E-TRON’S SPORTY HALF
A prototype drive in downtown rush-hour traffic in rival Tesla’s own backyard. Can Audi’s apparent confidence in its electric four-door coupe be justified?
Driving a one-off concept car is, unfortunately, often less glamorous and exciting than you’d think. Time behind the wheel can be very restricted, sometimes to a couple of hundred metres in a straight line or two laps of a car park at 20kph. You’re surrounded by minders who are understandably nervous at the thought of a careless buffoon climbing behind the wheel and wrecking a near-priceless piece of their brand’s design history, while a hint of rain always stops play. There are rare exceptions, however, and our time driving Audi’s new E-tron GT was one of them. After the recent Los Angeles motor show, where the E-tron GT made its debut, Audi pulled the concept out onto the streets and gave a select group of journalists the chance to take it for a spin. On the public road. In downtown LA. During rush hour. Escorted through red lights by police officers on motorcycles. This sort of thing doesn’t happen often. It’s perhaps unsurprising that Audi is so keen to let us try the E-tron GT in a real-world environment. After all, it may officially be a concept, but those involved tell us it’s 95% finished visually, and a significant amount of the development work for the car’s oily (well, sparky) bits has been completed. The electric fourdoor coupe is due to arrive in production form in around 18 months, with only a handful of small-scale changes from the prototype. The E-tron GT will be the third EV from Audi to roll out after the recently launched E-tron and upcoming E-tron Sportback SUVs. That’s three out of a planned 12 bespoke electric Audis due to launch before 2025. The significance of Audi launching the E-tron GT in California cannot be ignored. This is the Tesla fanzone: the increasingly environmentally conscious, tech-savvy state takes in nearly 50% of the US’s total EV sales, and you can’t walk for more than two minutes through LA’s financial district without catching sight of a Model S, X or 3 with an ‘amusing’ personal numberplate. The E-tron GT immediately catches the eye. Roughly the same footprint as a Model S and operating at the same price and performance level, the E-tron GT is far more arresting than the now five-yearold Tesla and is strikingly low and squat for an electric car. Audi hasn’t yet rolled out the camerasas-mirrors system that’s an option on the E-tron SUV, for two reasons. First, it’s still not a legal set-up in the US for a production model. And second, the traditional mirror, set to be larger on the production car than the prototype, pushes air away from the rear end. Step inside and you’ll find a cabin that doesn’t look or feel far away from production — not everything is functional, yet the fit and finish already feels better than your average Tesla product. There’s bad news for the touchscreen-phobic, though: Audi has increased its display screen count to four, including a new configurable one mounted up by the rear- view mirror. Audi has provided some conveniently rounded figures for the concept that are targeted for production. A 0-100kph time of 3.5sec, 0-200kph in under 12sec, a range of 400km on the new WLTP test regime. All Tesla-baiting figures that should be easily deliverable by 2020. Engaging drive in the E-tron GT is as simple as selecting D on the new pushbutton gear selector (set to gradually replace the rocker gearshift in current Audis), stabbing a button marked with a chequered flag on the wheel and pulling away. Of course, the only noise registered from inside comes from the burbling motors of the police escort bikes — ridden by retired officers, if you were wondering why they are catering for spoiled journalists rather than out catching criminals. The lack of squeaks and rattles as we negotiate our first crossroad is very unlike a concept car. The whirr of the motor isn’t as well insulated as it will be for production, but its response in our admittedly low-speed situation is as crisp as you’d expect from a brief stab of the accelerator. The steering feels consistently weighted and accurate, and the brakes seem unusually consistent for a regenerative setup. Yet something that’s clearly not finished is the suspension: the GT will have double wishbones combined with air springs for production, and the current steel spring and damper system is seriously stiff, po-going over broken and undulating surfaces. It’s likely that the ride height will increase slightly for production. The potential for this car to offer a reasonably dynamic driving experience is there: after all, it has a lower centre of gravity than an R8, rear-wheel steering and electric torque-vectoring. Chances to test the handling, outright performance and, indeed, the range are limited here. What’s easier to gauge is the amount of smartphones being pointed at our car from passers-by. As we pull up back where we started, the car’s minder lets slip that we will be seeing the E-tron GT on the move again soon — as Tony Stark’s ride in the next Avengers film, due for release in April. While the public will decide if the blockbuster marketing pays off, this early go behind the wheel delivers a promising insight into Audi’s battery-powered future.