The Audi RS e-tron GT: A Comprehensive Review

As I sat down to test drive the Audi RS e-tron GT, I couldn't help but think about how much had changed since my last time behind the wheel of an Audi. The interior was sleek and modern, with a focus on premium materials and a minimalist aesthetic. I was immediately struck by the abundance of technology features, including a wireless charging pad for my phone, which did fit snugly in the provided slot.

One of the first things that caught my attention was the infotainment system, which offered Apple CarPlay and Android Auto capabilities with ease. The 360-degree camera system was also a welcome feature, allowing me to see exactly what I was doing when maneuvering in tight spaces. However, I did notice that the display was not entirely par with other Audi models, with a slightly warpy image.

Moving on to the exterior, I was impressed by the sporty lines and aggressive stance of the RS e-tron GT. The car seemed to be built for speed, with a distinctive sound emanating from beneath the hood. Speaking of which, I opted for the "Dynamic" mode when testing, which brought out the full potential of the 680 horsepower engine. It was exhilarating, but also slightly intimidating.

The driving experience itself was nothing short of spectacular. The RS e-tron GT is a formidable performer on the road, with an ease of handling that belies its incredible power output. I found myself pushing the limits of what this car can do, and it responded eagerly to every input from the steering wheel and pedals. The ride quality was similarly impressive, with a suspension system that managed to balance comfort and agility with surprising skill.

One feature that really caught my attention was the new "electricity" style gauge cluster, which offered a sleek and modern look with a range of customization options. It was also paired with an innovative drive mode system, featuring four distinct modes: Efficiency, Comfort, Dynamic, and Individual. I opted for the former, as it seemed to be more effective at reducing weight transfer during hard acceleration.

In terms of comfort, I was pleased to find that the seats were adequately supportive without being overly firm. The backseat room was also quite spacious, making this a car that could accommodate passengers with ease. However, there is one small caveat: my head did tend to hit the doorframe when turning sharply in Dynamic mode.

Finally, the handling of this car was nothing short of exceptional. The four-wheel steering system added a whole new dimension to the driving experience, allowing me to navigate tight corners and park with ease. Although it's worth noting that this feature can be slightly tiring to use, especially on uneven road surfaces.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: eni'm ken i'm blocked and we're going for a gymkhana 2022 audi rs e-tron gt with launch control okay that's what i wanted instead of those hot hatchbacks yeah this is crazy horsepower torque 590 horsepower 612 pound-feet of torque and 637 horsepower during launch control for two and a half seconds from a 93.4 kilowatt hour battery pack and two electric motors and this is pretty much the sunfire cavalier of tycons right yes the 90s reincarnation of those two badges yes this is a new thing so this is a direct competitor with the tycon turbo not the taikon turbos that's right because they don't have an upper version of this this is the most hardcore one they have for audi and there is a non-rs version of the e-tron as well which would be more like the 4 or 4s tycoon and this would also compete with the tesla model s plaid yes and that's all new when we haven't driven that and that's about it for fast cars for super fast electric sedan-ish things yes and then what does this start at 179 000 canadian that's expensive yes it is and since this is an rse it's so fast it feels exactly as fast as the tycon turbo though it really does we would have to drive them like back to back to back to back and then our next wouldn't be able to take it i think if you drag race this against the turbo and turbo s and everyone's batteries were full that's when you fully know the differences but i feel like they're so small unless you're ken block who is now apparently all audi shadow ken block i guess the heck with ford i guess you know what that's probably where he was waiting for that after that edge sport commercial well you know why he switched no no it's because he drove the maki and he was like nah yeah he's like i gotta go e-tron so let's see if this feels any different through cliche corner and i'm gonna send it in dynamic mode and my god this thing is just ripped so hard like it doesn't really feel much different from what i recall the tycon like feels maybe a touch more understeery maybe a touch but not really that much of a difference yeah i feel like the characters between electric cars doesn't really change that much and every car is going to kind of be the same in the future yeah the only thing i feel like maybe feels a little bit lighter in this is the steering that's about it and the suspension suspension is actually really good just like it was on the tycon this is adaptive air suspension it is so comfortable just like every other audi basically would you feel better with an audi steering wheel in your hand or a porsche steering wheel in your hand because like kind of like that porsche steering wheel i do really like that but i'm really comfortable with this as well i don't know man should we talk about maybe some of the changes that make this better than a ticon yeah uh starting with the looks for me yeah you like this more than a ticon i think this just looks better than a ticon i think a taikon looks cooler and stands out more but i think this looks better i think it's a little too subtle for my liking but it does have some nice styling it's a typical gray audi so you know kind of looks like an rs7 kind of thing not very creative on the color choice but if we look at the front end our whole front end is blacked out but in other trims you can get that in like a gray so it sticks out like i noticed like a big ugly mouth or something yeah and then the wheels also changed like the base model stuff and like the ticon it does have a frunk yep again not very big you can store your charging cable in there basically that's about it and i really like these headlights because i feel like they have this kind of like alligator eye thing that i haven't recalled on other audis yeah it definitely looks good but i do like the porsche x mode kind of headlights yeah this front end to me is way more aggressive from the side view we've got really really cool body lines and we're so good at filming in the sun that we got all the body lines to pop fantastically for you so you're welcome and that is one of my favorite angles that's where this thing kind of looks like an older audi i know ken block's all about that stuff because he loves his quattros and everything like that this does have like the really squared off shoulders that the ticon has like rounded yeah it looks very good the body lines are really good the whole shape of it is good and the wheels the wheels i like the most yeah because especially while they're rolling then they just have a really cool look to them and they look like non-aerodynamic wheels even though they are aerodynamic wheels right so these are really good aero wheels and the tycon had really cool wheels as well i'm actually not sure which ones i prefer more i think these look very very stunning whereas the ticons look very like different it's just with their brands yes exactly like they nailed each other's wheels and what would be the continental recommended tire well actually i want everybody to go to continentaltire.com the straight pipes to check out what is recommended for your car because winter is coming up i want everybody on winter tires yes everyone in the southern states you're going to leave your comments so you don't use winter tires but everyone else please use winter tires check the recommended continental tire we love the viking contact sevens definitely do that so that we don't have to go around you in the winter and you become a hazard i saw a statistic that more americans live above toronto than canadians in total oh wow think about that that's pretty crazy toronto is pretty low into the states there's like maine and stuff yeah okay so they're getting snow wow there you go and just to talk about these brakes really quickly they're not carbon ceramics you can still get carbon ceramics optionally but these are carbide breaks which i don't think we've ever driven with i haven't really noticed the difference they're still really good not as crazy punchy like in terms of the initial brake pedal feel and then this car just like the tycoon doesn't have crazy brake regen or anything like go full brake regen oh i have paddles for that yuri like it's pretty much nothing yeah and that's fine they kind of designed it to be like that yeah which is cool that we do have paddles to do that it's just not much they don't do anything not at all like the mx-30 yes the mazda yeah yeah okay back end it's got a very very wide looking thick back end i love the looks yeah it looks really good we got fat tires out back too the stance is perfect we've got a cool little diffuser back there some carbon fiber no fake exhaust obviously but like you never know someone might try to sneak that kind of actually i guess audi is like the king of fake exhaust so yeah yeah and the taillights look really cool sorry here i'm just going to push this through cliche corner just because i actually love driving this car because it's nice to have this silent kind of weapon that like nobody really knows what's happening on what i'm doing yeah and then we did drive the ticons on the track we unfortunately have never been able to drive an audi on any tracks at all but remember if you don't have high performance tires it feels it feels so weird actually we actually don't know what it's like without before no but from talking to other people that have driven on the high performance tire version like we did not have the same experience as they did well if you're going to the track do not use non-high-performance tires yes extreme contact force would be highly recommended i've got them on my fiat abarthe i got them on my fiesta st fiesta but then those tail lights they are sequential the thing goes all the way across and it may look like a hatchback but it's actually not it's a normal trunk but the seats can fold down so you can use it for storing a lot of stuff and i definitely wish it was a hatch or a sportback because i think it just would have added some extra storage space and look cooler it's exactly the ticon they can't change it up it's not like the sun fire was a hatchback in the cavalier was a trunk right they are they are what they are yeah or they were what they were you're right all right that's ended off yeah we got carbon fiber roof yes only on the rs because there's an rsn area let's get you to the driver's seat so you can do this efficiency just flooring it not launch control well then it picks up yeah but it's not crazy off the start but give me a real one dynamic mode okay let's get some 0 to 60 going here oh that sound so in the launch control that doesn't actually show launch we see a little bit more stuff show up at the top of the power gauge okay and you can like really feel that second motor kick in uh not second motor second gear because this has a two-speed transmission yeah a nice little clunk yeah so that's different than every other electric car so far except the ticon which is exactly the same and 0-60 is a little bit slower than the ticon but not much you can't really feel it 0-60 is around 3 seconds okay let me do that one more time listen to that or mind the gap from when i take my foot off the brake okay i feel like there's a bit of it right ready there's a solid beat yes there is so if you were to drag race this at the strip i feel like you would need to really plan your foot before the light gets to green like you'd have to go to the first orange like extra extra plan ahead yes so there'd be a lot of jumping yes anyways it's it's crazy fast it is but we're spoiled so our faces aren't oh my god it's the craziest notch ever it's just like you can't breathe almost we don't put on an act and we're used to this speed so like a normal person doing that for the first time would absolutely lose their mind and so let's talk about some electric stuff the range which is rated for 373 kilometers but when we first got into this it was definitely showing higher than that yeah it kind of does that i think that's a totally good amount and i don't have any range anxiety with us all and then you can get the fast charging but if you looked at our tycon rear wheel drive video which i think in pink looks way better than this and i loved seeing that in my driveway compared to this there's a lot of charging infrastructure problem in canada that will not get solved anytime soon everyone's been bugging nothing's been changing we're a little bit screwed up here yeah because you get two years of free electrify canada charging here i think it's three with electrify america in the states but our infrastructure here with electrify canada is very minimal yeah yeah yeah just anyways enough to rehash that just watch that video but this car has an 800 volt architecture so if you do find a charger that is capable of charging at that rate you can charge in about 22 and a half minutes to 80 percent if you have everything optimized and there's no one next to you no exactly yeah you're you haven't really floored it since i've been a passenger would you mind doing the honors please sounds pretty decent in here kind of similar to the tycoon let me put it in efficient and see if it gets rid of some of that sound oh it definitely does oh yeah the boominess is gone yeah i think did a good job nothing offensive definitely spaceshipy but not offensive like you said okay you brought up that this kind of looks like a darth vader car it does and that like i think that they should make the sound when you reverse 100 on loop yeah 100 because it kind of sounds like that when you put in reverse it has that tone okay star wars trivia for you what is darth vader's real name oh man it's not anakin is it wait was it him oh man is it anakin anakin what skywalker yeah spoiler alert that took way too long i got to turn on my cooled seats i'm sweating you're not allowed to use the word darth vader again look i just know darth vader i don't need to know who's under the helmet who who taught him to be a jedi luke skywalker yoda is it yoda i swear to god yoda didn't want him to be a jedi because he was too old qui-gon wanted to teach him but qui-gon died from darth maul so obi-wan had to do that promise to teach him do you know who who slashed away anakin skywalker's arms and legs luke skywalker obi-wan do you know who luke skywalker is the guy that does stuff with chewbacca that's han solo oh man luke scott okay luke skywalker is darth vader's son yes okay do you know who luke skywalker's sister is leia princess leia yes yeah okay who princess leia's dad is han solo anakin skywalker darth vader you actually not know this stuff i don't remember anything i have the worst memory and then moving on to the inside the interior is pretty plain outy like it you know not too bright not too colorful or anything but what you'll notice is that it's the same infotainment as pretty much all audi's but even better because they got rid of the touch for temperature and added more hard buttons this is the best interior infotainment that audi makes right now yeah it's it's perfect and they are doing the opposite of what every other manufacturer's doing they're putting out an electric car and they're adding the dumbest touch buttons the dumbest screens and the wackiest stuff and this is porsche included because they made it so that your vents are only available through your touchscreen this you can actually control with your hands audi absolutely nailed the interior design of an electric car because the electricity stuff sacks and this is perfect everyone's trying to do everything differently audi just made it all the same and actually better yeah great job audi audi you guys killed it you guys did a great job but you do have a lot of gloss black which is an audi thing and it's kind of a thousand dollar car yeah i know i know still you know what i figured out the whole um the piano black thing for rich people okay so you don't like it because it gets scratched up and stuff right yes but what they want to do is show people be like look at my piano black it's not scratched because i paid for it to be immaculate at all times that's a flex dude i don't know that is a flex for rich people they're like look how look how perfect my piano black is okay you know how hard it is to maintain this so every rich person please leave a comment if you own a piano black car is what yuri just said true for sure hey i'm asking i'm not a rich person i'm just asking the rich people but that's a i think that's because us us poor's have a hard time well that pours but like us normies have a hard time yeah and we have a lot of carbon fiber which again is a rich people thing and i love it it's matte it looks great you can rest your finger to use the infotainment and then we've got a electricity style shifter but it's not the worst you just move this thing up or down but this p button above it that's black is actually your park assist button where that e-brake button is actually your putting it in park button yeah it's very confusing at first all right no volume knob no tuning up this is where they kind of screwed up because we've got this like apple ipod style spinning thing and young people aren't even going to understand that reference i kind of hate this yeah uh give me a volume up tuning knob but like not the worst thing they could have done no and then we've got this slot right next to that that i could put my phone in but your iphone 12 pro plus is a little max whatever it is yeah i don't honestly uh the iphone i'm a boomer when i i remember one video i said xbox 360 one x plus and people like that's not even a thing i'm like like i'm a boomer now yeah yeah anyways it does not fit my phone we do have a wireless charger in here my phone does fit but it's very difficult to get in there but yeah this car was built in today's day like i know build your cars so that they could fit the newest iphones not android because nobody cares about that stuff but like make it well you're going to make 50 of our audience really angry you don't have an i you don't have android anymore i had one i don't hate android phones well then go buy one get your iphone i didn't say i said i don't hate them anyways this is wireless apple carplay wireless android all works pretty well yeah then we've got cup holders we've got a small cup of coffee and it does fit the grips are pretty tight let's check the visors three two one probably just like a ticon but it didn't fly off like the um yes okay infotainment like we said earlier good you can hold to have your apple carplay show up on the left and your 360 camera reverse camera it's a little bit warpy just like a ticon it's like it's not really that good but you do have a 360 cam or 3d camera that spins all the way around but i don't want to use that because i don't want to like curb my imaginary 3d wheels like just give me the cameras but then you can see that as well if you click the highlight but the 360 camera takes a little longer to load and jacob knows at my place i'm parking next to a curb so having that thing to check is a little stressful yeah he's got these like very rigid curbs that i recommend him getting rid of at his house i'll get there one day first i gotta do waterproofing and stuff and then our gauge cluster we do have this new electricity style gauge which is pretty cool it's like circle in the middle and charge up and down and you can customize it through the infotainment we've got the performance gauge that you're talking about nothing offensive no it's great that's the best part and in terms of drive modes we've got our drive select physical button which is great so we do have a couple of drive modes efficiency comfort dynamic and individual and i found that efficiency actually lowers the car the most which makes sense because you can't actually lower it to that level by pressing the air suspension button otherwise yeah i feel like you're going to get bored of just like constantly ripping it in this yeah efficiency is great and then as for seat comfort not super soft but also not super stiff like i think this is probably softer than a porsche would be yeah these are great seats though like i have no issues with them they're well bolstered as well and backseat room same as the porsche where i got enough room back there but jacob doesn't really no my head hits and into cliche corner in dynamic and use this four-wheel steering it is noticeable especially in parking lots yeah for u-turns it's more noticeable i'm not gonna give it like a million percent through here no but this does feel noticeably a little heavier through here than the rear wheel drive tycon did yeah that makes sense but there's so much power that you can kind of overcome anything with it really and we do have 5050 weight distribution and it does really feel like that other than the understeer at full power on exit so i feel like that's pretty much everything with the audi rs e-tron gt yes time to get to the price this one starts as we said earlier wait first if you want to get a new audi top right corner tsp.truecar.com discounter price offers this one is 194 535 dollars a lot of money but it only competes with the plaid and the turbo tycon so it like kind of makes sense kind of has to be there and a ticon turbo is actually slightly cheaper but you would have to get a bunch of options on it because you you can't just get a standard one so to end it quickly this or an r8 i'd go already just the sounds man am i out for now well not actually i don't really really care for the r8 yeah i'll go for this okay see you later guys get those winter tires yes definitely get winter tires\n"