MANILA, Philippines — Before his headlining matches, multi-million dollar endorsements and world wide name recall, Manny Pacquiao started out as a side attraction to bigger matches. Most tend to gloss over his humble beginnings but even today, it’s in these minor attractions that we’ll find the future pound for pound champions of tomorrow.

At a recent Audi Driving event for the Audi R8 V10 at the Sepang International F1 Circuit was one such side attraction. It was the new Audi A6. While a chance to drive the R8 V10 was reason enough to accept the invitation extended by PGA Cars Inc., part of the itinerary included exercises with the new A6.

It’s certainly hard to avert one’s gaze from the R8, but the A6 had more tricks up its sleeves than just looks. A quick briefing about what’s new with the car certainly drew more interested ears, and it’s not simply because of its most noticeable all LED headlights and tail lights.

The A6 is an all-new vehicle weighing 300 pounds less than its predecessor thanks to extensive use of aluminium and sporting features formerly exclusive to the A8.

The awe begins the moment you enter with Audi’s new asymmetric interior design. There are more daring shapes, more color and material combinations as well as numerous new toys. For one, there’s the driver information system that sits in between the two dials, showing anything from navigation directions to your current fuel consumption.

In the center, there’s an LCD screen that lets you tinker with Audi Drive Select (the A6’s performance presets), entertainment and climate. Down below, by the plush shifter, is the MMI Touch pad that lets you scribble letters with your finger much the same way you would in a Palm Pilot, all of which used to be exclusive to the A8.

Then there’s the Quattro system that works in conjunction with ABS and ESC to propel drive power to where it’s most needed. It may sound complicated, but all you really need to do is step on the gas and steer.

And to make things even more exciting on the driving front, power is split 40:60 with the bulk going to the back for a more sporting experience.

To prepare us for the drive, we were divided into several groups and put through a briefing seminar and several driving exercises in order to get us familiarized with the cars and the circuit.

As soon as the briefing ended, we’d hop into the A6 for the first exercise of the day and into an R8 for yet another. Naturally, the more handling intensive courses were reserved for the R8s while the A6 exercises touched on city and defensive driving exercises we were more likely to encounter.

As enjoyable as the laps in the R8 were, the tests in the A6 served as excellent contrast. Whether on the track itself or the bumpy access roads leading to them, the A6 returned a much more royal and quiet ride.

The R8’s heavy weighted steering wheel (to prevent any foolish jerks) was offset by the A6’s light-as-a-feather wheel that you could practically control with your pinky finger (not that we recommend it, of course).

The exercises themselves exhibited that the A6 was just as much a driver’s car as it is a limo. A slalom test encouraged participants to rock the car left and right, weaving in and out of cones while at speed. Braking tests showed that even the hardest stomp on the pedal did little to unsettle the car or even lock the wheels.

At the end of the day, a gymkhana course in a distant parking lot showed that it could be driven just as aggressively as an R8 with little worry about grip. All the time we were encouraged to try it out with Comfort, Dynamic and Auto modes just to see how each handled (the clever computer instantly activates Dynamic mode the moment it senses aggressive driving).

Even in Comfort mode, the switch is almost seamless as the gears begin to shift quicker to match more determined throttle action. Traction and stability react within milliseconds of a slide. The car is so light and the electronics so fast and fluid that even going through the course with poorly judged speed and entry points on purpose resulted in fairly respectable times thanks to the electronics.

In spite of all the intervention going on, it still felt like the car was a naturally good handler. Only a flashing light would remind you of the mounds of computing going to keep the car going where the driver wants to.

Driving back from the gymkhana area to the exhibition hall gave us a chance to enjoy the plush air suspension ride, climate controlled seats and Bang & Olufsen sound system (all options). We were so engrossed, we forgot to try out the adaptive cruise control with auto stop while in the convoy.

As a treat to those that came along, the last A6 was parallel parked, automatically. With the aid on and by driving slowly past the empty space, the car detected a spot and prompted the driver if he wished to park. With hands out of the window, he merely lightly touched the throttle to get it going while the vehicle took care of everything else.

At the end of the day, in spite of numerous laps in the R8, some journalists even remarked that they had more fun in the gymkhana with the A6. After all, real luxury is a car that can adapt to your every move, without you even having to tell it. And in that respect, the A6 performed flawlessly. If only they could bring us back to the airport too.