Verdict

Beautiful to take a look at, spectacular to drive, ecologically as sound because it will get these days, and with sizeable doses of inside model and practicality to go together with it, the brand new e-tron GT is a landmark automobile from Audi, even whether it is eye-wateringly costly at simply over £80,000. If all EVs develop into like this however are extra reasonably priced, then the longer term appears very brilliant certainly.

Is the brand new £80,000, 152mph, 523bhp Audi e-tron GT the automobile of the longer term? No, it’s the automobile of the current, albeit wrapped in a package deal that, for many us, will probably be merely one thing to aspire to quite than really personal in the interim.

With thunderous acceleration, a claimed vary of 298 miles, zero native emissions and a DC rapid-charging system that may ship an additional 60 miles of vary in simply 5 minutes, the GT is a present-day instance of what’s doable from an all-electric car. It’s, in the event you like, an experiment for the sort of automobile most of us will probably be driving in 10 years’ time. Besides it’s obtainable at the moment for £80,850.

Based mostly on the identical underpinnings as the wonderful Porsche Taycan, the e-tron GT isn’t an entire lot totally different from the assorted Teslas we’ve come to know and principally like in recent times. But someway, the truth that this automobile emanates not from a automobile firm in Silicon Valley that few of us had heard of round a decade in the past, however from Audi, lends the concept of a genuinely fascinating EV an additional component of momentum.

The e-tron GT is proof that EVs are very a lot right here to remain and, extra to the purpose, very a lot right here to be loved.

Powered by a 93kWh battery and a pair of electrical motors, the four-wheel-drive GT may weigh as a lot as a Vary Rover, at 2,347kg, nevertheless it generates 469bhp and 630Nm of torque. So with launch management and ‘overboost’ that offers it 523bhp for two.5 seconds, it’s sufficient to decrease its 0-62mph time from a claimed 4.5 seconds to 4.1.

Arguably, although, it’s the 298-mile vary and the zero to 80-per-cent-full in lower than half-hour charging functionality that seize the headlines. This, and the truth that it appears knee-tremblingly pretty and is, as we’ve found, an excellent automobile to drive, even on probably the most difficult of UK roads and within the poorest of our climate.

It even sounds fairly fruity in the event you specify the elective sound package deal that digitally amplifies delicate engine and exhaust noises, not simply into the cabin but in addition to the skin world as you rumble previous. Consideration to element equivalent to this pervades all through the GT’s driving expertise, and it’s only one side of many who makes this automobile really feel that rather more ‘regular’ than with different EVs. It appears like a quick Audi before everything, one which simply so occurs to run on electrical energy.

The cabin design helps, with a well-recognized theme that features the identical touchscreens and comparable switchable TFT devices that you just’ll discover in every other up to date biggish Audi. The designers have intentionally not gone too futuristic inside, though they’ve created a number of head and legroom entrance and rear and supplied a good, if unusually shallow area in your baggage behind the 2 rear seats. Some will little question bemoan the truth that the GT appears and feels an excessive amount of like an everyday Audi inside, however most will certainly approve of Audi’s business-almost-as-usual method to inside design.

There’s not a lot tech you’d crave, both, the GT coming as normal with a full package deal of driver-assist programs, head-up show, keyless entry, a B&O sound system, synthetic leather-based that appears as convincing because it feels, a full-length panoramic roof, LED lights (matrix on the entrance) and a complete infotainment system with reside navigation.

The best way the GT drives and its primary efficiency are additionally deeply and addictively spectacular, with unbelievable response to the throttle adopted by a sustained surge that can depart many gasping in disbelief. 

You may swap between Effectivity, Consolation, Dynamic and Particular person modes to change the throttle map, dampers, ESC responses and so forth. In Consolation it rides extraordinarily effectively on nearly any UK street. In Dynamic it feels sharper, crisper, a contact much less easy in its journey, however nonetheless essentially refined. It glides while you need it to but in addition fires itself on the horizon in the event you fancy a little bit of that, too, with plenty of flexibility in between.

The steering is particularly candy, with gentle help however real really feel, even when all the system is digitally operated. Thank Porsche’s enter for this, in addition to some very superb tuning from Audi. And the vary? Regardless of some onerous driving and a few gentle cruising, on our proof it may get near its claims in hotter climate. It’s some automobile, the e-tron GT. It proves that the best way forwards isn’t simply brilliant, it’s dazzling.