CHOOSE ONE… ….car to last you a lifetime, and either of these German thoroughbreds would fit the bill. But if you had to choose just one….

Most self respecting petrolheads have had the conversation, and it is usually proceeded by someone saying 'If you won the lottery,..' what five/ten cars would fill your garage if you could have anything you wanted? It's fairly easy to come up with a short list, something to suit every occasion - the details might vary, but you could probably bet the list will include a hot hatch, something fast and swoopy, probably Italian, and something relatively practical like a big German ubersaloon.

However, when it comes down to choosing just one car to fill your garage after that lottery win proves elusive once again, the choice is somewhat harder. A car for all seasons, it'll need to be practical for when you need to lug people or luggage from A to B, it'll need to be quick, to entertain, to excite. An estate probably won't be top of your list though.

Back in the good old days estates were just used for shifting familys, pets and the occasional chest of drawers. You knew where you stood with an estate. Dull but capacious as typified by Volvo's 240. But somewhere along the line manufacturers started muddying the waters; bigger engines, low profile tyres, sports suspension - something was happening. Suddenly everyone seemed to be at it - BMW dipped a toe in the water with the E30 Touring and have never looked back, and even Volvo joined the party with it's devastatingly rapid T5s breadvan. They even went Touring car racing with one.

Today, there are still plenty of rapid Labrador carriers out there: BMW's 540I Touring, Audi's S6 Avant, not to mention E Class Mercs and Turbocharged Volvos, but you could argue that the day of the ultimate estate has come and gone. The two main protagonists for the title were undoubtedly the BMW M5 Touring and Audi's RS2. Expensive, exclusive, indecently rapid and entertaining. Imagine,| a Jack of all trades who'd been to University, night school and had some intensive on the job training and you'd begetting close to these car's abilities.

You needed to be well heeled to close your garage door on either of them though, but today they can make an excellent buy. Solid sturdy German engineering mean they can wear high miles, and while they will undoubtedly cost more to run than more run of the mill models they shouldn't depreciate any further. What can £ 15,000 buy you today. A year-old Vectra SRi or an M5 Touring. I know which I'd choose.

Or would I? Could Audi's RS2 tempt me away from Bavaria's finest? Long time| reader will know I've got rather a soft spot for M5s, so I thought this contest would be a somewhat one sided affair, but by the time I'd driven the pair of them I discovered that choosing one car to fill my garage was going to be harder than I'd previously imagined.

-| So to the M5. Take one storming M5 saloon, insert running gear in Touring bodyshell and voila. The ultimate sporting estate. The prototype M5 Touring was shown at the Frankfurt show late in 1991 and it came on the market in Germany the Spring of 1992. There were no 3.6 M5 Tourings, with all the 891 cars having the later 340bhp 3.8 version of the venerable Motorsport 'six. Interestingly, once the Touring went on sale about half of all Germans opted for the load lugger over the saloon, proving there was certainly a market for an indecently rapid estate. Top speed was electronically limited to 155mph, but the 0-62mph dash was dispatched in a smidgen under| six seconds but sadly for UK buyers it was left-hand drive only and not destined for UK consumption.

Not so Audi's RS2. True, the majority of RS2s were produced in left hand drive, but some 180 examples were made for the UK and were eagerly snapped up by enthusiasts. Today though, the smart money goes with the continental spec cars as they are significantly cheaper than their UK equivalents.

But how did Audi come to build such an outrageous machine? Well, back in 1980 Audi turned the world on its head with the launch of the quattro. A turbocharged five cylinder performance car with permanent four wheel drive that could, and did, leave many conventional supercars reeling, especially in the wet. It was a winning formula and it continued with a variety of tweaks until it was replaced with the more sophisticated S2.

A new bodyshell, more weight, no blistered wheel arches and worst of all a dilution of the driving experience; It wasn't a bad car; 230bhp, 150mph and a sub six second 0-62mph time saw to that, it just wasn't the great car fans had been expecting of the son of quattro.

While Audi had the know how to turn it into a true successor to the quattro it didn't have the time to devote to the project as it was busy putting the finishing touches to its revolutionary A8. A quick call to Porsche (who know a thing or two about performance cars) saw the son of. quattro being fettled by Stuttgart's boffins but this time it was in an estate bodyshell.

With Porsche's help the S2's 230bhp morphed into 315bhp for the RS2 - a hike of over 35 per cent, while the all important torque was upped to a useful. 302lb ft which is a morsel more than the boys from Munich could extract from the normally aspirated 3.8 M5. It wasn't all just about power though, as Porsche's engineers also fettled the suspension and brakes on the Audi.

But which one would I want to fill my garage? Looks wise they are both pretty subtle, with the M5 being the slightly more innocuous machine. The Audi's large front air intake for the intercooler gives the game away to the initiated, while the RS2 only garish red reflective panel between the rear light clusters give the game away to those you've just blasted past.

And from a standing start that would include the M5. The Audi's phenomenal four wheel drive traction and lighter weight ensures it leaves the M5 behind, but once on the move there's not a huge amount in it. Both are blisteringly quick, but the M5's big six is more flexible despite the Audi's impressive looking torque figure. Floor the M5 and it immediately starts to pick up speed, while in the Audi you need to wait for the large KKK turbocharger to spool up before it develops its mighty' wallop.

But when it awakens from its slumber the RS2's go is simply irresistible. Keep your foot buried to the carpet in each gear and the adrenaline rush just keeps coming. Take things a little bit more gently and its a bit of an anti-climax.

As is its soundtrack after the M5's melodious six. There is nothing quite like a straight-six when it's fully wound up and the M5 is no exception. From its slightly grumbly and uneven idle through to the red line it goes through the full spectrum of baritone rumbles to wailing banshees. In contrast the Audi's slightly uneven five cylinder beat is not unpleasant, but it just can't match Munich's masterpiece.

Where it does score heavily is in the grip department. Permanent four wheel drive ensures it just hangs on in there. Push a bit harder and it just hangs on in there. Push harder still - you get the picture, its steering rack is faster than the M5s which means that any corrections you need to make are not big ones, but I was left with this feeling that by the time I got to the stage of needing to correct a slide in this car I would be nano seconds away from leaving the road.

In comparison the M5 feels slightly larger and slightly less wieldy. It too grips well, but without the Audi's four-wheel drive it will let go first, particularly in the wet. The steering is more communicative than the RS2 though, so you know exactly what is going to happen next. Its rack isn't as fast as the Audi's though, meaning that when it does let go you do need to apply fairly large armfuls of lock.

It doesn't take too long in the Audi to work out how Porsche made it grip quite so well - it is incredibly stiff, with the ride being very tight and nuggetty. It's not unpleasant, but the M5 rides better even on this example, with its non-standard 18- inch Alpina rims. I know which car would be more relaxing to drive across a continent in an afternoon.

Having said that, the Audi's controls are lighter than the M5's and after driving the RS2 the M5's throttle pedal feels more like the brake. Both gearboxes feel strong and robust, but the M5 has the edge here as the Audi's is slightly notchy and lacking in feel compared to the M5.

Brakes are excellent in both cars, with the Porsche anchors on the Audi feeling exceptionally strong. The M5's feel equally impressive, although this particular example had an AP Racing set up, but the standard items are fine for road use although past track day experience leads me to believe they can fade in extremis.

Both have beautifully crafted interiors with the M5s feeling more familiar but everything in the Audi works well and falls easily to hand.

So if I had to choose just one… I'd take the M5. It's a more complete' machine. I prefer the interior, it has a Better ride and more linear power delivery. Its gearbox is sweeter and it has a more stimulating soundtrack. On the other hand... I'd take the RS2. Its performance is staggering. It is mightily addictive and that combined with its unbelievable grip could well sway the contest in the direction of Ingolstadt. Do I really have to choose just one? Couldn't I have two? No? Oh well, eeny meeny miny mo...

Where To Find One

Martin Pearse at MCP Motorsport has been importing left-hand drive supercars for several years now, and can provide you with marvellous M cars or awesome Alpinas with a smattering of other fine German confections thrown. in for good measure. There's no doubting the quality of the machines he sources judging by the two cars he provided for our photoshoot.

The M5 is currently his personal transport, while the awesome RS2 is on offer for a smidgen over £15K. Now where's my chequebook?

Tel: 01263 822481

Web: wwv.mcpmotorsport.co.uk