Our Cars: Audi S5 Avant

There is no race track, road test route or head-to-head against the toughest competition that could possibly exert this car like a week at Center Parcs. The Audi was loaded up like Forrest Gump’s shrimping net after the storm – suitcases in the boot squeezed up against bags of food, coats of various sizes and thicknesses, a child’s balance bike and travel potty, toys, books, hats, an inflatable pool ring and all the other assorted artefacts of young family life.

We had squashy bags pressed into footwells, individual shoes shoved into cubbies, snacks in the armrest and water bottles in every door pocket. Plus the four of us, strapped into our seats, none with quite as much room as we would’ve liked for the three-hour drive from home to Woburn Forest.

As an aside, if you’re wondering which of the UK’s five Center Parcs to choose, allow me to settle it for you. The Bedfordshire one is new and not enormous, so it’s easy to navigate with kids. It also happens to be less than a mile away from the southern arc of the high-speed bowl at Millbrook Proving Ground, that perfectly round and steeply banked test track where Tiff Needell hit a peak speed of 200.8mph driving a McLaren F1 27 years ago. As you wander through the forest, you occasionally hear the faint but unmistakable sound of a large petrol engine screaming at the redline as it rips around the bowl for minutes at a time. It’s not exactly in keeping with the woodland living vibe of your surroundings, but I enjoyed it.