RS4's 4.2-litre V8 fires up to a slightly crisper tone and the Audi delivers a very direct drive with that surefooted quattro shining through. You cannot fault the engine, gearbox and drive and the Audi possesses a reasonably firm but still compliant drive.

Transferring to the Merc, I was immediately struck by the newness of the cabin — a bit Spartan but typically Merc sombre and this time without an overbearing amount of electronic gadgetry in there to confuse you. Have to say that I found it odd that the seat doesn’t allow one to sit lower in the car, although the support is great, if a little tight for someone my size. Strange that — Schwaben folk aren't the smallest in the world…

I also found the footwell and the area about the knees to be as tight as the previous model — something that bugged me last time too. On the road the Merc the easiest of the three to drive thanks to its huge 6.3-litre grunt and that auto box en main but while its direct chassis is clearly trying to out-M3 an M3, I found it perhaps unnecessarily taut even in its comfort mode.

But to drive the big little AMG is huge — big power, monster torque and the ability to almost inanely shrink the horizon. Wow!

Finally, the BMW. The biggest step forward is the fact that this sedan has the coupe face — we'd prefer it across the range to be quite frank. Yes styling outside and in is typically Beemer compromised but the M-kit sets it above the rank and file. I fit easily in the seats and prefer the spacious feel around my legs and knees and I can get it to suit my exact close-to-the-wheel driving position, unlike the Merc. Like its rivals, the Beemer is an absolute pleasure about town – oodles of torque, huge grunt and creamy, seemingly never-ending power.

To the track

And so to the track.

Having driven them on the road before, I decided to take the Audi out first. That quattro system makes this car quite easy to drive on the limit — no real fear of the tail stepping out although it can push a bit if you get in a bit hot.

RS4's 8000rpm V8 makes life a pleasure. And once the rubber was in the groove, I enjoyed the rear-biased torque split and used it to help combat that understeer that colder tyres induced.

The RS4 was also the most consistent of the trio across its three timed laps by far, it never scared me or did anything wrong and I came away with a 2 minutes 7.5 second lap.

Into the Merc, it seemed quite a wild ride by comparison. The first thing I was aware of was how bloody quickly it runs in a straight line — the Merc is noticeably much faster in and its record top speeds on our telemetry proved that beyond doubt — as noted above, it has the ability to obliterate the horizon and the rest with consummate ease.

The Merc was so quick I had to adjust to it, but in the corners it's still a bit of a blunt instrument. Steering is less communicative than the Audi's with drive through it, and the car tends to wallow about a bit before settling in.

It's nothing serious at all, but those sensations were to be amplified in my next stint. The Merc seemed to go off form a little once the rear tyres passed their threshold and it became futile to chase quick times. Another concern is that the autobox needs you to think ahead of it to get the change points right, which takes your concentration off other, more important flat-out driving chores.

The brakes too, became a little spongy although they were certainly no less effective and in spite of my very best efforts, the last lap did not improve. That it was quite consistent though, proves the little big Merc is better sorted than most and it recorded an impressive Kyalami Hot Lap of 2 minutes 8.3 seconds.

But it isn’t as sorted as the BMW. Nowhere close. Nor is the Audi. While the M3 sedan is a brilliant road car, where it really becomes apparent about this car’s incredible agility, is on track.

Remember I noted how quick the Merc was in a straight line? Well the Beemer is similarly impressive — but it's in the corners where you notice the additional pace in the M3, rather than in a straight line. The M3 is a track-tuned tool that outruns its rivals here and it does that at a pace that in a race series would see them competing in a lower class.

It’s that good — you feel more confident, more in control and more at ease to simply drive faster. And the car responds far more directly than the others do and it produces the results, too.

I expected my first flying lap in the M3 to be much quicker and it was indeed two seconds quicker than its closest contender. And it stayed there; even though I probably never drove it as well as I did the Merc. The M3 turned in a 2 minutes 5.9 seconds best lap — that's light years ahead on a racetrack…

On track, the BMW is King. Full stop.

So what do we have here?

In all honesty, the M3 is so good on track that I feel the Merc and the Audi cannot come back at it — that gap is too big to overcome in factors such as ride, road ability and fuel consumption — especially in company like this.

On the road though, the Audi is the closer rival as it too, is more compliant than the more compromised Merc.

I feel that AMG has tried too hard to meet M where they couldn’t. The C63 has a harder ride and is a little more compromised than its better-balanced predecessor and that compromise simply fails to meet its objectives in beating the Beemer on track.

Quite honestly, if AMG wants to beat M; it needs to stop beating about the bush, toss that auto 'box and put in a clever diff.

Like that I have little doubt that we'd actually have a contest here. Right now we don't. The BMW M3 is still the King…