Audi RS e-tron GT packs excitement and electric power
Audi’s RS e-tron GT and its most important electric vehicle to date, the Q4 e-tron, are amazing reminders of the potential that electric vehicles have, if price isn’t a hurdle.
The Audi RSQ8 is a Lamborghini in disguise. A twin-turbo V8 beast with a whopping 441kW of power, a staggering 800Nm of torque and the biggest brakes fitted to any production car in the world.
And it’s too slow for me. Really, much too slow, because it’s in front of me and frustrating me intensely.
It’s so slow, I’m hitting the brakes so as not to ram it, when I should be accelerating flat-out. That’s because I’m driving Audi’s newest high-performance hero model, the RS e-tron GT, an all-electric sports sedan that launches out of corners with a similar ferocity to a SpaceX rocket taking off… or at least that’s what it feels like. It’s certainly hugely quicker than the RSQ8.
I can tell you this with legal immunity because I’m driving at the Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit. I’m following Audi’s chief driving instructor, Steve Pizzati, a man who conservatively estimates he’s driven more than 25,000 laps of the track. So he knows what he’s doing behind the wheel of the RSQ8.
The problem that Pizzati, along with the rest of the car industry, is facing is the power of electricity. The dual electric motors in the RS e-tron GT pack 440kW and 830Nm, which is more pulling power than even the eight cylinders and two turbochargers in the RSQ8 can manage. Even more impressively, it provides all of this performance near instantly, there’s no waiting for the revs to build up as there is with an internal-combustion engine.
No, in the RS e-tron GT, as soon as you exit a corner you can turn the afterburners on and rocket down the next straight.
This demonstration of its performance is a reminder of the potential that electric vehicles have, but for Audi the real star of our day at The Island wasn’t on the track. As the RS e-tron GT basked in the sun, Audi’s most important electric vehicle to date sat in the shade of a pit lane garage – the Q4 e-tron.
This is the German brand’s long-awaited (so long-awaited you could arguably call it overdue) rival to the all-conquering Tesla Model Y. As impressive as the RS e-tron GT is on a racetrack, its asking price of more than $245,000 puts it out of reach of most buyers. In fact, Audi’s cheapest EV at this point is the $153,900 Q8 e-tron, which is a not-insignificant $88,500 more expensive than the cheapest Model Y.
Which probably goes a long way to explaining the sales difference between the Tesla and Audi electric SUVs in 2023. So far this year the American brand has sold more than 24,000 Model Y compared to just 135 e-trons… So, a bit of a gap.
The new Q4 e-tron and its starting price of $88,300 will try to help close that gap. Audi will initially offer four examples of the mid-size SUV (a really important segment for any car company to fill in Australia), a pair of single-motor, rear-wheel-drive ‘45’ models and a pair of dual-motor, ‘quattro’ all-wheel-drive options, each available with either the SUV or Sportback body styles.
The Q4 45 examples will boast 210kW/545Nm, while the 55 quattro options get 250kW/679Nm, while both use an 82kWh battery. Audi Australia hasn’t revealed final details on driving range, but in Europe the Q4 45 Sportback is rated up to 562km. Which is, by any standards, impressive.
The Q4 45 e-tron and Q4 45 e-tron Sportback will both be available at $88,300, but the step up to the dual-motor Q4 55 e-tron quattro pushes the price to $108,500 and the Q4 55 e-tron quattro Sportback starts at $109,500.
For comparison, the Tesla Model Y range starts at $65,400 for the RWD, $78,400 for the AWD Long Range and $92,560 AWD Performance. But it’s not just a price advantage that Tesla has, the American upstart has seemingly cornered the market on electric cars in Australia. It accounts for nearly 60 per cent of all EVs sold locally and its two models leave all others trailing. What Audi would no doubt argue is that no Tesla offers the levels of interior refinement, and Germanic solidity, that you get from a Q4 e-tron.
The challenge for Audi is to transfer some of the excitement from the likes of the RS e-tron GT to the Q4 and give more buyers a chance to make the switch to electric power.
It would be optimistic to the point of delusion to think Audi will suddenly sell thousands of EVs and put Tesla on notice, but the Q4 will be the first major step forward the brand has taken to one day have that opportunity.
