YOU can bet the last few months of 2021 will see people crowding new car showrooms, begging to buy anything with performance as part of the package.

For the following year, if current Euro thinking becomes law, all new cars will be limited to the legal limit. Pushing hard on the accelerator may gain extra speed for a few seconds.. but that's it.

Of course, that won't bother you, will it? You never, ever, exceed what the law permits. Not even on a smooth, well sighted and deserted road in fine weather with no other vehicle within a country mile.

But don't despair, even if you genuinely don't push the limit now, there are cars where staying the right side of penalty points can still be fun. Yes, really.

And you're looking at one of them; the latest and fastest version of Audi's Q2, the company's smallest SUV and already a sales hit with a lot less fire under its bonnet than this SQ2 boasts.

Its 300 horses are coupled with Audi's quattro all-wheel drive and a seven-speed automatic gearbox to produce a genuinely fast car - its top speed electronically limited even now to 155mph.

Should that become a mandatory 70mph in a couple of years you might be surprised how little you'll miss the thrill of (occasionally) flirting with speed cameras and discover that going more slowly can be fun too.

For this is a car that delivers delight at perfectly legal speeds, mixing the modest dimensions that British roads favour with low speed manners refined enough not to need speed to see the sense of so much power.

It has also only gently been passed over by the go-faster fairy in the looks department, sporting badges and four fat exhaust pipes as main stand out features. A bit of added black - and styling boldness - around the nose will be spotted too by the anorak brigade, but probably nobody else.

Same inside, where Audi's reputation for smartness and class continues with a dashboard set out in an utterly logical way, where an extra £1,395 brings a technology package that will turn the instrument panel into a giant map as you sat nav your way to dinner.

You might be surprised at the plastic hardness of the door panels, clearly made for a Q2 range that starts at £22,000 rather than the near £37,000 for the S model, but it generally otherwise feels properly posh.

There's enough room - but no more - for a couple of adults in the rear seats and decently sized boot and everyone on board will enjoy a ride that knocks into touch the once rock solid feel that for ages accompanied any Audi with sporting pretentions.