Petrol Heads’ Corner - Audi RS GT E-Tron

David O’Neill*

I suppose, given that I live in Hamilton, it is appropriate that I review a car called E-Tron. The car I drove was the RS E-Tron GT. It is different to the E-Tron GT.

I was told the upcoming deadline for the current publication and the only thing I could do was grab something from the local dealer, Ebbett Audi, and take it for a run. My usual route is currently closed (Kopu-Hikuai) so it was a trip to Auckland Airport and back.

I picked the car up on Saturday afternoon. It was fully “gassed” up. It looks like an ordinary car but when you hop in it and press the start button, nothing seems to happen.

Those of you familiar with electric cars will understand what I am talking about. Those of you who are dyed in the wool petrolheads, like me, will find this somewhat disconcerting when you first attempt to drive one of these things.

The only thing that happens is that the dashboard lights up. That’s it. Nothing else – de nada. Anyway, the sales manager told me to keep the average consumption of electricity at around 22kwh/hour.

He also told me that when they put the car on their “super charger”, it takes about an hour and a half to get a full charge on board. That meant that anything less than a supercharger was going to mean eating lunch, dinner and breakfast waiting for the car to get a full charge on board. That led to my range anxiety.

I confess that I kept my eyes glued firmly to the “how many kilometres left” number and was determined to ensure that the average consumption was around 22kwh/hour. More on that later.

Both are 4WD, both cost a bomb. The E-Tron GT is $197,090 and a new car like the one I drove is $277,090. Mine was a demonstrator model so its asking price was $249,990. So, if you have a spare quarter of a million, go for it.

Specifications

The specs on my car were as follows:

• Peak output – 475 kw (that’s a ton of power)

• Maximum torque – 830nm (pull the side off the house)

• Acceleration – 0-100 km/h 3.3 seconds (on boost) otherwise 3.6 seconds (blindingly quick)

• Maximum speed – 250 km/hour (limited to this top speed by the manufacturer)

• It was (believe it or not) a 2 speed automatic with adaptive air suspension, all wheel steering and had a heap of other stuff which didn’t mean an awful lot to me.

From a comfort/bits and pieces point of view that people can identify with, it had all the bells and whistles:

• Panoramic roof

• Cruise control

• All of the various assists that one would expect in a car of this type

• Cameras front, back and side

Its wheels were enormous. Front tyres were 265/35 on 21 inch wheels, and the back tyres were (believe it or not) 305/30 (that’s an enormous tyre – more than a foot wide). I suspect there was no spare in the boot. Actually, it doesn’t have a boot. It’s a tailgate system and the front of the car has a small place for the charging kit which comes in a medium size suitcase.

My car had a ton of extras which I won’t go into, suffice to say it was all very nice, had a beautiful sound system and was very comfortable.

Being a sports car, it was very low, so low that when I was driving on the motorway, I passed a small Japanese city runabout and I had to look up to the see the driver. I was reminded that if I had it in dynamic mode, I was to steer and weave over the raised pedestrian crossings, that seemed to be springing up everywhere, because my car had the same clearance as a V8 supercar. You will have all seen the boy racers do the weave approach to anything higher than a matchbox in order to avoid crunching their spoiler on the road. I had to do the same thing and felt like a bit of a plonker.

It's a heavy car and felt like it. Its unladen weight, without me being in it, is 2.3 tonnes, which is pretty hefty for a relatively compact coupe. It has four doors and four seats, but I suspect the passengers in the back might be a little cramped. I didn’t hop in myself but that’s what it looked like to me.

One thing for certain, it was no Nissan Leaf. It’s a big car with a ton of oomph.

What’s it like to drive?

When it’s put into drive, it makes a sort of deathstar noise. From the outside it does sound a bit Star Warsy, which is probably sensible because at least it warns pedestrians that a car is approaching. These things run so quietly it would be easy to take out a pedestrian or runner who was listening to their earpods or headphones. At least with the death-star noise, something might sink in that they should be careful.

Having a 2.3 tonne vehicle take you out at knee height, would be a bad start to the day, to say the least.

We had to take four suitcases to the airport. We were flying our son’s entire life down to Dunedin for him and seeing him into his Halls of Residence. They fitted, only just. That’s not a criticism, because four suitcases take up a lot of space. I’m not sure how it would go with the traditional golf club test. I think it you were both playing golf and had trundlers and bags in the car, it might be a bridge too far.

Anyway, back to driving it - once we were on the expressway to Auckland, I cranked it up a bit and I have to say it was a fabulous experience driving a car like this with so much seamless power. It was incredibly smooth and by comparison when you put your foot down in my car (Audi RS6), it usually knocks it down a couple of gears, squirms in the tail and then rockets forward like an angry bull making similar sorts of noises.

This car - you put your foot down, and it just goes, if you get my meaning. There is no other way to describe it because it’s not dramatic, doesn’t make a lot of noise, doesn’t squirm, it just accelerates at light speed up to whatever speed you choose.

Losing your licence in this car would be a piece of cake. I have to say that I loved driving it. It was absolutely fabulous on the motorway, whether it was sitting in traffic inching along (as you do in Auckland) or, once you hit the expressway, opened it up. It was simply fantastic to drive. However, keeping one eyeball peeled and staring intently at the “kilometres to the next charge” information made me mildly anxious so, I was careful in bringing it home from the airport that evening.

It's the first electric car that I have had overnight and taken on a journey – sounds like a first date, doesn’t it. All the other EV drives have been around town, so it was never an issue, but this time I wasn’t near a charging station. Even if I had been, I wouldn’t have known what to do. I suppose these things are idiot proof so I probably would have struggled through without pulling out the voluminous handbook that goes with these cars.

The only downside to these cars is the “filling” stations. Having to wait an hour and a half just seems ridiculous but I don’t think there is any easy way round it. There is no doubt that electric vehicles are here to stay, and they will be the only new type of propulsion available for some time to come. Petrol cars will be phased out. Of that, there is no doubt.

Whether electric vehicles are going to stand the test of time or not is another issue. I suspect they won’t. I think that technology will continue to leap forward and bypass electricity in a big way.

And then there are those who say that electric vehicles do not pollute the atmosphere. That is true, but, of course, it’s how they make electricity which might be the problem. It seems ludicrous to have an electric vehicle and burn tonnes of coal to make the electricity

to power that electric vehicle. Obviously if it is windgenerated or hydro-electric dam electricity generated, then that’s another story. Also charging the cars is problematic. Driving a petrol car means that you can pull into the gas station, put $50 in or fill it up, all within 5 minutes, and go again.

With an electric vehicle, you pull it in and go and order dinner. You might be lucky enough to get to the next charging station after that. It all depends on how “grunty” the charger is.

Conclusion

I really liked the car that I drove. It looked great and had phenomenal power, was extremely comfortable and smooth to drive. I don’t know how it handled because motorways aren’t the way to find that out. It would have been interesting to drive it through the hills, but that wasn’t to be.

Would I buy one? – if I had a spare $250,000 I might, but I wouldn’t want to rely on it as the only car I had. That’s probably because I am still in love with the idea of driving a V8.

* David O’Neill is a Hamilton barrister, who may never get over his first love – a petrol V8.