It is interesting how far the modern 4x4 has travelled from the genre’s agro-industrial origins. For some time now, the driving imperative for the compact 4x4 has focused much more on its performance on the road than off it. The lament about these vehicles when they first broke out of the woods was that they were very badly suited to their new environment - they teetered round roundabouts, blind spots turned reversing into Russian roulette and tractor-like performance turned the school run into the school crawl.

Gradually, manufacturers have tackled such problems, to the extent that most now drive as comfortably in the city as their standard family car rivals.

In fact, many, aside from their slightly raised profile, are indistinguishable from their low-rise competitors. The edges have been knocked off the 4x4 with such success that they have been left with no edge at all.

Ironically, it has taken a manufacturer with no apparent off-road credentials to restore a sense of purpose to the sector.

Audi’s Q5 boasts all the user-friendly, city-friendly credentials of its competitors, such as the Volvo XC60, Volkswagen Tiguan and Toyota RAV4, but suggests they are happy by-products of a core mission to engineer a 4x4 that could cope with all those aspirational jungle and mountain locations.

The difference is captured by a single word - taut. The Q5 3.0 TDI quattro offers the same spare, coiled driving experience as Audi’s saloon and estate cars. Audis are demanding but rewarding to drive, although the balance between effort and reward is not always right. The A4 RS quattro, for example, is nominally a family estate car but the sports-style ride and handling make for hard work. A two-hour motorway drive in the RS, where the temptation is always to drive a little too fast, left me feeling as if I had completed the overnight section of the Le Mans 24-hour race – with my family in the back of the car.

While Audi has no off-road pedigree, it has four-wheel drive and performance engineered into its DNA. The German company was the first to make four-wheel drive mainstream with the birth of its quattro cars back in the 1980s. These were the sporty upstarts to the marque’s, at the time, generally bland executive saloons and the idea – aside from making the cars a little more racy – was to safely garner extra power through better handling.

This is the trick the Q5 carries off with aplomb. There is acceleration and power aplenty – 0-60 in 6.5 seconds, top speed of 139mph – but no sense of drift or need to reach for the travel sickness tablets every time you go round a bend.

With the accepted attractions of the 4x4 – large luggage compartment, easy access particularly with smaller children, and a raised profile (in every sense) on the road – all in place, the Q5 is a very well-balanced car. It knows its target driver is primarily female but it has not completely abandoned the 4x4’s masculinity. And, if you demand of it no more than the average family car, it will quite happily pootle from school gate to ballet school or football practice without a whine of complaint.

Here, then, is a reminder of what four-wheel drive vehicles were originally all about. There is more than enough oomph to drag a trailer of sheep up a mountain, pull the ponies to a gymkhana or head off into the jungles of Borneo. Just don’t forget to drop the kids off at school first and do try to keep the leather clean.

Audi Q5 3.0 TDI quattro

Say hello to: an SUV that offers both sport and utility

Say goodbye to: entering a roundabout in one lane and finishing it in another

How much? £34,650

How fast? 0-60 in 6.5 secs, top speed of 139mph

How thirsty? 37.6mpg combined

How green? 199g/km