Audi is in something of a crisis at the moment, with one of its factories closing down and sweeping job cuts on the horizon. Carmakers often endure crises, and equally as often come out the other side in the long run. Oddly, it also seems to be the case that when carmakers enter a big crisis, they often as not produce one of their best cars ever.
It’s happened in the past – not least on two occasions with Rover, the 1976 SD1 and the 1998 75 – but Audi has definitely added to the annals of great cars built in hard times. The e-tron GT S is definitely one of those.
For the €139,365 price tag for the basic model, you’d kind of hope it would be at least good. For the frankly-silly options-in price tag of the car we’re driving here, €174,077, you’d expect it to wake you up in the morning with tea and fresh pancakes. It doesn’t quite do that, but it does an awful lot of other good stuff.
Of course, the e-tron GT has been on sale for three years now, and this updated version looks essentially – bar some tweaks to the lights, bumpers, and the grille at the front – basically the same as before. Ah, but there have been some more fundamental changes under the skin.
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The battery pack is all new for a start, stretching its capacity to 97kWh within the same physical dimensions as the previous model’s 84kWh battery. In fact, it’s actually one while kilo lighter than before. That’s of small comfort when the whole car weighs in at a chonky 2,385kg, but at least it’s a step in the right direction.
The improved battery pack, aided by electric motors which manage to be both more powerful and more efficient, means that this e-tron GT S – the entry model of the new e-tron GT line-up – has a claimed one-charge range of 609km.
Not merely a claimed range, a realistic one. Here is one of the great benefits of taking a bit EV battery and, instead of fitting it to some lofty SUV, instead slotting it into something as low-slung and sleek as the e-tron GT. Drive this car gently and you could easily see that 600km range in real-world conditions. Even with lots of motorway miles and some rapid mountain-road driving, we were seeing a minimum of 550km available on a full charge.
Speaking of which, the e-tron GT S now charges faster than before. It was incredibly rapid already, boasting a maximum 270kW of DC fast charging power. Now, that’s been boosted to 320kW, assuming you can find a charger that’s actually pumping out that kind of power, and in theory you can charge this battery from 10-80 per cent in just 18 minutes. There’s also optional 22kW AC charging for making the most of kerbside charging points.
If you think that’s brisk charging, wait till you get to the actual performance. Now, I mentioned that this S version is the entry-level e-tron GT model. However, thanks to a new rear electric motor, it has seen its power boosted from an already-impressive 530hp to a frankly silly 679hp. Yes, you have to activate a special Boost mode to unlock all of that power, and it only lasts for a few seconds at a time, but blimey, Charlie this is a quick car. 0-100km/h comes up in 3.4 seconds, by which time all of the blood will have drained from your feet. Incidentally, the top-spec RS e-tron performance model has 910hp.
So, the e-tron GT S looks good, and goes every bit as well as it looks. Electric cars that are rapid in a straight line are two a penny, though. Heck, MG will sell you a 4 X-Power model which isn’t all that much slower than this six-figure Audi. The complaint that true petrolheads generally throw at electric cars is that they’re all mouth and no trousers. Or, to put it another way, speed is all well and good, but how a car corners and handles is what truly makes it special.
Consider the Audi e-tron GT S special, in that case. All four corners are sprung by adaptive air suspension, which automatically tweaks the ride height to suit your driving, which is good but it does tend to leave the nose at speed-bump scraping height, and the suspension lift button is on the touchscreen – Audi really should have put it on the steering wheel.
Speaking of, the touchscreen is irritating in other ways, notably that it seems to bluntly refuse to accept that you’ve pressed it at times. Thankfully, Audi has left in physical buttons for the air conditioning system.
You sit down low in the e-tron GT S, dropping way, way down through those slim doors. Elegant exits are an art form best left to those in their twenties, but you won’t care once you’re in. The steering wheel is oddly squared-off, but it’s reasonably comfortable to hold. You just wish Audi had followed its partner Porsche’s lead and fitted a simpler all-round steering wheel instead.
However, that wheel is connected to steering that feels fantastically weighty, and which actually feeds back at least a little information about what’s happening under the fat front Continentals. It’s no Mazda MX-5 in this regard (what is?) but it’s better than almost any other EV out there.
Find a series of challenging corners and the e-tron GT S really steps up. Yes, the weight is there, and yes you can feel it in the initial steering response which takes half-a-beat to convince that low nose to shrug off its inertia. Once it does so, the e-tron GT S has properly thoroughbred responses. It slices through corners, gently skimming each apex, and feels fabulously flat, poised, and performative. Actually, in many ways it feels much less like an electric car, and much more like an old-school V8 powered super-saloon. Except that there’s no engine noise, and you don’t wake up the entire county when you fancy a spirited drive in the country.
Honestly, it’s a remarkable car, and one transformed from its prior self far more than the same-again styling would have you believe. With that lengthy range, handling brilliance, and frankly silly performance, the Audi e-tron GT S is the EV from which the keys had to be aggressively pried from my tightly closed fist. Of course, it’s worth remembering that under the skin, a Porsche Taycan is identical, and actually you can buy a slower, rear-drive Porsche for less than the price of the four-wheel-drive-only Audi.
The better news is that, inevitably, this is the one and only sphere where the idea of trickle-down actually works. Pricey six-figure cars get all the good stuff first, so hopefully the brilliant Audi e-tron GT S is a harbinger of more fun, more affordable electric cars to come.
Lowdown: Audi e-tron GT S
Power: 500kW twin e-motors developing 679hp and 740Nm of torque, powering all four wheels via a single-speed automatic transmission.
CO₂ emissions (annual motor tax): 0g/km (€120).
Electric consumption: 19.7-18.0kWh/100km (WLTP).
Electric range: 609km (WLTP)
0-100km/h: 3.4 seconds
Price: €174,077 as tested, e-tron GT starts from €139,365.
Our rating: 4/5.
Verdict: Proves that EVs can have soul, too.
