Audi e-tron GT
HELLO
£106,950 OTR/£107,080 as tested/£1,313pcm
WHY IT’S HERE
Is Audi’s Taycan a better all-rounder than Porsche’s?
DRIVER
Ollie Marriage
EVERY TIME I START THE AUDI IT INSISTS I SET IT UP AS A NEW USER. I gave it 10 minutes before deciding it could wait. I’ll get round to it, but the first few days after you take delivery of a new car are enough of a bombardment without the struggle and frustration of linking car and phone at a deeper level than Apple CarPlay. That, by the way, was easy.
I’m trying to work out the styling. It looks great from a distance, but get close and it loses those lovely proportions. Nose-wise the grey grille is better had in body colour, a £350 option, but the light signatures are narrow and angry. This car has the full-house matrix LED laser lights. Night time power is astonishing and the beams wriggle and deflect out of the way of oncoming traffic, but they cost at least £3,590, because they come as part of the Comfort and Sound pack with B&O speakers, parking sensors and ambient lighting. It’s probably worth having the C&S Plus pack which for £8,190 gives you all that and chucks in Adaptive Air Suspension, Sports Seats Pro with ventilation and full Nappa leather.
However, this one’s a fully loaded Vorsprung, which means you get everything for your £106,950. For the same money you could have a boggo RS or do what I’ve already worked out I’d do. Go for the £80,850 standard car and load it up. Throwing most things at it on the configurator got it to £95k, so I’m not sure the Vorsprung represents great value.
Driving it? Smooth, soft and fluid. Quite a bit of sag and float over bumps on the air springs, which contrasts with the ruffle of wind noise – but then this one doesn’t have the £690 acoustic glazing. Too early down the production line, apparently. I’ll drown that out with a bit more B&O. But first impressions are of a car capable of making me feel nearly as calm and relaxed as a Bentley Conti GT. Let’s hope that’s still the case once I’ve tried to figure out all this new user business.