Audi RS e-tron GT | Test Drive | Auto Class Magazine

Audi RS e-tron GT | Test Drive

12 April 2023 Redazione News, Tested

The RS e-tron GT is the first fully electric RS and also the most powerful road-going Audi ever produced in Ingolstadt. I’m sure I now have your attention.

Words Alessandro Marrone / Photos Jay Tomei

“Warp speed, Mister Sulu” – a sentence that will sound familiar even if you’re not a nerd with a devotion to all things sci-fi. After all, it is one of those cult cinematic citations, one that was not reduced to the amazing special effects allowed by today’s technologies, but which really made us dream of what the future could have been like in a world where almost nothing had yet been invented, at least in terms of space travel. The stars that from tiny and distant white dots lost in the ocean of infinite black become straight lines following one another, while the engines of the USS Enterprise captained by Admiral James T. Kirk launches towards new space adventures, where no human being has never gone before.

Those white lines are all that passes through my skull dazed by the disarming acceleration to which I am subjected. Yes, because the RS e-tron GT should require training similar to that of an aircraft pilot, as well as a classic driving license. Oh and I didn’t have the slightest intention of falling into the typical cliché talking about standstill acceleration, now too abused when it comes to electric cars. After Tesla cleared the concept of instantaneous thrust and torque delivery in the precise moment the “gas” is pushed, the other brands understood that to keep the pace and indeed surpass Musk’s pioneering work, much more would have had to be done than poke electrons ready for a hyperspace-like 0-100. Audi expands the e-tron range with a model that represents the USS Enterprise of 100% electric cars. The RS e-tron GT is in fact presented with two headlines: it is the first fully electric RS and also the most powerful road-going Audi ever produced in Ingolstadt. I’m sure I now have your attention.

Figures that make a statement even in the more traditionalist spirit of the detractors faithfully linked to the internal combustion engine and that at the same time arouse legitimate curiosity, also because we are not talking about an alternative to the R8, but rather a grand tourer with five doors and enough space on board for family and luggage. Furthermore, being based on the same platform as the Porsche Taycan, the prerequisites for having in your hands a fundamental turning point for the brand and for the electrified landscape are all there. Know that the e-tron GT is however available with less exasperated specs, but today we don’t care. Today we push the concept of electric mobility to the max, in order to understand where we are in the coexistence of sportiness, practicality and real use for daily commute.

However, those two letters – RS, RennSport – are the channeling flow of the dark matter and have to deal with a car body of mammoth dimensions, such as a length of 5 meters (499 cm), a width of 1.96 and a weight that would even upset Mr. Spock, who as you well know is the most imperturbable figure in the galaxy: 2,420 kilograms. Here, if over time we have ascertained that there are no major problems in moving a pachyderm of this type, at least in a straight line, such as on a straight road or on the motorway, it is the curve factor and therefore the consequent driving involvement that is put into discussion. The Taycan, on its part, has been able to elevate the pleasure of running fast with an electric car, demonstrating unthinkable precision even through tight sections, while Audi promises not to have simply changed the badge up front, but to offer different feedback to such point to let the two models be like relatives who seem have never met each other.

The RS e-tron GT has two motors, each of which is responsible for generating energy to its respective drive axle. The battery pack is positioned on the floor and has a capacity of 93.4 kWh, of which 85 net, all with a system of 800 V and a reference recharge speed for the category. And trust me that when similar stuff is available, this is a very important aspect to facilitate overall coexistence. On the outside it is impossible to pass unnoticed, thanks to the avant-garde commitment used for the LED matrix headlights, without forgetting the play of lights given by the luminous stripe that runs along the entire rear bonnet. Then there are 20-inch wheels with particular fairings which, in addition to facilitating the air flows, contribute to a better aerodynamic coefficient, an aspect emphasized right at the front with a closed front grille, which thanks to the black color gives the car a very menacing look.

Another peculiarity is the very low seat, which together with an enveloping dashboard which does not differ too much from that seen on the Q7 and Q8, integrates effective Audi technology via a 10.1″ touch screen in the center of the dash and the 12.3” Virtual Cockpit in front of the driver’s eyes, completed – as an option – by the head-up display. Speaking of options, by adding €4,500 you can save 12 kg in weight, preferring the carbon-fiber roof to the panoramic glass one, while to make things even more interesting I suggest you to prefer the tungsten carbide braking system to the “traditional” carbon ceramics. Enveloped in the extremely comfortable contoured leather seats and with a 710 Watt Bang & Olufsen audio system, which happens to be useful than ever, since there is no engine roar to keep you company in the most intense driving moments, I love getting lost in the carbon fiber profiles, at least as much as I disapprove the use of piano black surfaces, always ready to get scratched and collect fingerprints and dust.

Dust that is literally swept away the moment I try my first launch control and I confirm that 0-100 kph is covered in just 3.3 seconds, with a power boost that lasts two and a half seconds and redefines the same concept of speed. In that instant that lasts the blink of an eye, you are attacked by the dry sound of the use and maintenance booklet slamming into the glovebox and while the Quattro all-wheel drive works its magic allowing the tires to bite the asphalt, you find yourself with the head pushed against the headrest, immersed in that silence broken by a hissing that increases dramatically as if you were really taking off towards the boundless space. The absence of a gear change and the constant progression of 646 horsepower is inhuman, but it is not necessarily the most absurd side of the RS e-tron GT.

The peak torque, those 830 Nm available always and immediately, is what hurts the most. And when you realize it, it’s because you’re among the bends and you discover that the almost two and a half tons of weight are just one of the many numbers on its identity card. The RS allows you to attack corners with a chassis magnetized to the ground, come out with a slight hint of oversteer and the next moment find yourself pounding hard, indeed very hard, on the brake, almost believing that the paddles on the steering wheel can make you play with a transmission that does not exist, when instead they act on the partial energy recovery. It is possible to drive using only one pedal – the throttle pedal – but most of the time you will have to call in action the very powerful brakes, because the speed that can be reached in a minimum amount of space is really embarrassing.

And so I try again and then again and again. Four, five, or maybe six or maybe even seven or eight times, but the acceleration is so brutal, violent and exaggerated that it manages to shake the brain in my braincase, letting it resume when the only sound you perceive is the rolling of the tires and the rustling of the air against the body. At this pace, the 352 km of declared average range ends faster than a morning coffee, but using the RS e-tron GT as a sedan, or even better as the refined grand tourer that it is, you can travel long distances in complete relax, taking advantage of interesting recharging speeds, thanks to the ability to receive up to 270 kW of power, provided that you find columns being up to the task.

Audi has limited the top speed to 250 and demonstrated how today, in an electric landscape still in its infancy, it is capable of making your eyes pop out of their sockets, let alone 10 or 15 years from now, when drawbacks like waiting times, range and mass to carry will finally be improved. As far as family warfare is concerned, the differences with the Taycan are substantial, they’re right on this as well. If the Porsche is more dynamic most of the time, the RS e-tron GT appears more comfortable over long distances, more practical in daily use and just as precise when you select the Dynamic mode and unleash all the available power, although further differentiating itself due to a softer steering compared to the Porsche and slightly more filtered feedbacks, undoubtedly intended for a customer who, even at stellar speeds, does not intend to give up the typical comfort of a flagship sedan.

The first, the most powerful, perhaps also the heaviest and undoubtedly one of the most expensive Audis in the range, with a price that starts at €105,950 for the e-tron GT and goes up to at least €155,350 for the RS e-tron GT of our test, but trust me when I tell you that for once a very high performance electric car allows you to enjoy curves, not necessarily due to a Warp propulsion made available to its everyday customers, but due to the fact that it really knows how to turn bends into an involving situation in which to test the technological progress we are bombarded with. Some time ago I wrote – on the occasion of the test with the Taycan – that if the future is to be electric, a car like the electric Porsche would not be a bad way to adapt. The RS e-tron GT follows the concept, but maybe it is also able to give me something more and probably the reason is unknown to me as well. Nevermind, Mister Sulu, Warp speed and let’s go where no one has gone before. Certainly, it will be a very quick journey.