2022 Audi E-Tron GT First Drive Review

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — The Audi E-Tron GT is the initially electric vehicle that feels like a reputable flagship for its model. It has presence, is blisteringly swift, and, most importantly, does not seem like a slapdash exertion to leap on the EV bandwagon. It is a car or truck, initially and foremost, not a gimmick. And it is a excellent 1.

In the ten years due to the fact the Tesla Product S upended the vehicle field, classic automakers have thrown everything at the EV wall to see what sticks, even if the result is massively compromised or erroneous for the model. The I-Rate may possibly be a knowledgeable car or truck, but does it express Jaguar-ness? Does a BMW i3 accurately represent the blue-and-white roundel? Does a Mustang Mach E make Mustang devotees pleased or mad?

The E-Tron GT, although, exudes the aura of an Audi. The style and design is sleek and fashionable without the need of becoming also out there. It is strong like the RS6 without the need of becoming an all-out sporting activities car or truck. It is techy like an EV should be, but in a way that appears to be appropriate for the model.

The irony, of system, is that the E-Tron GT is seriously a Porsche Taycan in a (subjectively) much more attractive fit. But whilst an all-wheel-generate luxury sedan does not really in shape the classic Porsche ethos, it is just appropriate for the marque that gave us broad-shouldered bruisers like the D2-technology S8.

We arrived absent amazed when we drove a pre-production Audi RS E-Tron GT before this 12 months, and that was just a 30-moment spin. This time all over, we got a complete day’s really worth of seat time in a normal E-Tron GT (pictured here in blue) and in a entirely loaded RS E-Tron GT with the $20,350 12 months One particular offer (pictured in crimson). That gave us a deeper knowledge of the refined dissimilarities in the model selection.

And indeed, the dissimilarities are extremely refined. The two occur with a 93kWh battery pack managing on an 800-volt procedure for more quickly charging. The two have twin electric motors offering all-wheel generate, with a single ratio for the front wheels and a two-speed transmission for the rears. The two occur outfitted with a conventional three-chamber air-suspension procedure with double-wishbone arms up front and a multi-url setup at the rear.

Components-intelligent, there are some dissimilarities involving the two trims. The RS arrives with a carbon-fiber roof panel as a substitute of a panoramic glass sunroof. Metal fourteen.2-inch front/fourteen.one-inch rear discs stop the foundation model, although the RS receives carbide sixteen.one-inch front/fourteen.four-inch rear rotors. Ceramic sixteen.5-inch fronts/sixteen.one-inch rears can be requested as an solution on the RS. And the steer-by-wire has speed-dependent weighting in the RS.

A foundation E-Tron GT starts off at $ninety nine,900 with an RS at $139,900 (equally are suitable for a $seven,five hundred federal EV tax credit history). What does the further $forty,000 web you? Perfectly, there’s the energy, for 1. The conventional model’s output is 496 horsepower but can be pushed to 522 in overboost manner. Torque, likewise, is 464 lb-ft in standard driving, but there’s a whole of 472 in reserve. The RS uncorks 590 horsepower, or 637 when boosted, together with a whole of 612 lb-ft. That translates to a manufacturer’s mentioned 0–60 time of three.nine seconds for the normal E-Tron and three.one for the RS.

To get the things that counts, although, you are going to have to spring for the Overall performance Package. On the normal E-Tron, that features Audi’s e-torque vectoring procedure, matrix LED headlights, rear-wheel-steering and a bunch of cosmetic upgrades. The RS presently arrives with e-torque vectoring, but its Overall performance Package adds rear-wheel steering, the fancy headlights, 21-inch wheels, and a smorgasbord of carbon fiber accents for $8,450. The RS has an even much more eye-watering $20,350 12 months One particular offer for start models that receives you even much more carbon fiber bits and exceptional wheels that appear like those on the 2018 L.A. Car Clearly show concept car or truck.

It is difficult to say irrespective of whether it is really worth the extra clams for the RS. Immediately after all, the steering, suspension, and throttle reaction are programmed the same way involving the two models. Even the normal E-Tron’s accelerative pressure hurtles you ahead like there’s a cannonball pinned to your back again. You won’t notice the missing horses in day-to-day driving until you are frequently putting by yourself in danger of a reckless driving cost. Range is approximately identical as properly, 238 miles for the normal model and 232 for the RS.

In the RS, we managed three.24-second 0–60 acceleration pulls on an unused airstrip with start manner (switch off traction command, hold the brake and accelerator at the same time until the battery usage gauge starts off pulsing to one hundred%, launch remaining foot). And 0–100 took just seven.31 seconds.

We will say that if you are going to do any spirited driving, the Overall performance Package is a need to. The torque distribution, locking rear diff and rear-wheel steering switch a 5,000-plus-pound slab of batteries into a shockingly responsive canyon carver. We’d also definitely want the optional 21-inch wheels, as their extra bit of speak to patch performs miracles on swift, limited turns.

Definitely, the purpose of the E-Tron GT is to be a grand tourer. It is appropriate there in the name. And to that influence, it does a excellent work. The air suspension absorbs the beat-up pavement on our nation’s crumbling infrastructure far better than several higher-riding crossovers, although somehow sustaining the aforementioned managing prowess. Rear-wheel steering stabilizes the car or truck like a bullet practice at freeway speeds and outside of.

And the car or truck looks excellent undertaking it. The E-Tron GT is the ideal Audi style and design in many years. It adds just the appropriate total of muscle mass to a sleek profile, in particular in the swollen fenders that Audi calls Quattro blisters, a reference to the sport-shifting rally hatch from the eighties. The front has a great deal of black house, but Audi has just declared that owing to buyer desire, a physique-colored bumper bar can be requested as a $350 solution. The only gripe is that from the rear corner look at the C-pillar curves are a bit also Porsche-like, but overall we like the style and design even far better than the Taycan on which it is dependent.

The interior, although, is wherever the car or truck seriously shines. With wonderfully built surfaces on the sprint and door panels and properly-sculpted seats with animal-absolutely free upholstery (leather-based is an solution if you need to), it feels like a serious luxury car or truck. Taller rear travellers will come across the rear headroom lacking, but motorists will be high-quality. The E-Tron GT eschews the huge screens uncovered on some of its rivals, and even its Taycan cousin, in favor of a scaled-down ten.one-inch multi-media interface at the top rated of the middle stack and actual physical climate command and generate manner buttons beneath.

The E-Tron GT cabin fires off the receptors in your brain that say “car,” and a good 1 at that, whilst a Tesla fires off the ones that say “smartphone.” The Audi is just a substantially much more enjoyable, cozy, and usually car or truck-like area to be. Yes, Musk can offer you four hundred miles of selection, but dependent on your driving requirements, the E-Tron GT’s much more enjoyable encounter may well outweigh the advantage of extra selection.

We believe the E-Tron GT is a winning offer and an superb ambassador for EVs. It speaks the visual and tactile language of cars, although offering all the gains of a Tesla beneath. Audi is positioning its E-Tron GT and RS E-Tron GT duo as halo models for the age of electrical power, and for that role it is great. It looks, feels, and behaves like an Audi, even although it has tiny in prevalent mechanically with the Car Union descendants of the very last century. As we enter the upcoming age of mobility, it’ll be up to each and every carmaker to figure out what defines their model. Audi has struck a bullseye.

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