all the ‘douze points' allocations as the voting progresses.

The allroad is probably no longer the entirely different model it was once billed as, in the days when ‘crossover' was a name reserved for a small coterie of estate cars that served as a halfway house between a conventional estate and an SUV - rather than a Nissan Quashqai and its imitators.

Such crossovers were also sometimes known as hybrids, but since the advent of battery packs and electric charging that too has come to mean something different altogether.

The A6 Avant shell lends itself well to being slightly elevated in the allroad, its ride height being 60mm higher than a standard A6 Avant.

It's a nicely elevated driving position without being a step up to another level SUV experience and ultimately it means the allroad can happily cope with anything from moderate to challenging off-roading

Another big selling point for the allroad is air suspension which comes as standard, so you can choose a setting to suit driving conditions, from comfort to dynamic.

While in certain situations its comfort setting might be a bit wallowy, if you're on a long journey it's well suited to eating up the motorway miles and easily on a par with Mercedes' finest.

Four-wheel-drive enhances the allroad's driving dynamics no end, offering bags of grip and delivering a fun, exhilarating and engaging drive, particularly in the dynamic suspension mode and the gearbox's sport setting.

Perhaps the defining strength of the allroad is its 3.0-litre diesel engine, which is so smooth, quiet and refined I had to get out just to double check it wasn't petrol-powered. It is also impressively powerful (this was the higher-powered of two 3.0-litre diesel options)

The allroad isn't cheap, and if you start to spec it up with some of Audi's impressive list of toys and optional extras the price will skyrocket still further but it really is a consummate all-rounder that takes some beating.