Sometimes it seems like beautiful automotive design is forced to take a back seat in the quest for practicality. But thankfully Audi is bucking that trend with the striking RS e-tron GT.
It joins an elite club of high-end EV grand touring sedans like the Tesla Model S, Lucid Air and its corporate brother, the Porsche Taycan.
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EV Rider was lucky enough to get some quality driving time in the rip roaring RS edition of the e-tron GT thanks to our friends at automotiveaddicts.com.
The base GT has 469 horsepower and 464 lb-ft of torque while our RS test car boasted 522 horsepower and 472 lb-ft of torque. When Audi’s overboost is used it unlocks 100% of the GT’s power for 2.5-second bursts, upping horsepower to 637.
When it comes to charging speed the e-tron GT is among the fastest out there, maxing out at a rate of 270 kW. It’s route planner is also connected to the car’s thermal management system. That means it can start cooling the battery before reaching a charger so it will be at the optimum temperature for the fastest charging curve when you plug in.
The trunk has 9.2 cubic feet of volume, which is enough for luggage, but remember, this is no SUV. Up front, the frunk has 1.8-cubic feet of space.
Audi also knows how to dial back the power when you need more miles with its AWD Quattro system. It has an Efficiency mode that sends power primarily to the front wheels, while other modes default to full-time AWD.
Like many recent EVs, Audi has decided to engineer-in fake motor sounds. Audi calls it the “e-tron sport sound”
The RS e-tron GT’s EPA-rated range is 238 miles but most automotive media outlets are finding the real-world range is around 270 miles or so.
The e-tron GT bases at $104,900 while our RS e-tron GT with the Prestige package cost $152,440. For a much more in-depth look at the RS e-tron GT watch the video at the top of this post or read the full review by automotiveaddicts.com.