Audi S e-tron GT: Is this the EV that will save us from a dull and silent future?
She is a pretty car, but is she a good car?
What have we here?
It's an electric Audi, called the S e-tron. Surely it should be called the e-tron S, but who knows. Anyway, it's electric, it's an Audi and it looks great.
Many electric cars do just look quite dull. Uninspiring, depressing, lacking in joy. Whoever designed the Tesla Model Y, for example, should be forced to hand in their pencil and ruler at once.
Thankfully, Audi doesn’t do dull. They have a reputation for a lot of things (or at least their drivers do), but the design has always been on point. Last year, the firm that brought such icons as the Quattro, the TT and the R8 celebrated 60 years of design, and it should be no surprise that its latest high-performance luxury offering is electric not just in motion, but in style.
That current high-performance luxury offering is the e-tron GT, which comes in three flavours: plain (Quattro), S, and RS. On test with Country Life was the S model, which costs £108,775, boasts 670bhp, can do 0-62mph in 3.8 seconds and can go 370 miles on a full charge. All while looking great. Like a handsome student of literature who is also a Royal Marine.
The advent of the electric car has caused headaches for car designers, but Audi and its engineers refuse to be cowed by such questions as 'where do all the batteries go?'. All the way around this car has presence; it is low, it is wide, and it looks extremely fast and balanced. Bulges and flared bodywork in all the right places, pleasing vents, and a juicy diffuser to the rear. Delightful.
Great. It definitely looks nice. What's it for, and for whom?
It’s a car, so it’s for driving from A to B. Specifically, it is for carrying four people, in style, quickly, quietly, and with a splash of corporate menace. It’s you and the associates hot-footing it up the M6 for a hostile takeover. It’s the ideal getaway car for a certain type of cyber-criminal. With its 370-mile range, it has plenty of yardage as an electric grand tourer, and would make quite the statement arriving into any alpine resort with a set of skis strapped to the roof. Naturally, it’s also four-wheel drive, so no need to worry about slipping about.
Would I like sitting in it?
Yes. Like many modern Audis, it is not fully in the realm of luxury, but rather a more practical luxuriousness. Everything is black, grey, carbon and brushed aluminium, arranged in angles. Classical beauty makes way for Modernist form, but that has long been the way for the lads from Ingolstadt.
The seats are consuming and leathery, and quite low down for an EV, which is something of a rare treat. Audi hasn't been completely consumed by the cult of the touch-screen, so there are still plenty of physical buttons to get associated with, and the main infotainment screen is Apple CarPlay/Android Auto compatible, so all bases covered there. Visibility is good, although never perfect in a fastback design. Audio is handled by a stock 10-speaker system, although I was treated to the 16-speaker Bang & Olufsen upgrade, which was, of course, sensational.
Overall, everything looks and feels of an immense quality, which you would expect, but very little in the way of frills and fun. ‘Why do you need massage seats,’ the designers of Audi might say, Germanically, ‘ven ze fun is to be found ven driving?’
Is it nice to drive? Will it remind me of petrol engines and sportscars past? Will it offer me a bright window into an otherwise stale electric future?
It make noise? It makes noise! At first I thought I was going mad, but the e-tron GT makes noise. It’s not quite ‘an engine noise’, but it is something, just enough, just enough of a rumble and burble when you put your foot down, to make you feel alive. I do not understand why more manufacturers don’t do this, because it’s fantastic and makes driving an EV much more fun than it otherwise would be.
On the road, the executive nature of the beast is front and centre, as it cruises around the city in comfort, but not with overwhelming voluptuousness; bumps and cracks are dealt with, but felt. It is quite wide, as cars just are now I suppose, so it would not pass the Rotherhithe Tunnel Test, nor was it particularly fun to park in the antique spaces of Heathrow Terminal 4 when I generously and kindly went to collect my partner from the airport. Did this excuse me for not having changed the sheets? It did not.
On the motorway, it is a mile eater, lending further credentials to its GT aspirations, but it really made an impact on the more narrow winding rural roads, where it became a joy. With near 50/50 weight distribution, the car feels tremendously balanced, and the vast wheels are more than able to keep the power on the tarmac. The steering is sharp, and intuitive, while the suspension keeps this heavy beast perfectly flat no matter what shenanigans you might be up to.
It is also very very fast, with a top-speed limited to 152mph. It’s a proper electric sports Grand Tourer. Sehr gut.
Well it can't be completely perfect. What's wrong with it?
It is not the cheapest car in the world, and for that price, it doesn’t seem unreasonable to be interested in a bit more luxury in the interior space. Plump up the cushions a bit. Just a splash of whimsy, it wouldn’t hurt, I promise.
So you like this car? You would say it is a good car? You would not laugh or cry if your friends were about to buy one?
It is a very good car.
Audi’s effort at a ‘built-from-the-ground-up’ EV has long been something I admired from afar. The styling is very much in the rich aggressive Audi motif, and I only hoped that once I got behind the wheel, I was given something that was as sporty as it looked. I was not disappointed.
You could use this every day, and it still has plenty of performance to put a smile on your face when needed. Will it live on in the pantheon of great Audi design, along the TT, R8 and others? Early days, but I think absolutely.
On the road: Audi S e-tron GT
Price: £108,775
Top Speed: 152mph (limited)
0-62mph: 3.8 seconds
Power: 670bhp
Range: 370 miles
