My S4 is a great machine. Quick, practical and subtle. It loves to out accelerate TTs and cruises solidly and quietly at higher speeds than any other car I have owned. The V6 makes a nice burble and the interior is well appointed, well laid out and put together as you'd expect. Build quality is spot on. Seats good, stereo rich and powerful, climate, cruise etc etc all present on most examples. Looks are aggressive but half the poeple that see it assume it's a standard A4 - until you leave them in your dust of course. Little touches of carbon fibre, 6 speed box, armrest...the usual refinements make a classy overall package.

Economy comes down to how much you decide to plant your foot - Audi quote about 25 combined and I am seeing this on a mix of urban and A road driving. The new 3.0 Diesel Quattros return about 37 combined I think, so it's not as huge a difference as you might think...

Cornering could be a little flatter, but compared to my FWD SAAB 9-3 Aero it's a different class entirely. You can easily uprate the shocks and the car is eminently tunable - see Norchip's posts for more advice on this. You can also restyle subtly if this floats your boat. I find mine a good drive overall, taut, accurate, predictable. Just don't let it convince you you're Schumacher as I have done once or twice...

As someone quite rightly said, this is a case of head vs heart. A 3.0 QD will take a second longer to get to 60 and tops out at 150-ish, rather than being limited to 155 like the B5 S4. It will have a massive lump of torque in the rev range somewhere, but not having driven one I can't comment. I would say however that the B5 S4 will almost certainly be more exciting, dynamic and 'cool' - if such things are important to you. I have seen one (yes 1) B5 S4 in the last two months - rarity value is excellent.

Mine has covered 70k on a late X plate and it's rock solid. Find a good one and you won't be pouring money into a bottomless pit as they are not prone to serious failure. Find a good specialist garage and it will run and run - you only need to see how many examples there are floating round now with 100k plus on, still commanding top prices!

So, if you want a street sleeper that sets you apart from the crowd without shouting about it, go for the S4 every time.