Most electric cars are painfully boring. They are so bland to drive, you’d be better off plugging a steering wheel into your PlayStation. You’d have a better time.
So what’s left to discuss? Charge times? Range? Gimmick accessories? If somebody started talking to you about these things on a plane, you’d put your headphones on and pray for turbulence.
The big problem is that most EVs have no sense of joy. They’re not fun.
Sure, electric cars can accelerate with such incredible ferocity, it beggars belief. But acceleration is not the end-all-be-all when it comes to driving fun. There’s more to it.
Audi is taking a crack at this problem with the addition of new models to its e-tron GT lineup: the S, RS and RS Performance.
Designed, engineered and assembled by the same team, in the same factory as the R8 supercar and RS6 Avant GT, the e-tron GT is, on paper, promising. Using the core infrastructure of the Porsche Taycan (which remains the only EV I actually want to own), Audi juices the power of the top trim RS e-Tron GT Performance up to 912 horsepower (680 kW in German math).
It’s down about 100 horsepower from the Taycan Turbo GT. Additionally, the RS receives more mild Bridgestone Potenza tires, which are made from 55-per-cent renewable or recycled materials, but which aren’t quite as hardcore as the Taycan’s choice of Pirelli P Zeros R.
However, real-world testing revealed little difference in acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h. I clocked 3.1-seconds to 100 km/h on a wet, greasy road, about 20 minutes away from the The Audi Sport plant at Böllinger Höfe where the e-tron GT is assembled.
Considering the conditions, we’ll buy the notion that the RS e-Tron GT Performance is just a few fractions of a second slower than the Taycan Turbo GT.
But this is all just math. The emotion of acceleration is what counts.
Flat footing the RS e-tron GT feels like having all of the oxygen sucked out of your lungs. It makes you feel like Uma Thurman in “Pulp Fiction” (you know which scene). The acceleration is simply monstrous in a way I’ve yet to experience in even the most powerful and capable combustion-powered cars.
All that power does a lot more than just get you up to 100 km/h. It helps you push comfortably far past it. Cruising on unrestricted sections of Germany’s A5 Autobahn, the RS shrugs off climbs to 240 km/h. Without any nanny state speed limits, you will run out of room to accelerate before you run out of capacity for accelerating.
So, the car accelerates faster than you can think and offers supercar levels of speed. It gets the adrenalin pumping. And in that aspect, it is, admittedly, very fun.
Audi even made an effort to make the e-tron GT fun to look at. An optional carbon roof and carbon camouflage elements give a nod to modern Gen Z sensibilities, while Audi’s customization program digs into its heritage with colours such as Ascari blue and Python Yellow. There’s also a seemingly endless list of interior materials and colour accents to choose from. Put a big check mark in the “not boring” column for that one.
Additionally, RS branded, race-inspired bucket seats, as well as an optional alcantara wrapped steering wheel gives the e-tron GT a more playful appearance on the inside when compared to the dead serious (though immaculate) Taycan interior.
And the e-tron GT even makes vroom-vroom noises. Sort of.
Two control units and amplifiers in the trunk generate separate exterior and interior sounds in place of an engine note.
Yes, it’s entirely artificial. The synthetic sound is sampled from 32 individual sources, ranging from a variety of real recordings to edited synthesized audio. The system considers the electric motors, the position of the accelerator pedal and the speed of the vehicle and creates audible feedback accordingly.
Do I like it as much as the sound of combustion? Not even close. But I don’t hate it, either. It does produce a certain kind of low hum that you can feel in your chest. It’s oddly satisfying in its own way.
Sadly, that’s where the fun stops.
Because the e-tron GT is too big, too heavy, too balanced and too electric to really get your blood pumping on the back roads or on a road course.
Watching an e-tron GT come together at the Audi Sport plant, you can appreciate just how long its almost 2,900-mm (2.9-metre) wheelbase is and just how much weight is distributed throughout the chassis.
Audi claims that it’s reduced the weight of the electric motor on the rear axle by 10 kilos, but it’s a drop out of the bucket as both front and rear axles each house a permanent-magnet synchronous motor (PSM), in addition to enormous battery packs in the understructure. Also mounted front and rear are robust multi-link suspension systems complete with sway bars so large, they look like they’ve come off a monster truck.
It all works to keep the e-tron GT composed and balanced, while offering supercar levels of acceleration and cornering ability — both through the weight pushing the tires into the ground and the suspension ensuring maximum tire contact at all times. The car never gets upset, or out of sorts, even in its most aggressive settings … but as a result, you’re never rewarded for driving it.
The big problem is the way it modulates speed. The brake system is entirely drive-by-wire, and while Audi has increased the battery regeneration under braking, the result is a split-second delay in brake and throttle inputs.
The car might be able to accelerate faster than I can think, but it’s thinking slower than my inputs.
When it comes to driving fun, what you want is the polar opposite.
Yes, I know you’re supposed to drive it with one pedal and let the motors do the braking by moderating your power. It’s a new thing that I’m just not used to. But dammit, it just feels so unnatural.
This is not what a sports car is supposed to be. It’s not supposed to feel like a video game. I was so underwhelmed hooning the RS e-tron GT around a small road course Audi had provided, that I called it a day after only a few short laps. I was jet lagged and the experience really wasn’t doing me any favours.
The RS e-tron GT is simply not the next R8 or Quattro or even RS4 B7. It doesn’t truly dip into the “Sport†side of Audi Sport.
To be fair, though, Audi isn’t positioning the RS e-tron GT as a sports saloon or supercar. They’re billing this as the next evolution of the Grand Touring segment. And in that endeavour, they’re nailing it.
The real highlight is Audi’s new hydraulic active suspension system, which has wheel-selective active suspension available as an option. It’s not as quick to react as MagneRide, but, as far as my spine goes, it has a much more significant impact on the ride quality. “Our goal was to significantly increase the spread between driving comfort and driving dynamics and make it more noticeable,†explains Carsten Jablonowski, lead engineer of the Audi Driving Characteristics Development Team.
This is engineer speak for: “makes going over train tracks feel like sitting in a warm bath.†The active suspension even raises automatically when you unlock the car to step in, making it much easier to climb over the girthy door sills and avoid smacking your head on the roof as you hunker down into the driver’s seat. It’s a neat trick.
Cruising off the Autobahn and onto a series of mountain pass roads south east of Frankfurt is exactly where the RS e-tron GT lives. It’s a long-legged cruiser with more than enough power to take advantage of Germany’s sensible speed limits, and enough grip to eat up its exquisitely beautiful scenic back roads.
As an everyday car the new e-tron GT is fantastic. Granted, at a starting price of 126,000 Euros ($188,559), it bloody better be. (Canadian pricing has yet to be determined.) It’s comfortable. It’s attractive. It’s faster than brain cells. And it does feel more alive and exciting than almost every other EV on the market. Buying a Tesla over an e-tron GT is like going to McDonald’s instead of a Michelin Star restaurant. Sure, they both make food, but one of them is an experience you’ll never forget.
But the e-tron GT highlights a big problem with electric cars: They’re just short on joy.
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