Look closely and you’ll notice that the driver in these shots keeps changing. It’s a subtle change, true, but striped grey suddenly becomes purple plaid, blond hair becomes brown, and – bizarrely – a pair of glasses becomes a beard. Several hundred tricks of the light or have we been going overboard with the photoshop?

No. As you’ve hopefully already guessed, there are two different drivers behind the wheel of this Audi A4. One is evo Middle East deputy editor (and frequent crankandpiston contributor) Phill Tromans, and the other is me. You join us deep in the heart of the Hatta Mountains, where we are currently putting the new A4 through its paces.

How exactly? Well that brings me nicely to the three-click stretch of meandering tarmac the Audi’s remodelled nose is now pointing towards; a veritable automotive playground of fast sweeping bends and tight left and right-handers. On offer in the A4 is 272hp, a Quattro four-wheel drive configuration, and S Line sports suspension.

This could be interesting, and after a particularly tense game of eeny meeny miny mo, I get first dibs behind the wheel. As I fire up the 3.0-litre V6, Phill sets up shop in the passenger seat.