Knowing I'm involved in the automobile world, an acquaintance sitting opposite me at a dinner party asked: "So, what are you driving tonight, you lucky bastard?" Any motoring scribe will tell you this is normal fare.

"An Audi S3," I answered rather proudly, expecting some oohs and aahs. OK, I wasn't in Motortown or at a Sports Car Club gathering, but the continued clinking of forks and knives sent a momentary chill through my bones.

A smart woman opposite me, without even looking up, took up the cudgels. "And what is an S3?" she asked in a rather matter-of-fact manner.

I smiled benignly. "It's a hot A3."

"Does 'hot' mean stolen?"

A buddy thankfully came to my aid: "No honey, it means fast and furious."

"Oh, like in that silly movie of the same name."

Yep, that's what we motoring journos go through. But I, on the other hand, knew exactly what I was driving. And no need to make excuses to the plebs either. But I did wax lyrical, explaining what an S3 meant to true-blue aficionados. And yes it may be expensive. In fact our long-termer is even fitted with optional seats that cost as much as half a CitiGolf.

What's more, it outperforms most cars you come across every day in most respects.

"What makes it so different?" the smart woman asked…

Well, that one was easy — it goes something like this. From the moment you get into the S3 you hear the engine tone is different to the A3, you can hear the 34 percent extra horses waking up. And when you pull off, it's like greased lightning. You see, it's quicker off the line than any other 2.0-litre except the Evo X, which is on the doorstep of being a racing-car.

And to take care of its 188kW, it's imbued with the magical quattro AWD set-up that offers outstanding road manners and only perhaps bettered by the race-car-like duo, Evo or Subaru STi. Refinement in every sphere of motoring is in place and in these terms there’s little to beat it.

Expensive? Yes, perhaps that's the only downside of an otherwise almost perfect piece of motoring kit. In fact in our tough, bang-for-your-buck Top 20 shootout, the S3 quattro sits in an exalted third spot overall. In this comparative chart, our computer ranks all cars in terms of price, maximum speed acceleration to 100km/h and even fuel use. The all-new 2.3 Mazda3 MPS tops it by a mere three points — but on the track there's no argument at all.

"So, in fact, you've painted a picture of an almost impeccable car!" said the cute woman.

"Yes," was my assertive answer.

To which she turned to her husband and coyly asked: "Darling, shouldn't you consider buying me something that's so unique instead of a 4x4?"