The car is within feet of the animal (6)
I believe the answer is:
ferret
'animal' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'the car is within feet' is the wordplay.
'the car' becomes 'RR' (Rolls Royce).
'is within' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'rr' put into 'feet' is 'FERRET'.
'of the' is the link.
(Other definitions for ferret that I've seen before include "Small weasel good at hunting rabbits" , "Diligent searcher" , "Jill perhaps" , "Animal trained to catch rabbits" , "Find (out) by persistent investigation" .)