Audi RS E-Tron GT: Stuck Between a Rock and a Porsche Place

0:00 Hey, want to see something really interesting?

0:01 I think I found what is simultaneously one

0:04 of the biggest face-lifts I've seen in a car

0:07 in years and one of the hardest to recommend

0:11 new cars on the planet today in the same car, which is kind of crazy.

0:17 It's the Audi Hold on a second.

0:20 This is just ice.

0:22 It's the Audi RS e-tron GT performance face-lift and this is it right here.

0:28 And just based on living with it,

0:30 I'm trying to figure out if there's any reason someone would choose this over

0:36 the performance version of the Porsche that shares

0:38 a platform with, the Taycan Turbo GT.

0:40 Yeah, and I we got to drive and review

0:42 the Taycan Turbo GT like almost 2 years ago.

0:45 And so that's what I really want to find out after you're done

0:47 going through the tech and all the stuff it's like to live with.

0:50 I want to find out if this is basically just

0:52 a copy and paste or if it's slightly better, slightly worse.

0:56 It's cheaper, so it should be just like a little bit worse, right?

0:59 Yeah, I mean I I remember reviewing the original

1:02 Taycan and comparing it to the Audi RS and thinking, "Oh, it kind of, you know,

1:07 there's some some subjective reasons,

1:09 some aesthetic reasons why you might pick the Audi

1:12 over the Porsche." But at the end of the day,

1:14 if you're going to buy a car like this for all 200

1:18 and something thousand dollars that it costs and you already know it's going

1:21 to be a depreciation machine why not just spend a little bit

1:26 more on the Porsche that seems like it's slightly better in every way?

1:30 I got to try it.

1:31 I got to live with it.

1:32 Let's go over it.

1:33 So the basics are that this is

1:33 the dual motor all-wheel drive performance sedan from Audi.

1:37 Good looking car, obviously.

1:38 So this is about a 100 kilowatt-hour battery.

1:41 It's rated for 280 miles of range.

1:44 It's making 912 horsepower and about 1,000 Newton meters of torque sometimes.

1:51 And it has this new active ride suspension and it's about

1:54 a 190,000 dollars as it sits here in front of me.

1:59 So obviously really expensive.

2:00 We'll talk about the Taycan in a second, but you know,

2:03 maybe maybe one of the reasons why you're

2:05 into this car is because of this facelift.

2:08 Like I said, one of the bigger facelifts I've seen in any

2:12 car ever besides the plus 200 horsepower from the last version,

2:17 it also has a whole bunch of new forged carbon fiber everywhere.

2:23 So if you're really into forged carbon fiber,

2:25 stay tuned cuz there's a lot more of that.

2:26 Uh you have these pretty sick-looking headlights.

2:29 I mean this is a good-looking car.

2:30 I love the wheels on this car actually, too.

2:32 Sits on winter tires, but look at those huge brakes.

2:36 And then this olive green paint.

2:38 And then back here on the side, a whole bunch more forged carbon fiber.

2:42 Then on the back, even more.

2:44 That dark silver wheel, that's so that's nice.

2:46 I really like that wheel.

2:48 Then at the back here, a little bit of an active wing,

2:50 but then you can actually pop in here and there's a real trunk.

2:54 And it's a power opening liftgate, so there's actual trunk space back here,

2:59 which was here in the last gen,

3:00 too, but it's worth noting that they didn't get rid of any of that.

3:03 So thumbs up to the trunk space.

3:05 But I will note a couple other interesting

3:06 things that struck me about this versus the Taycan.

3:09 One is you do still have this little vent here

3:12 on the side that the Taycans have that is functional.

3:15 That throws up some rocks sometimes, but that's fine.

3:18 Has different door handles to the Taycan.

3:20 It's also a woven carbon fiber roof,

3:23 which I don't think is actually an option at all on the Taycan Turbo GT.

3:27 So no sunroof, but carbon fiber roof is pretty slick.

3:31 You have the forged carbon at these end caps

3:34 on the mirrors with these big turn signal indicators from Audi.

3:38 And then this is the one charge port, and it's manual.

3:42 Unlike the Taycan, which is like a you know, power sliding opening version.

3:46 I was driving around this car for a second and realized that it

3:50 was still open and I couldn't close it from inside the car,

3:53 but you do have on each side a manual opening CCS charge port.

3:58 It'll do up to 320 kilowatts, which isn't terrible.

4:01 But I wish I could close it from inside the car.

4:03 So overall, I could see maybe,

4:05 just maybe the different aesthetic is worth choosing this over the Porsche.

4:09 Like there's a lot of Taycans out there.

4:11 You don't want to look like blended in.

4:13 You want this different looking, really good looking car.

4:17 Maybe, I could see that.

4:18 Uh now I got to show you the party trick,

4:20 which is it's a lot more than a party trick as Miles will go over it,

4:23 but this new suspension,

4:24 so one of the options is when I pull up this door handle,

4:29 the entire car is going to lift up a couple of inches to let me in the car.

4:32 I'll see if I can get this ultra-wide so you can see this happen.

4:38 The whole thing just lifted up.

4:40 It's pretty dramatic actually, and getting into the car,

4:43 you actually notice it is higher off the ground.

4:46 Uh and when you do that in a parking lot,

4:48 people come up to you and they go, "What just happened?

4:50 Your car just just lifted up.

4:52 What was that?" It's pretty crazy.

4:54 I leave it on.

4:55 You could turn it off if you wanted to, but it is nice.

4:57 It lets you get into the car when it's higher and then

4:59 it drops back down to its low position when you start driving.

5:02 Uh and that's just one of many things

5:04 this new active ride suspension is capable of.

5:06 But once you're in this car, well,

5:08 you know how I told you if you like forged carbon fiber,

5:10 then you're going to really like this car cuz

5:12 there's a whole lot more in here for you.

5:14 In these doors, forged carbon fiber.

5:16 Up at the dash, forged carbon fiber.

5:18 All the way around the displays, forged carbon fiber everywhere.

5:22 So that is uh a highlight for you if you're into that.

5:26 You can still see it on the mirror there, too.

5:28 Uh and again, when I drove this car last time pre-facelift,

5:32 I I liked the Audi interior.

5:35 Okay, not going to lie.

5:36 I like the steering wheel.

5:37 I like these buttons over here.

5:39 This little swipe to control your volume even though you

5:41 also have a little volume control uh touch spinner thing there.

5:47 I don't know what you call that, but there's a lot of piano black.

5:50 I wish it wasn't piano black.

5:51 I'm sure there's an option to make that forged carbon fiber, too.

5:55 But, a slot for your phone, two cup holders here,

5:58 and then a little bit of storage,

5:59 which happens to be a spot to wireless charge your phone,

6:02 and two USB type-C ports in there.

6:05 Then, there's a whole lot of leather and Alcantara.

6:07 These seats, which again are heated and cooled.

6:11 You can see up here, actually,

6:12 you can heat and cool them at the same time, just like the Porsche.

6:16 Uh, I probably wouldn't do that, though.

6:18 You'll start spinning or something.

6:21 Uh, and then, real vents.

6:22 So, this could be, again,

6:25 a reason to go with the Audi is because they make different interior choices,

6:30 and the Porsche has these on-screen controllable vents,

6:33 and it's honestly kind of a pain,

6:35 and you end up not really adjusting them very much.

6:37 These are real vents and real climate control buttons, and that is ideal.

6:42 So, there's something to the slightly better interior thing with the Audi.

6:47 And then, the steering wheel,

6:49 which is Alcantara and has these carbon not carbon,

6:52 but it has these paddle shifters on the back here

6:54 that are actually metal that control how much regen you have,

6:58 and then there's this boost button over here, which if you press that, gives you

7:02 10 seconds of your full 900-something horsepower.

7:08 Uh, and your launch control, obviously,

7:09 if you enable the boost and then do the launch control,

7:11 that's when you get maximum power out of this car.

7:14 And it is ridiculously fast.

7:16 I don't know if I even had to say that.

7:17 Obviously, the Porsche is fast, too.

7:19 But, these cars are just insanely quick.

7:23 The Porsche does have a little more power, actually, on paper.

7:27 And maybe a little quicker, but this car is obviously crazy quick, too.

7:31 Let me show you the back seat, though, because, hey,

7:33 maybe you're getting a sedan with a back seat

7:37 because you do care about the practicality in some degree.

7:40 I mean, this isn't the ideal,

7:42 but you can see this really steep shelf here in the backseat.

7:45 I'm going to actually get in.

7:47 It's not very big, but behind my 6'3 driver's position,

7:53 this is uh I guess just barely acceptable.

7:57 They actually cut out in the plastic of the seat

8:00 here to give me a little bit more knee room.

8:03 Um but it's not great.

8:05 Also, because this carbon fiber roof is here, there's not a ton of visibility.

8:09 So, it feels a little bit more claustrophobic,

8:11 but you do at least get real vents for the AC

8:13 controls back here and these heated rear seats, which is nice.

8:17 A little bit of a floor vent as well for you,

8:19 but not the worst backseat in the world, but not the best.

8:26 You seen a Taycan with no backseat with the Weissach back?

8:29 It's kind of crazy, too.

8:30 I will say driving and living with this car, though,

8:32 there are a lot of things that are par for the course

8:36 for the feel of a performance-oriented sedan

8:39 that are maybe more performance-oriented than practical.

8:42 Um like this backseat, for example.

8:44 For some reason, it always takes me two tries to get out the backseat.

8:48 One doesn't work.

8:49 Two works.

8:51 Not sure why, but that's always been true.

8:55 It also doesn't have the most range.

8:58 It's rated for 280 mi of range,

9:01 which obviously for a car this expensive is not best in class,

9:05 but it's not the worst.

9:07 It's also not the best software.

9:10 A lot of people who drive Audis know this already.

9:12 Now, in a performance car,

9:13 you're probably not thinking too much about the software, and you know,

9:15 if you get used to finding what you need,

9:17 it's responsive enough, but it's not beautiful.

9:20 It's not great.

9:21 Uh I would basically never use this built-in maps system.

9:24 Like a lot of other cars are starting to have

9:26 that Google integration and do this a little better.

9:28 Uh but this has wireless CarPlay.

9:30 So, what I end up doing immediately is just

9:32 pairing my iPhone and doing the wireless CarPlay thing,

9:36 but it will not integrate the navigation instructions

9:39 from that to the center display or to the HUD, which it's nice to have an HUD,

9:45 but it doesn't integrate very well with the carplay stuff.

9:49 Uh but, if you want to change drive modes, that button down here will let you do

9:52 that, and it changes the whole theme of the car.

9:54 So, if I switch between efficiency or comfort or dynamic,

10:00 that's when it lights up uh a little bit of a different look up here.

10:03 But, that lowers the car.

10:04 That lets you switch between RS1, RS2, and RS performance.

10:08 And if you wanted to adjust RS2, let's say you want to go comfort suspension,

10:12 but uh the sportiest acceleration, then you can do that.

10:17 And this car does make some some fun noises in the performance mode.

10:21 Not like engine noise, but obviously that's something people look forward to.

10:24 So, yeah, it's all here.

10:26 It's just funny that this it's such a good car.

10:29 It's just that it's it's overshadowed by a slightly better,

10:33 but slightly more expensive version of a car on the same platform.

10:38 Well, maybe there's something to driving it that I'm missing.

10:41 I think it's about time Miles takes it away and talks about driving this car.

10:45 Okay, RS e-tron GT.

10:49 This does feel very familiar just in the sense that this is a very fast,

10:54 low-to-the-ground electric sedan,

10:56 one of the handful of cars that's going to be keeping

10:58 up with something like a Model S Plaid in the real world.

11:02 But, I really just wanted to find out if this is just

11:05 a copy and paste of the Taycan minus the differences like in horsepower.

11:11 And the answer is yes, but also no.

11:14 So, the first big thing that makes this similar

11:17 to a Taycan is the active ride system.

11:20 This is basically a copy and paste of Porsche's active ride system,

11:23 which is an electro-hydraulic system that basically controls each corner

11:28 of the car individually to not only give you a super smooth ride,

11:32 but it also is beneficial for performance-oriented driving scenarios.

11:37 And I can say that part of the experience

11:39 is more or less one-to-one with Taycan.

11:41 Maybe my brain is just making stuff up,

11:43 but I feel like the raising and lowering of the suspension might

11:46 be just like a hair slower than what you have in the Taycan.

11:50 I felt like that car always just immediately shot up for the comfort

11:53 entry as soon as you walked up to the car and opened the door.

11:56 This one feels just like a hair slower.

11:58 But otherwise, as far as it being

12:00 a super smooth ride with generally speaking low-profile tires,

12:05 it's more or less the same.

12:07 The next thing is just general acceleration feel.

12:09 So, the Taycan has a thousand and some change peak horsepower,

12:13 but that's only when you're in like max boost launch control like attack mode.

12:18 Most of the time when you're driving around in like

12:20 sport or sport plus mode and stabbing the throttle,

12:23 it's going to be like between seven and 800 horsepower in the real world.

12:27 And this is effectively the same.

12:29 So, when you don't have it in the boost mode,

12:31 when you're not doing launch control, it generally speaking feels just as quick.

12:36 Although, it is winter, it's cold,

12:39 and we're on tires that have not been that great in my experience.

12:42 So, I've seen the traction control light blink and blink a bunch just because

12:47 grip has been an issue for this car even on a perfectly dry day.

12:51 But yeah, unless you're the type of person

12:53 who likes to just like launch your car all the time or take your car to the drag

12:57 strip or something like that, in normal driving scenarios,

13:00 I will say this is basically going to feel just as fast as the Taycan Turbo GT.

13:05 Now, because of things like the carbon roof,

13:08 weight is actually slightly down from the non-Weissach version of the Turbo GT.

13:15 Can you really feel that in the real world

13:17 even on some twisty backroads like I'm on right now?

13:20 No.

13:21 Not really.

13:24 [laughter] But it is it is a pro, I'll say that.

13:25 That's a benefit.

13:26 But man, just like the Turbo GT, [laughter]

13:30 you're having to brake pretty early going

13:31 into the corners because it's big and heavy,

13:34 but you can absolutely fly right out of the corners

13:37 because you've got all this power instantly ready to be deployed.

13:42 It's It's something.

13:43 And I guess the other thing, right?

13:45 Is it fun like the Taycan Turbo GT is fun?

13:49 I guess.

13:49 Well, I mean, yeah, for a high horsepower fully electric car,

13:53 I would say this is definitely on the fun side of things.

13:57 I think you could take this up to Angeles Crest.

13:59 That's something you like doing in your electric

14:02 performance sedan or whatever your favorite back road is

14:05 on a Sunday morning and and have some fun

14:07 for a good 20-30 minutes before you run out of range.

14:10 Yeah, I'd say this is equally as fun for that.

14:13 Especially if you haven't experienced the Taycan

14:15 Turbo GT and have that basis of comparison.

14:18 I would say that is probably the best way to experience

14:21 this car is to not drive the Taycan Turbo GT.

14:25 And you won't know what you're missing.

14:26 The elephant in the room here is that this is cheaper than the Turbo GT,

14:30 but it's certainly not a cheap car.

14:33 To get the experience that puts this as close to the Turbo GT as possible,

14:37 you have to spend $200,000.

14:40 That gets you the active suspension.

14:42 That gets you the carbon ceramic brakes.

14:44 Those are things that the Taycan Turbo GT has a standard.

14:47 That car is about $50,000 more.

14:50 But if you have the money to spend 200 grand on a car that's

14:53 going to be worth probably half of that or less in like 2 years,

14:59 is spending an extra 50 grand really that big

15:01 of a stretch to get what is ultimately the better car?

15:05 I don't think so.

15:09 [laughter] Not really.

15:09 And I mean, you can already get Taycan Turbo GTs for under 250

15:13 grand on the used market with just a handful of miles on them.

15:17 So, you can theoretically spend this much and just get the better car.

15:21 And so, that's kind of where you're stuck between

15:23 a rock and a hard place with the RS e-tron.

15:26 It's a great Audi in some ways.

15:28 It's the most capable Audi to have ever existed [laughter]

15:32 because it's got so much power,

15:33 it's so usable, it's extremely comfortable to daily drive,

15:37 it's fun in dynamic scenarios,

15:40 and equally as comfortable in situations where you want it to be.

15:45 But, the Taycan exists, and that car came first.

15:50 I think the problem is that the Taycan Turbo GT came out before this car,

15:55 which means you can now already get a depreciated

15:58 one that costs just as much as this.

16:00 So, that kind of makes it a tough sell.

16:05 Ah, the Taycan though.

16:07 The Taycan though.

16:08 I'm sorry.

16:10 It's a good car though.

16:11 Um, also, last thing, Audi, we got to let the forged carbon thing go.

16:17 We let you guys get it off with the Sesto Elemento.

16:19 That was cool.

16:20 Also, the Huracan Performante, that was pretty [music] decent,

16:23 but on an electric sedan,

16:26 the forged carbon I don't think we're jacking that anymore.

16:30 If there is enough reason,

16:33 enough uniqueness about this car to warrant spending the money,

16:38 knowing it's going to depreciate, knowing you're spending $200,000 already,

16:42 are there people in the chat that would

16:44 actually buy the Audi over the Taycan Turbo GT?

16:48 If so, let me know who you are and why.

16:52 Maybe the Audi fan base is stronger than I think.

16:55 Either way, thanks for watching.

16:57 Catch you in the next one.

16:58 Peace.