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I once wrote that if I had to do a straight-through cross-country drive, my car of choice would be the Audi S8 sedan.

Now, I am confused.

I just climbed out of another Audi – a station wagon, mind you – and I’m not so sure this wouldn’t be the car, given its combination of comfort, luxury, utility (in a big way), and performance.

That car is the Audi S6 Avant, the perfect answer for anyone with both the cash (more than $60,000) and the need for a car that hauls the goodies and handles like a high-performance car.

Strangely, it comes in a rather understated package, its S badge the only sure sign that this is a car meant to run with the BMW M series or Mercedes-Benzes bearing the AMG tag. Only that badge and the polished aluminum roof rails, exterior mirrors, and dual tailpipes give it away.

Of course, once you fire it up and hit the road, you know you’re at the wheel of something special.

The engine is a quiet, powerful monster.

It’s a 40-valve, aluminum V-8 that delivers 340 horsepower and a surging 310 lb.-ft. of torque at only 3,400 rpms. That’s 40 more horsepower than the same V-8 delivers in the A6, 90 more ponies than you get in the S4 Avant, and only 20 horsepower less than delivered by the flagship S8 sedan.

What makes those numbers remarkable is one other number: 36.

That’s how many cubic feet of cargo space you get in this high-performance station wagon.

Station wagons are making a not-so-subtle comeback in the United States as minivans have lost some of their cachet (and are downright uncool in some eyes), SUVs are looking for new ground, and the best features of performance and utility, including all-wheel drive, are being injected into wagons.

That’s why it was no problem on a recent, balmy fall day to load three large guys comfortably into the wagon and put three golf bags and two pullcarts into the cargo area behind the rear seat. And why it was also no problem to show the two passengers that while the S6 Avant may look like a station wagon, on the road it’s a high-performance car.

This is a rig that will do 0-60 in just over 6 seconds and tops out somewhere above 150 miles per hour.

Its transmission is a 5-speed Tiptronic with both stick shift and steering wheel controls. The transmission monitors the type of driver you are and current road conditions and uses that information to pick from among 200 shift patterns available. It is a smooth, seamless shifter and, wonderfully, will allow you to redline before shifting, unlike other pseudo-manual-option transmissions.

To handle all the Avant’s power – and its two-plus tons of weight – the suspension has to be good. It is.

As they might say in Germany, it’s tuned to the Neins.

Body roll? Nein.

Yaw? Nein.

Dive while braking? Nein.

The body has been lowered 20 millimeters, the shock damping has been increased 40 percent, and the sprin gs are 30 percent stiffer. It’s got a four-link suspension up front with a double A-arm setup in the rear.

And it’s loaded with electronic doodads to keep you stable. Start with quattro all-wheel drive. Add an Electronic Stabilization Program that works in conjunction with ABS and traction control. The ESP monitors these last two features as they watch steering angle, yaw, and lateral acceleration.

If ESP senses oversteer, it brakes the front wheel on the outside of the turn. If it senses understeer, braking is applied to the rear wheel on the inside of the turn.

Electronics also distribute torque from front to rear (a 50-50 split in normal driving) when problems are sensed. And when stopping fast becomes the last option, a Brake Assist program, which watches for emergency braking by monitoring the speed with which the brake pedal is being depressed, goes directly to maximum braking before you can get the pedal to the floor.

With safty in mind, Audi off rs as standard Avant equipment dual-threshold front air bags, seat-mounted front side air bags, and side curtain air bags.

Also standard are leather, 12-way power front seats with great lumbar support, wood trim, heated exterior mirrors, power headlight washers, a Bose 200-watt sound system with subwoofer, adjustable steering wheel, center console with rear power outlet (no more cellphone wires tangling with the shifter as they dangle from the dash), dual-zoned climate control, and Xenon Plus headlights that throw their beams 1,300 feet.

Options include rear seat-mounted side air bags, a navigation system, and backup sensor.

If you’re going to drive the best station wagon ever built, you may as well get all the goodies.

2002 Audi S6 Avant

Base price: est. $59,000

Price as tested: est. $61,875

Horsepower: 340

Torque: 310 lb.-ft.

Wheelbase: 108.6 inches

Overall length: 193.4 inches

Width: 76.1 inches

Height: 57 inches

Curb weight: 4,024 lbs.

Seating: 5 passengers

Fuel economy: 19.7 miles per gallon

SOURCE: Audi of America Inc.; fuel economy from Globe testing.

Nice touch

The fold-out bins built into the front doors. Makes that space wonderfully accessible.
Annoyance Nein. Hey, I can’t just make one up.