The E-Tron S review: Audi’s first sporty EV

Three motors power the E-Tron S, Audi’s first sporty EV, giving it a hefty 370kW of power and almost a Newton Kilometre of torque.

Impressive: the Audi E-Tron S. Pictures: Michael Kennedy

In ye olden days, when cars burnt fuel and made unseemly noises, going faster meant more cylinders, or cubic centimetres, and “no replacement for displacement” was the catch-cry of deaf and dull motoring enthusiasts.Outside the salty assault of the Summernats festival, going fast didn’t involve bolting on extra engines. In EV world, however, things will be different, because throwing another motor into the package doesn’t seem to be that hard, yet it certainly has profound effects.

Audi’s E-Tron launched in Australia 18 months ago with two motors, one on each axle, and that seemed like plenty – but the latest, S-badged version (the first sporty EV from the Audi brand) has three, with two sandwiched together on the rear axle and one at the front.

Combining all those motors gives the E-Tron S a hefty 370kW of power and almost a Newton Kilometre of torque (973Nm), which sounded like more than enough to excite the erogenous zones, as did a 0 to 100km/h time of 4.5 seconds.

From the front

What I noticed first, however, was that the application of deft stying touches had somehow changed the visual perception of the E-Tron (which comes in both an attractive Sportback shape, chosen by most buyers, and a dowdy SUV variant) from pleasant to pert.Slapping on wider wheel arches, sexying up the front grille and bumper, painting some bits black and others bright orange... the result is as effective as Botox no doubt would be on my haggard visage if I wasn’t so stolidly opposed to injecting food poisoning into my face. Overall, as opposed to the original E-Tron, you could now consider me whelmed by its looks.

I’m also quite excited about the car’s new Digital Matrix Lights, a first for Audi, comprising 1.3 million “micro mirrors” that can tilt up to 5000 times per second, which basically makes them more like digital projectors than headlights. In practical terms this means they can paint little lines on the road at night to make sure you’re in the middle of your lane, and they can “mask” your high-beam lights when cars are coming towards you.

.... and from the back

More importantly, however, they can provide “customisable light animations”, allowing you to paint words (mainly the word “Audi”) on your neighbour’s walls, or create your own Vivid Festival wherever you go. Sadly and inexplicably, we only drove the car during the day.

I remain less convinced, though, by the thankfully optional digital wing mirrors, which replace actual mirrors with a camera and a screen; I think this is a terrible idea.

The E-Tron interior also takes a step up with its S badging, featuring a steering wheel that feels like it has biceps and “Tombstone”-style sports seats, a name I must admit gave me pause. Are they as stony-cold, hard and depressing as a grave, or will sitting on them lead to my untimely death? Was the marketing department on a magic-mushroom-fuelled western-watching marathon that day?

I can report that they are big, wide and supportive, which is handy in a car like this when you are enthusiastically engaging with the many wonderful bends of the Snowy Mountains Highway in a vehicle with ample grunt and a clever new electrified version of torque vectoring that makes this E-Tron feel like a particularly playful rear-drive car, despite being typically Audi all-wheel drive.

Inside the cabin

I may have driven a little too keenly at times, it seems, as I ended up 30km from the airport I needed to get to with just 40km of range left (Audi claims a range of 418km, but that obviously applies to “normal” driving). With 25km to go I received a warning telling me the car’s performance would be reduced. At this point I began to perspire a little. I have run many fuel tanks to empty in the past, but for some reason I found this more stressful, perhaps because jerry cans full of electricity are not so easy to find. I made it safely in the end, with an indicated 12km of range left, and a pool of worry on the driver’s seat.

The strange thing is that while the E-Tron S is definitely fun, it doesn’t feel quite as crazy-fast as I thought it would. It just doesn’t have the hilarious, back-cracking acceleration of a Porsche Taycan, but it does offer a kind of effortless, elastic speed that’s impressive in its own way. You can mash the throttle at any time and be greeted with a feeling akin to being whipped out of a speargun. The gap between 70km/h and 110km/h, for example, almost ceases to exist.

With a price starting at $168,400, the E-Tron S is a very good car (as one learned colleague said, if it had another 100km of range and was $100,000 cheaper it would be unbeatable), but not quite a great one. Audi has left that space, of course, to be occupied by the properly potent E-Tron GT that’s set to arrive later this year. Hopefully it will have six motors.

AUDI E-TRON S

ENGINE: Three electric motors (370kW/973Nm); 95kWh battery

TRANSMISSION: One-speed automatic

ECONOMY: 26kWh/100km

PRICE: $168,400

RATING: ★★★½