There’s a long history in the auto industry of putting large engines in small cars. From putting the flathead V8 into Ford’s Model A, to Chevy Chevelles with monster motors in the 1960s, the idea has been to stuff as much performance as possible into an existing vehicle without resorting to techno-trickery. Fond memories of these factory hot rods have lived long past the vehicles themselves, though those that survive bring a nice return on the open market.

This tendency to drop the biggest engine into the smallest vehicle faded as emission and safety standards came on the scene, and their cost increased with the hyper-competition brought about by more automakers entering the market. Today, the only group that consistently puts a big motor in a small car is the Germans. And in the case of Audi’s A4 Avant, the result can be as exhilarating as having someone yell “Achtung!” in your ear.

The reason is simple. In the place where everyday A4s have inline fours or V6s, the S4 has an all-aluminum, 4.2-liter, 340-hp V8 with four cams mated to a six-speed manual gearbox. (A six-speed automatic is an option.) It’s enough to make you grunt like Tim Allen with a new power tool. And what a power tool it is.

One of the advantages of so powerful an engine in so small a vehicle is the fact that you can trundle around in a higher than normal gear and let the prodigious torque (302 lb-ft. @ 3,500) do the work. Or not have to drop a gear on the highway in order to accelerate at a reasonable pace. So easy is this, in fact, that you have to keep an eye on your speed. It takes very little effort or time to squirt from 70 mph to triple digits.

Audi claims the S4 Avant sprints from 0-60 mph in 5.3 seconds, and I have no trouble believing it. The car runs like a scalded cat when pushed, but is more than happy to docilely go about its business with nary a hint of the beast that lives within. It’s so good at this, the neighbors might think the aluminum mirror housings, titanium-colored headlight buckets, aluminum roof rails, and 18-in. high-performance tires on Avus-style wheels are part of an appearance package. Only those who listen for the throaty rumble from the special exhaust system will be aware that this A4 is more than it appears to be.

One thing it isn’t is cheap. Not only are fit and finish to the level expected of a luxury make, the price is high as well. To the base price of $46,850 – which doesn’t include the $1,700 gas guzzler tax – our test car added the $1,650 Premium Package (glass power sunroof, HomeLink, auto-dimming interior and exterior mirrors, memory positioning for the driver’s seat and exterior mirrors, light sensor package), $1,000 Premium Audio Package (Bose audio and your choice of either XM or Sirius satellite radio), $450 for heated front seats, and $150 for the Enhanced Interior Package’s Alcantara seat inserts and bright aluminum belt line trim. The total is a breathtaking $52,520 with the $720 destination charge. High-performance doesn’t come cheap.

It also isn’t frugal in the conventional sense. The S4 Avant is rated at 15 mpg city, 21 mpg highway, and returns numbers in that range in real life. (OK, 16 mpg around town with lots of acceleration bursts.) The more you ask of the engine, the more it draws from the fuel tank, though there’s no real need to tromp hard on the throttle to motivate this vehicle. That can save you a lot of gasoline. However, it requires not listening to the devil sitting on your shoulder yelling, “C’mon, faster!” Good luck. Trust me, he’s very persuasive.