We parked the Audi RS 4 Cabriolet quattro MT6 - painted a Phantom Black Pearl - in the hotel's valet area next to a striking electric-blue Spyker, the Dutch supercar.

"That's really a nice car," remarked one of the participants at a supercar driving event I attended.

He was referring to the Audi, not the Spyker. That's high praise indeed, since a Callaway Corvette, Ferrari F 430, Lamborghini Gallardo, Ford GT and an Aston Martin Vantage were also parked nearby. The RS 4 is comfortable in this kind of motoring company.

In fact, the Audi and Lambo are motoring cousins, since the German manufacturer owns the Italian company. The two models share some electronic components.

And Audi's RS 4 rag top, introduced to the U.S. market in January, is definitely a head turner for both its exhaust note, which becomes deeper when the sport button on the steering wheel is activated, and its understated good looks.

This car isn't for everyone, though. It's expensive to buy and operate.

Audi recognized this and only brought 300 to the domestic market. Fewer than 100 were allocated to the Southern California market - one of the nation's most convertible-friendly - and 23 are in Los Angeles.

I never encountered another one during a seven-day test drive.

The car is built by Audi's quattro GmbH facility and offers performance enhancement similar to what's found in BMW's M series, Mercedes-Benz AMG models and Jaguar's R series.

The RS 4 is scary fast, too, even though it looks like a sedate sedan convertible. That's because a 4.2-liter, 420-horsepower engine, equipped with Audi's special fuel-injection system, is crammed under the hood and is coupled with a six-speed manual transmission.

That might limit the RS 4's duty as a daily driver, especially in such places as Southern California, where traffic jams are as common as sunshine.

The car is packed with creature comforts, such as 12-way adjustable front seats, a Bose nine-speaker premium sound system, built-in garage-door opener, Bluetooth connective technology and passenger and driver climate controls.

Simply, it's a blast to drive. The big aluminum clutch, brake and accelerator pedals have rubber inserts for a good grip, and Audi's designers were sharp enough to include a nice wide dead pedal to give your left foot a break when you are not shifting.

The test model rode on big 19-inch alloy wheels with wide 255/35 high-performance summer tires that provided plenty of grip.

And since the car featured Audi's all-wheel-drive system - similar to what's on the Lambo Gallardo - handling was nice and precise.

The top speed is electronically limited to 155 mph. That's according to Audi, and I'll take their word on it.

Forbesautos.com pegs the zero-to-60mph time at 4.8 seconds, and I can pretty much vouch for that after a quick entrance to a fairly open Ventura Freeway early on a weekday morning.

While there is a back seat, it's not too roomy. But it will hold a couple of sets of golf clubs.

This car also has a big thirst, for example:

It comes standard with a $2,100 gas guzzler tax.

Its mileage ratings are 12 mpg city and 19 highway. There's a caveat, too. In the city, the expected range for most drivers is between 9 mpg and 15 mpg. On the highway, it's 15 mpg to 23 mpg.

It's duly noted, too, that how you drive affects gas mileage.

The estimated annual cost of fuel is $3,213.00 based on premium costing $3 a gallon and 15,000 miles of driving. (As of Wednesday, premium averaged $5 a gallon in the Los Angeles/Long Beach area, which works out to an annual fuel tab of $5,357.14.)

This probably won't affect sales. The company is not planning on selling huge numbers of the RS 4.

"We don't need that to be a volume car and exclusivity is one of the brand attributes of Audi to a certain extent," said Carter Balkcom, the product manager for the line.

And what about those high gas prices? Not a problem, although he did say Audi is working on ways to feature both performance and fuel economy.

He readily acknowledges that Audi's high-performance models can't compete with the likes of Toyota's Prius on fuel economy.

"For people who buy (the Audi), it's not a concern," he said of high fuel prices. "They have the money to pay for it."