Boot-iful new Audi A6 joins the pack

Picking up a brand new car is always a special occasion – especially when it's one of the first to feature a new numberplate designation. So when I arrived at Portsmouth Audi to collect the replacement for 'my' outgoing Q7 to see a new 17-plate model hiding under a sheet, the palpitation was even greater than normal.

After seven months with the brilliant SUV, Audi reclaimed their 4x4 and offered to replace it with something a little different. Under the satin sheet in the Portsmouth showroom was the gloriously mean looking Audi A6 Avant you see before you. I'd let one of my colleagues loose on the brand's configurator, so wasn't quite sure what to expect when salesman Jason Havelock whipped the cover off – but my word was I in for a treat.