Audi RS e-tron GT
Is the e-tron’s interior fit for a £110k electric flagship?
HAVING SPENT A NOT INSIGNIFICANT amount of time inside our RS e-tron GT since it arrived a few months ago, I can’t help but notice a strange lack of synergy between its interior and its price point. Almost all of the interior in our top-spec model is wrapped in some form of super-smooth nappa leather, including the seats, the dash and the doors, while the Alcantara used for the roof lining and on the pillars does its own bit to up the ambience. Yet look beyond these plush materials and this does not feel like the interior of a flagship Audi.
There are a few reasons for this, but the most conspicuous is the interfaces. It’ll come as no surprise to see that the e-tron GT shares some of its cabin components with other Audi models, but you’d hope one of those models wasn’t a garden variety (and staggeringly mediocre) A3, right? Yet the e-tron’s laggy touchscreen is the same unit you’ll find in the very lowliest of Audi models, and the same goes for the row of secondary control switches and even the volume roundel. Many people have welcomed the return of physical airconditioning controls, as would I usually, but they’re from an A3 too…
Take a good look at the e-tron’s dashboard and the likely reason for the fitment of these parts becomes clear: the high-spec interface from Audi’s other larger models would not fit into this electric car’s dash layout, not least because of the placement of the central air vents. So why not just move them? Because that’s where they also sit in the Porsche Taycan, with which the e-tron GT shares much of its architecture, and if changing the layout for the vents and who knows how many other behind-the-scenes components would cost Audi a small fortune, then the argument for substituting some alternative kit from the Audi parts bin would no doubt carry some serious weight.
But the problem still remains that those parts just doesn’t feel good enough for a car that’s this expensive (£111,900 basic, £134,290 as tested here). We’d imagine more than a few raised eyebrows from prior Tesla owners when they prod that tiny touchscreen for the first time.
Beyond this, the interior design itself doesn’t move me either. The entire aesthetic feels underdeveloped, like it’s the realisation of an early ideation sketch that should have been left on the floor of the design studio but was picked up and put into production by mistake. The volumes feel incongruous, there’s a lack of cohesion to the intersecting surfaces, and while having so much sculpture to the dash and top of the door cards is impressive from a technical perspective, it sits on a flawed aesthetic foundation. I’m sure many of you will moan that ‘design is subjective’, but I’d argue that it’s not. Design is objectively good or bad – whether you like the bad design is the subjective part.
It pains me to see such an important car for Audi be apparently cobbled together, especially given the brand’s recent back catalogue is full of not just good but brilliant cabins: from the D3 A8’s reimagining of the luxury interior for the 21st century, via the B6 A4 democratising the sort of build quality previously reserved for six-figure models, to the current TT, which has one of the most intelligently designed and superbly detailed cabins at any price. Sadly, the RS e-tron GT falls considerable short by comparison.
Date acquired June 2021 Total mileage 5965 Mileage this month 1023 Costs this month £0 mi/kwh this month 2.8