Have you test-driven these 5 superfast Porsche, BMW, Mercedes, Audi and Alfa Romeo saloons and estates?

Having a sleek, low-slung supercharged car that turns heads all the time can be a very good thing, but sometimes one needs to be able to travel “incognito”.

That usually means giving up any semblance of speed and choosing a car that is all in for comfort. But not always.

Check out these five stealthy “land missiles” that will leave onlookers confused – and you with a giant grin.

Oscars 2019: who dressed the best – and the worst – on the night?

Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio

Since time immemorial, Alfa Romeo has been building excellent sports vehicles bearing the famed four-leaf clover badge.

The latest in that illustrious line is the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio – with the name Quadrifoglio reserved for its fastest-performing models.

If you have ever driven a “regular” Giulia, such as the Veloce variant, you will know that while the car has an absolute gem of a chassis (lithe and elegant as you would expect a Latin firebrand to be), a little more oomph in the engine department wouldn’t be entirely unwelcome.

Yet this Giulia certainly does have plenty of extra oomph, thanks to its 2.9-litre, twin-turbo V6 engine.

Don’t be fooled by its relatively small displacement, because it packs 510 horsepower and – bucking the trend of recent super car – the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio is rear-wheel-drive only.

This means if you can find a racing track that’s equipped with the requisite skills, lurid slides are very much on the cards.

Audi RS4 Avant

After setting the template for the super-estate about 25 years ago with the Porsche co-developed RS2 Avant, the vehicle has become something of a calling card for Audi Sport (formerly known as quattro), the carmaker’s high-performance arm.

That story continues with the latest Audi RS4 Avant, now in its fourth version (five if you count the RS2 Avant).

The latest car may have lost the soulful, baritone warble of its naturally aspirated, V8-equipped predecessor, but it still does make 450hp/600Nm and will accelerate from 0 to 100km/h (0 to 62 miles per hour) in 4.1 seconds – just over a half-second quicker than before.

We review the BMW X5, the ultimate Sports Activity Vehicle

And it’s a good thing that the latest Audi RS4 Avant keeps things subtle, although the new model’s design is arguably one of the most extroverted in its history.

Blocky wheel arches house two-tone wheels, and there’s also the small matter of its gaping maw.

Still, it’s likely that unless you’re a keen student of past Audi RS4 Avant models, the new car looks no more threatening than a run-of-the-mill Audi A4 Avant, and that’s a very good thing.

BMW M5 Competition

It takes a certain sort of unhinged madman to look at a 600hp car that accelerates from 0-100km/h in less than four seconds and say “this needs more power.”.

And this is exactly what the crew at BMW M have done with the BMW M5 Competition.

The power produced by its 4.4-litre, twin-turbo V8 is now 625hp and its 0-100km/h sprint time a frankly ridiculous 3.3 seconds.

Even more amazing is how it’ll go from rest to 200km/h in 10.8 seconds – rivalling that of some low-slung supercars.

It’s fitting, because the BMW M5 is a supercar, only with four doors. It’s a proud tradition the model has held since 1984, when the boffins at BMW M decided it was a good idea to stick the engine from the M1 supercar into a mid-sized saloon. The rest, as they say, is history.

The car spawned countless imitators and, while the previous-generation car may have been lacklustre, the new BMW M5 is a stunning return to form – reclaiming its throne as the best super-saloon in the world today – “blasphemous” new all-wheel-drive system notwithstanding.

Mercedes-AMG S65

If your were looking at the Mercedes AMG S65 and scratching your head in confusion you probably wouldn’t be the only one.

A big limousine with a 6-litre V12 isn’t that unusual, since 12-cylinder engines have been used in flagship models for a long time.

BMW launches new X7 SUV

However, a 12-cylinder limousine with performance badging is something of an oddity.

The S65 has 630hp which is impressive enough, but its torque output is even more jaw-dropping. It gets 1,000Nm, and the S65 can deploy all of that from just 2,300rpm.

Of course, the S65 comes with all the luxury of an S-Class, with soft Nappa leather seats, a clock sourced from IWC and a dashboard-spanning screen that comprises the infotainment and instrument cluster.

 Yet at the end of it all, if you’re still unsure whether comfort or performance is the S65’s main remit, we’d argue that’s entirely the point.

Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid

It is no secret that Porsche spent a lot of time, energy and money on its 918 Spyder project – its limited-run hybrid hypercar.

It would have been a real shame if it had let all that high-performance hybrid experience go to waste and not use it on its other cars … which is where this Panamera comes into the picture.

It might have a real tongue-twister of a name, but its performance is delightfully simple. It uses a 4-litre, twin-turbo V8 and pairs that power to an electric motor for a combined total of 680hp. The results are devastating.

Will Porsche’s Panamera hybrid estate become a family favourite?

It’s capable of a top speed of 310km/h, yet will return an equally astonishing combined fuel consumption figure of 2.9 litres (0.76 gallon)/100km (62 miles). That’s because of its plug-in hybrid drivetrain, which allows the car to travel for about 50km on electric power alone 

And it’s that Jekyll and Hyde nature that’s probably the most fascinating bit about the car – speedy when you want it to be, but also immensely sensible at the same time. It’s a true stealthy supercar

Want more stories like this? Sign up here. Follow STYLE on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

This article originally appeared on Robb Report Singapore .