If you had to choose.........M3 or RS4???

[bora(ing) nick]

I agree but it would have to have a manual box conversion

Tough one to do, it would be difficult as no manual version was built although it could be possible to use the 01E box from the 97 but it is from a car with 126PS less. The 01L auto box is still great and in the real world, in gear acceleration is more pertinent and an auto will always have the edge over a manual in that situation. Driving a remapped RS6 hard gives such rapid acceleration that you hardly have time to think about shifting manually.

I love it when 2 very knowledgeable VAG brains come together... It's almost poetry

Oh and by the way , RS6 > RS4 > M3, in that order

Nick