MY apologies if you're a flat-pack furniture retailer but I do not generally enjoy visits to out of town warehouses.

There are many reasons for this, but the relevant one in this case is that all those wardrobes and bookcases rarely fit easily into the average family car, especially if all the seats are taken.

However, I've discovered a way of making shopping trips like this much more interesting - even enjoyable.

Step forward the Audi RS6 Avant.

Besides bolting a rocket engine to the back of your Volvo, there's probably no other way of getting the words ‘outrageous', ‘fun' and ‘estate car' into the same sentence.

Plus, all those rocket parts tend to eat up the luggage-carrying capacity.

The RS6 will kick sand in the faces of supercars while carrying a family of four and their bulkiest possessions around any number of DIY stores or discount carpet warehouses.

Instead of a rocket engine in the back, the RS6 has a twin-turbo V8 up front that produces a colossal 560PS and an earth-moving 700Nm of torque.

Deliver that to the road via Audi's quattro all-wheel-drive system and an eight-speed auto transmission and you have the sort of power that, in previous ages, only gods could summon (provided they had access to petrol).

This is an estate car that will go from 0-62mph in 3.9 seconds and hit a top speed of 155mph-plus (in a clever piece of marketing, you can pay Audi to loosen the electronic shackles that govern maximum speed so you can, if you so choose, reach 174mph or 189mph. My advice is not to be so silly).

If all that sounds like a recipe for a wardrobe-wrecking accident, think again. The Audi is so sure-footed on its adaptive air suspension (or optional Dynamic Ride Control) and all-wheel-drive that, like the gods of yore, you feel in control of the situation and not the other way around. It's also tremendous fun to drive.

The roar from the four-litre V8 is like something from the soundtrack of Bullitt, a proper racecar growl that you never get tired of hearing.

The car has a softer side, though. With cylinder-on-demand and stop-start technology, it will happily pootle around at low speeds without even hinting at the monster that lurks within.

Spec it up with fire engine red paintwork and big black alloys and you've got something that may look superficially like a regular Audi estate but delivers so much more.

There's a price for this combination of power, performance and practicality, and it's not a small one. The RS6 Avant costs from £77,000 on the road and, at this end of the market, you'd probably spend another few thousand on extras.

Alternatively, seek out a good secondhand version of the car's 14-year-old forefather, the RS4. What it lacks in power and sophistication compared to the newer vehicle, it more than makes up for in handling feel and fun factor.

You'll still get the furniture in the back, and you'll be about £65,000 better off.