Audi e-tron GT review

The new Audi  e-tron GT is an electric four-door coupe with powerful motors and seats for five people.

As the future of Audi’s RS models, the e-tron GT makes cars like RS6 and RS7 feel like morse-code machines at a Space X Starlink launch.

The new RS e-tron GT is designed to cleave the air cleanly, so all the vents are real, and aerodynamic addenda such as the diffuser and flat under-floor actually provide meaningful benefits.

Like its sister car, the Porsche Taycan, the new RS e-tron GT uses two electric motors – one to drive the front wheels and a second to drive the rears.

This combination produces 598hp as standard, but a two-second overboost function ups this to 646hp when you launch the car. As a result, we blasted the car from 0-62mph in just 3.0 seconds. Perhaps a more relevant acceleration time is the one from 30-70mph, which you tend to use when overtaking or accelerating down a slip road. The RS e-tron GT covered it in a mind-boggling 2.7 seconds.

The Audi RS e-tron GT’s 93kWh battery has slightly less capacity than the Taycan’s 95kWh unit, but still serves up an official 283 miles of range. That’ll be fine for most people, but it’s some way off the 400-mile range you get from a Tesla Model S.

Despite having huge wheels and rubber-band tyres, the RS e-tron GT is perfectly comfortable in Comfort mode, and even when you switch it into Dynamic it’s still fine.

The RS e-tron GT weights a hefty 2.3 tonnes, which you’d think would prove troublesome on a twisty road, but it isn’t so. The Audi changes direction well, helped by the four-wheel steering, four-wheel drive and rear limited-slip differential, plus the fact that the batteries are stored in the floor, lowering its centre of gravity. It grips strongly, too, but if there’s a downside, it’s that the brakes feel a touch artificial at first.

As with most electric cars, the Audi RS e-tron GT is very quiet indeed, although you can pay a bit extra for it to make a noise. Oh yes, Audi has engineered in an optional unusual electronic ‘whoom’ noise when you accelerate. You can decide whether it’s worth shelling out extra for.

The RS e-tron GT weighs a considerable 2.3 tonnes, but you'd never know it from the way it drives.

You can charge the RS e-tron GT using rapid 270kW public fast chargers (if you can find one), which will boost its battery from empty to 80% full in just 30 minutes. A new 11kW wireless charging feature will be available in the e-Tron GT. This lets you charge your car by parking above a large charging pad – just like wirelessly charging your smartphone.

The Audi e-tron GT was co-designed with Porsche and is based on the same underpinnings as the Taycan. As a result, it looks just as wide and purposeful and has a similar sloping roofline. The rear doors blend into the wide haunches to give the appearance of a sporty coupe, despite the fact it’s a four-door electric car.

Watch our Audi RS e-tron v Porsche Taycan Turbo group test

The interior features a sizeable touchscreen for the infotainment system, and below it lie conventional buttons for the heating controls – brilliant! There’s also a large, clear digital display in place of conventional analogue dials behind the steering wheel.

The Audi e-tron GT’s long body provides good legroom, but headroom is a little tight for tall passengers in the back, and a central rear passenger will feel decidedly unloved. The e-tron GT Concept features a 366-litre boot, which is accessed through  quite a small boot opening. The load area can be expanded by folding down the back seats (which you’ll have to do by opening the rear doors). It also has an 81-litre storage area under the bonnet, although this is pretty much filled by the huge bag for the charging cables.

The Audi e-tron GT starts from £79,900, although that’s for a very basic car in plain white. The RS e-tron GT starts from £110,950. Those numbers will rise very quickly indeed when you add a few vital options, such as metallic paint.

Watch Mat race a Tesla Model S across the UK with the RS e-tron GT