PICK UP:
0 MILES
Early start. It’s pitch black but we’ve got £850’s worth of LED matrix headlights – and an illuminated Quattro badge on the dash.
35 MILES
Stop for co ee and a rendezvous with a Porsche Macan. Not the Macan Turbo Audi benchmarked: the more a ordable, still ace S.
66 MILES
Another stop, this one unscheduled, caused by Victorian pea-souper. Visibility down to around 10 metres, despite the piercing LED stare.
80 MILES
Fog lifts just as we reach the moors. Perfect timing. Now time to see what the 20-inch summer-spec Contis can do in winter-tyre weather.
81 MILES
Grip proves to be no problem. Ride comfort does, though, on passive suspension. Adaptive dampers standard on posher Vorsprung model.
102 MILES
Crisscrossing the moors. Audi noticeably more explosive under load and makes a great noise but Porsche rides and steers better.
105 MILES
Twin-clutch ’box hesitant on multiple-gear downchanges so we try manual shifts. Shame the paddles feel cheap.
129 MILES
Fuel stop. Audi returning around 28mpg so far, Porsche closer to 25. Equal attention at the pumps.
147 MILES
Multimedia messing. Responsive touchscreen very slick but surprising to see AC controlled by old-school rotary dials. Weird combo, but works well.
152 MILES
Roll into Scarborough. Once grand South Bay Pool long gone, but Grand Hotel still towers over the beach. Arcades just about out-glitz Audi’s LEDs and Dynamic indicators.
155 MILES
Scarborough foreshore pops like Vegas strip. Pumped-up RS tries equally hard to grab attention. It works.
300 MILES
Back at Peterborough with a couple of sticks of rock to remind us of Scarborough – and the Audi’s ride.