Audi RS e-tron GT Prototype 2021 Review

With the car not yet in its production phase there’s no set price for either the Audi e-tron GT nor Audi RS e-tron GT just yet, but the Ingolstadt company is hinting at the former being roughly on par with a Porsche Taycan 4S (from $190,400 plus on-road costs), while the RS should undercut the Taycan Turbo, which starts at $268,500.

No doubt the current global situation with COVID-19 is making specifics a little tricky, but there’s also not yet an on-sale date for Australia. You can expect to see the production car revealed in all its glory in the next few months and we’ll hopefully see a launch date set for later in 2021.

Equipment will be a little easier to gauge, at least for the RS model tested here. All e-tron GTs will get four-wheel steering and a locking rear differential, while the normal e-tron GT gets standard steel brakes.

The RS comes with adaptive three-chamber air suspension, carbide brake discs and optional carbon-ceramic rotors. The RS’s standard wheels are 20 inches in diameter, with 21s an option, and apparently a handful of different designs will be available.

Then there’s the matter of range. That is yet to be finalised too, though you can expect at least 400km on official testing cycles, with 450km within its reach.

You can probably also expect similar charging capabilities to the Taycan – up to 270kW when that becomes available, good for a 100km boost in only six minutes in ideal charging conditions.

If you’re struggling to place the Audi e-tron GT in the Audi hierarchy, consider the difference between the Porsche Taycan and Panamera. Each seems to cover similar bases at a glance, but the Taycan is usefully smaller, very much a four-door sports car rather than a limousine, and the same is true of the e-tron GT relative to Audi’s own RS 7.

Once again Audi hasn’t revealed specifics, but while RS e-tron GT and RS 7 are broadly similar in width, the electric model is both lower and shorter, and this gives it a much more dramatic profile, even if it doesn’t have the same presence from sheer size.

The height is significant, because it’s been achieved through mounting the battery along the floor of the car, low and flat, and that in turn has led to one of the car’s more remarkable statistics, a centre of gravity lower than that of the Audi R8 supercar.

As mentioned, RS models benefit from adaptive three-chamber air suspension, which can adjust the car’s ride height depending on driving requirements.

Cruise down the highway and it can drop as much as 22mm to benefit aerodynamics, and in the bends it can drop 10mm from standard. At slow speeds, it’s able to raise up to 20mm, aiding clearance for obstacles, awkward driveways and the like.

Those carbide brakes are clever too. The mirror-like finish will wow onlookers, but the real benefit is a claimed 90 per cent reduction in brake dust – good for keeping wheels clean, but great for reducing non-exhaust pollutants.

Mechanically, the Audi RS e-tron GT is laid out much like its Porsche Taycan cousin. Up front there’s a 175kW motor driving through a single-speed reduction gearbox, and the rear axle gets an even more potent 335kW motor, with a two-speed gearbox and locking diff.

Combined, the total output is a mighty 475kW, down 25kW on the Taycan Turbo but still making it the most powerful Audi RS ever.

Audi claims the RS e-tron GT is still good for a 0-100km/h time of “under 3.5 seconds” – the Taycan Turbo can hit the mark in 3.2sec using launch control – while easy quarter-mile times in the high 11s are said to be available until you run out of juice.

Audi had laid out an appropriate course for just that on a disused runway in Rhodes, and achieving a time was as simple as nailing the accelerator and lifting your left foot off the brake pedal. With a brief scrabble from the front tyres it hooked up on the dusty surface and launched like a supercar.

It’s no one-trick pony though. The old EV trope of instant torque at any throttle opening is as relevant creeping through car parks and villages as it is devouring straights, because it makes each scenario equally consistent, adjustable and, well, easy.

You can sometimes feel the rear axle gearbox shift to second at 90km/h or so but other than that it’s incredibly intuitive.

The brakes, too, are pretty damn good for a car that weighs about 2300kg. Possibly more so than the Taycan, as Audi seems to have extricated a little more bite and feedback from the pedal.

It’s also easier to drive more like traditional electric cars, with just the one pedal, thanks to adjustable regen via a paddle behind the steering wheel.

Audi is quite open about the fact that it has gone for a more grand-tourer feel with the e-tron GT compared to the Taycan, even in RS form. Think similar performance but a little softer, a little quieter, and a little more cosseting.

That’s how it proves on the road.

We’re told the car is dynamically finalised despite the prototype ‘camouflage’, so this is how the production cars will drive.

And it’s genuinely good, the combined efforts of ample electric thrust, four-wheel steering, adaptive suspension and the locking rear diff ticking the driver’s car box, but a quiet cabin, fine ride, comfortable seats and easy-going steering making it an adept GT too.

Not that the Audi RS e-tron GT somehow lags the Porsche Taycan for capability. It’s not as sharp, sure, but it still handles like few cars this heavy have a right to.

In some ways it might even be better than the Porsche, feeling a little more fluid and distancing you from some of the road imperfections the Taycan doesn’t filter.

We’ll have to wait for the production car to tell you whether the cabin can match the Taycan’s sense of occasion, because for the time being it is very literally under wraps, disguised by acres of fabric.

Our suspicion is it won’t, and will feel more conventionally Audi, but that still means great quality, clear instruments and, in this car, comfortable and supportive seats trimmed in an attractive and vegan-friendly fabric.

Rear seat space, like the Taycan, is a little tight, and the boot was off-limits on this prototype, so the car’s full grand touring credentials can be assessed another time.

We posit to an Audi Sport engineer that the RS e-tron GT will pinch a few Audi RS 7 customers. He looks a little taken aback and suggests they’re hoping to instead introduce customers to the Audi brand from elsewhere.

But after spending time with both models we think there’s a real possibility that floating voters might choose the GT over Audi’s more conventional performance limo.

The two aren’t dissimilar in looks, price, performance or even driving feel.

Okay, so there will be buyers out there who’ll never accept an electric vehicle as a substitute for a twin-turbo V8, and a few more who’ll always appreciate the way you can pull an RS 7 up to a fuel station and leave five minutes later good for several hundred more kilometres.

But everything else the RS e-tron GT does just as well as the RS 7, and in a few areas, such as styling and sheer performance, it’s got the measure of the internal combustion model.

There’s arguably a greater gulf to the Taycan, which is undoubtedly the sharper of the pair to drive, but the Audi hits back by being a more relaxing experience, which works very nicely on the road, and it should undercut the Taycan on price too.

We’ll have to wait to bring you the full verdict, but on early impressions, Audi might just have a winner on its hands.

How much does the 2021 Audi RS e-tron GT cost?
Price: $250,000 estimated (plus on-road costs)
Available: 2021
Drivetrain: Two asynchronous electric motors, all-wheel drive
Transmission: Rear-mounted two-speed gearbox
Output: 475kW/830Nm
Range: 450km estimated
Battery: 93.4kWh lithium-ion
Safety rating: Not tested