This is the story about a search for a clock.

It goes like this. We are sitting in the A6 admiring the new dashboard which is impressive with screens stretching end to end although we think the passenger screen is just for show. It has a soothing pattern made up of large chequered squares. A nice touch and perfect as a TV screen.

Casting an eye over the driver’s display I spot a tiny digital clock tucked in the top left corner and moan about how pathetic it is for a car of this class.

My wife says there must be a proper clock in the main touchscreen so we trawl the menus. No luck. Then she touches her screen and, as if by magic, it lights up with an elegant clock, computer generated of course, but at least it has a round face.

There is a lot more to the screen than just a clock. It mirrors the central screen with a side bar of icons so the passenger can carry out just about every function, including setting a destination. How clever is that, and something I have never seen before.

Enough of the clock the main event is the spanking new A6 plug-in hybrid. In a world dominated by SUVs it’s good to see Audi still championing the premium saloon, something it has always done well.

This is no facelift; new body with an all time low drag co-efficient of 0.23, new technology, more power, more miles on electric.

It’s handsome from nose to tail, the coupe style roofline trailing down to a curvaceous

rear that reminded me of the stunning first A6 of 1998.

Audi has been busy updating the bits you can’t see. Compared to the previous model battery power has been boosted by 45 per cent giving an electric only range of up to 64 miles depending on the model and can run well past our speed limit at 87mph. It recovers some energy automatically while coasting.

Performance is pretty ferocious with the 2-litre petrol knocking out a whopping 450Nm or torque so no worries if you need a quick overtake. What surprised me most was the economy. On a petrol only long run I crept past 50mpg while my week’s average was 44mpg. Impressive figures for such a fast car.

For a car weighing just over two tonnes A6 is remarkably agile, quattro drive helps but a new element is all wheel steer. Very hard to detect but up to 37mph the rear wheels turn very slightly in the opposite direction to the front wheels and at higher speeds in the same direction as the front. Whether I could sense this steering gizmo or not, the car’s agility and stability through twists is top notch. This is a car you can really enjoy driving.

Now to the wow factor that is the A6 cabin and a bit of a shift in my view of touchscreens. Something often top of my complaints list, and in Audi’s case because they ditched the excellent rotary controller that avoided dabbing the touchscreen.

Here the main screen is simply laid out and requires a definite push on an icon rather than a touch and the reward is a satisfying click assuring you the job is done. I would still prefer a rotary controller but maybe it is time to move on.

It is hard to keep your eyes off this new three screen layout and it gets better at night when you are treated to a soothing lightshow with 84 LEDs extending in an arc from pillar to pillar. A novel touch is a flashing strip in each corner when indicating.

Also worth a mention is a stonking Bang & Olufsen 20 speaker system banging out 810 watts of sound if your ears can cope with it. You will have to pay extra for the privilege.

The A6 has always been a roomy car and gets a little more thanks to an extra 60mm in length. There is room in the back to stretch out and passengers get a screen for individual heating settings.

Although it is a saloon the back seats drop down in a 40-20-40 split, handy for sliding a set of skis from the boot which is the only area I could find to fault. With the coupe style body the boot aperture is very shallow and failed to take a golf trolley. What a shocker!

PS: We never managed to bring that nice clock to the main screen but think it must be there somewhere…

Fast facts

A6 e-hybrid Launch Edition

£70,455 (starts £60,980)

2-litre petrol; 294bhp

7-speed S tronic

0-62mph 6secs; 155mph

Electric range: 60 miles

Charging time: 2.5 hours

39.2mpg-42.5mpg with battery discharged

50-57g/km. 1st tax £110-£130

Insurance group: 41