Audi RS6 Quattro Avant 5.0 V10 Twin Turbo

“It’s tricky comparing an upright, conventional car with a proper mid-engined supercar, but I doubt a Ferrari F430 could cope with the scale and breadth of the RS6’s performance. The violence of the V10’s top-end power is immense, like a force of nature contained in a humdrum estate-car shape.” Evo magazine, 2008.

If anyone needed any proof that the Germans do have a sense of humour after all, the Audi RS6 was it. Only made from April 2008 until October 2010, the C6 version (as here) was the most powerful Audi ever built, its twin turbo 5-litre V10 engine pumping out 580bhp and 479lb/ft of torque – more than the Audi R8 supercar and also humbling the Lamborghini Gallardo, Ferrari 458 Italia, Bentley Continental GT and the Aston Martin DBS.

With four-wheel drive and a six-speed tiptronic gearbox, the RS6 could sprint to 60mph in less than 4.5 seconds and charge on to a top speed of over 170mph with the optional limiter switched off – all to a thunderous sound track from the drainpipe exhausts. While the performance was hilarious enough, the really funny bit was that of the 8,000 examples made, 6,500 were family estates. Just how quickly do you need to get that old sofa to the dump?

Packed full of sophisticated electronic driving aids (including headlamps that swivelled with the steering), it also had every conceivable luxury and cost over £80,000 new. Aimed squarely at the European jet-set (and not even available in America), there was no faster way to whisk the family from home in Belgravia to the ski slopes of St Moritz.

This particular RS6 was bought new in April 2009 by legendary Pink Floyd drummer and car collector, Nick Mason, and has been owned by him ever since. Finished in Monza Silver with a black leather interior, factory fitted options include: power closing doors and boot; glass sunroof; advanced parking system; easy-entry electric steering column; privacy glass; rear window blinds and in-car TV. There is also an ingenious Audi load-securing kit that stops your drum kit rolling around in the back.

Said to be in excellent condition throughout, this brutally quick estate has covered less than 26,000 miles with four Audi service stamps to date, the last just a few hundred miles ago. Currently taxed and with an MOT until April 2014, it comes with all its original handbooks and is ready for immediate use.

The lucky second owner will also receive signed copies of two Nick Mason books, ‘Passion for Speed’ (about his car collection and obsession with racing) and ‘Inside Out’ (a personal history of Pink Floyd) plus a signed cut-away print of his fabulous 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO which he has owned since 1977 and is now one of the most valuable cars in the world.

Please note the private number shown is not included and will be replaced with an age-related plate prior to the sale.