Audi e-tron GT 2025 review – is Audi’s Taycan rival finally worth a chance?

evo Verdict

Audi’s e-tron GT remains the more sharp-suited alternative to the slightly rotund Porsche Taycan, and its 2025 mid-life facelift has resulted in performance upgrades for its dual motor powertrain and significant work to its chassis, too, all in line with its updated cousin from Stuttgart. The new active suspension system broadens the e-tron GT’s bandwidth in terms of damping capability which will be welcome on UK roads, while the extra range and more versatile charging capability temper fears of obsolescence, especially with the arrival of the new Quattro base model, which finally offers a true 300+ mile real world range.

Despite the upgrades to both the Audi and the Porsche, there is no hiding from the fact the J1 platform that both are built on is beginning to advance in years. AMG will soon introduce the new AMG.EA architecture promising class-leading efficiency, charging speeds and range. In a world where faster charging, increased efficiency and how far you can drive without stopping are the key metrics, there's a question mark over how much longer the e-tron GT and Taycan will feel truly current. If they still do.

Right now though, whichever model you choose, the e-tron GT feels like a compelling alternative to the Taycan; it’s not quite as dialled-in to drive but it’s still polished, refined and can be surprisingly entertaining when the moment allows. You could feasibly go for one or the other depending on which you prefer to look at and sit in; the e-tron GT has concept car-like presence but some will favour the Taycan’s simplicity. Or you could opt for the Lotus Emeya, which has the nicest interior and appears to be the only differentiator in the world of electric cars. 

Engine, gearbox and technical highlights

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• Power between 496 and 912bhp
• Base Quattro range of up to 386 miles
• Revised battery charges quicker and is lighter too

The updated e-tron GT might look similar on the surface, but this is about as comprehensive as mid-life updates get. Like the original, it’s based on the same J1 platform as the Porsche Taycan, but improvements to the GT’s battery and powertrain technology have brought the package bang up to date, and in line with the newly-facelifted Taycan. 

The range is split between four versions – the 496bhp e-tron GT Quattro, the 671bhp S e-tron GT, the 844bhp RS model and the 912bhp RS Performance. Each now has a larger 97kWh battery pack with revised cell chemistry. This results in a 386-mile range in the Quattro and a 374 mile range for the S. The RS and RS Performance drop to 365 and 364 miles respectively. Despite the increased battery capacity, the new pack is 9kg lighter, though at 625kg it still weighs more than an entire Caterham…

Charging is faster too, with peak speeds boosted from 270kW to 320 and the ability to hold higher rates for longer periods; a 10-80 per cent top up takes just 18 minutes if you can find a quick enough charger.

Also new for this updated e-tron GT is the active suspension system, which will make itself known as you approach the car and pull the door handle, the body shooting up on its springs to greet you. The system comprises air springs and active dampers controlled by hydraulic pumps, which regulate suspension forces at each corner to account for pitch and roll, and can even lean the body in the opposite direction of cornering and acceleration forces. It’s powerful enough that there’s no need for anti-roll bars to manage the e-tron’s 2.3-ton mass, and comes as standard on Vorsprung models (otherwise you get two-chamber air springs with conventional two-valve adaptive dampers).

Performance, ride and handling

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• Active suspension adds damping and ride quality bandwidth
• Standard suspension feels more natural
• Standard ‘Quattro’ is plenty quick enough

Launch control in a 912bhp Audi RS e-tron GT Performance is not for the faint of heart, the car feeling like it’s about to tear itself apart. After a moment of anticipation, the e-tron snaps forward with almost surreal force, the wine from the motors quivering as the wheels spin and scrabble for grip. They continue to spin beyond 50mph, but somehow the car is still violently accelerating and continues to do so beyond the 62mph benchmark. Then a number pops up on the dash: 2.8 seconds. That’s how long the e-tron took to reach 62mph while struggling for traction on a bumpy, greasy surface. That’s quite astonishing, but also predictable.

We’re used to intergalactic speed from EVs of this calibre – the new e-tron GT needs to move the game on in other areas. Specifically, in areas that actually matter in the real world, such as the way it drives, electric range and charging speed, because a launch control start is something you’ll do once or twice to begin with and then maybe a couple of times to wow your mates.

The suspension and steering hardware (including a new quicker rack and rear-wheel steering) are shared with the latest Taycan, but unique software tuning gives it a different feel and character. The e-tron is a fast, accurate GT car, painless to drive quickly but leaning towards being a calm cruiser.

With that said, the active suspension means that leaning into the GT role doesn’t come at the expense of control when you need it, and the e-tron’s ability to keep its body flat is quite remarkable. It feels like there’s limitless support no matter how hard you're working the RS Performance’s fat Pirelli P Zeros (265 section at the front, 305 rear), which allows it to turn in and change direction like a much lighter car. It also means the tyres are more evenly loaded and you don’t need to manage weight transfer as you normally would in something so heavy, giving a stronger sense of stability. Useful given how rapidly the RS Performance gains momentum, sucking up the road between corners as if you've fast-forwarded reality. 

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Of course, you can only use this potential for fleeting moments on the road, and doing so feels borderline uncomfortable. Particularly when it’s time to stop, as the brakes can feel inconsistent; firm when giving them a hard push but strangely springy on light applications. Instead, you find yourself stroking the e-tron along on part throttle, blending in and out of the power to make fast, smooth progress. The e-tron can still be placed with precision even if it doesn’t have the feel of its platform-mate, and the rear axle steering means you can zip through tighter turns in one clean sweep. It’s a satisfying car to drive quickly, but less sports car DNA is prevalent than in its platform mate, or for a car that boasts supercar performance.

There’s a unique feel to the way the Audi rides, with an increase in control through long damper strokes. The active suspension furthers the Audi’s GT credentials, with an uncanny ability to isolate you from uneven surfaces and keep the body level through big dips and bumps. You don't get the full magic carpet effect at all times – it doesn't iron out high frequency bumps and surface patchwork as convincingly – but the ride comfort is impressive, sometimes strikingly so. 

Having said that, the S or the Quattro on standard suspension might just be the sweetest e-tron GTs of the lot. For what they lose in freakish body control and primary ride quality they gain in providing a better sense of load going through the car, and you feel more in touch with the road surface. You naturally start using more of the performance and working the chassis harder as a result. When you do, you’ll find that the e-tron GT can be driven on the throttle in a way that most Audi owners won’t recognise.

With the ESP off in the damp it’ll light up its rear tyres instantly under full load, to the extent that you almost treat it like a conventional powerful rear-drive sports car. It will bite if you’re not careful, but be sensitive with the power and the e-tron will dance away from corners, and you can catch and hold bigger slides if you want to. It manages its not inconsiderable mass commendably, such that the sense of it rarely if ever puts you off driving it dynamically. Remember, it’s lighter than the new M5…

The S is still phenomenally potent but you aren’t completely overwhelmed by the straight-line performance, and the ride is still cushioned on the standard suspension. It isn’t as serene over bumps, but on 20-inch wheels rather than RS’s 21s there’s a soft edge to impacts, and the e-tron still plays the cruising role very well.

Even the ‘base’ Quattro with ‘only’ 496bhp feels incredibly quick, the lower number disguised no doubt by its instantaneous delivery. It’s certainly still enough to be able to excite the chassis under power as you can in the S, RS and Performance models, you just dig into the pedal more. 

Efficiency and charging

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• 300 miles of range easily achievable in the Quattro
• RS Performance drinks a bit more aggressively
• More versatile charging is of a benefit

The e-tron GT is compliant, reassuring at speed and great to spend big miles in, particularly in the knowledge that it can go further on a charge than before. More than not a lot could still be not enough, though. On a mix of roads we managed 254 miles in the RS Performance, some way off Audi’s claim. 

Likewise the new base-spec e-tron GT Quattro with ‘just’ 496bhp was only the first e-tron GT in our experience to yield (just) over 300 miles of real world range. That being said, we made a deliberate effort in the Quattro to not drive with efficiency in mind, rather just as we would in any other car. On a hurried journey down to the south coast from East Anglia we saw the A505, the A1, the M25 and the M3 at far from hypermiling pace. We left home with 75 per cent in the ‘tank’ and arrived with 21 per cent after a 162-mile journey, equating to a motorway range at 100 per cent charge of more or less 300 miles exactly. EVs are at their unhappiest at motorway speeds, so bimbling around towns and villages will get you many more miles for your kilowatts.

Charging the new car is better too. The claim is it’ll charge quicker and sustain that charging speed for longer during a juice-up and they’re not lying. The old car used to take a couple of minutes to get up to speed. In the new Quattro, we saw a 270+kW draw for most of the duration of a charge, only slowing on the approach to 80 per cent. Practically speaking, that means popping into the services for the loo and a snack will net the e-tron GT an adequate glug of electrons for progress to be made.

‘In £88,500 Quattro form, good for over 300 miles of real world range, an e-tron GT finally makes sense to me. 496bhp makes it plenty fast enough, the dynamics are as satisfying as in the £142k 912bhp RS Performance and range anxiety is reduced to a dull and distant hum.’ – Ethan Jupp, web editor, who tested the e-tron GT Quattro on the road in the UK.

Interior and tech

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• Clicky physical controls a relief to sit down to
• Last-gen tech may put some off
• It’s still not the roomiest inside

The e-tron GT has been a relative anomaly in this sort of market in featuring a relatively simple array of physical buttons below a conventionally sized infotainment screen, instead of stuffing all the vital controls behind a giant wall of pixels. The update even more surprisingly does so again, all but riding out the touch/haptic-focused ergonomic nightmare of the last few years that manufacturers are finally backtracking on. It’s certainly a more user friendly environment than in its cousin the Taycan, whose array of aging screens still make simple tasks like directing cabin airflow from the vents a fiddle through a screen. 

The Audi’s infotainment display is starting to wear its years, though. Next to the ‘digital stage’ that features in many other new Audis, it does look a little last-gen. It's adequately responsive though, even if its pixel count will have the Teslarati sniggering.

The e-tron GT is built to the high standard you’d expect of an Audi inside, though the driving position isn’t as sporting in focus as you’d hope. Likewise the squirkle steering wheel with its haptic controls feels like a downgrade over the pre-facelift car. It won’t be a firm family favourite when it comes to space in the back either. Once your teenagers are threatening to spring up, things will get cramped. The boot is generously sized, even if access isn’t great via the stubby saloon boot lid.

Price and rivals

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The e-tron GT and Taycan might share a lot, but their respective range line-ups are quite different. The new base Quattro starts at £88,555 and finally offers an answer to Porsche’s base RWD Taycan, available from £88,200. The S e-tron GT is a jump to a hefty £108,775 – £12k more than the Taycan 4S with a 134bhp power deficit. 

The RS (£127,375) and RS Performance (£142,925) go up against the Taycan Turbo and Turbo S, which pack 872bhp and 939bhp respectively. In truth, only insatiable power junkies should consider these, because lesser models provide a heap of instantly accessible performance and more range for less money. 

It’s worth noting that the last e-tron GT and indeed the last Taycans have like many EVs suffered in terms of depreciation, perhaps deservedly so given their real world usability. The new car is a huge improvement where this is concerned. Still, a base last-gen e-tron GT with less than 5000 miles for around £50k does look awfully tempting by comparison to these updated cars, if you're a cash buyer.

Other slicked-back electric saloon coupes include the Polestar 5 and and the Lotus Emeya – both are stylish, well-resolved alternatives, the Lotus in particular offering an extraordinarily compelling cabin in terms of material use and quality. The Polestar will be priced from £89,500 for the entry-level dual-motor, which itself has 737bhp… The basic Lotus Emeya 600 starts from £84,990. For a different flavour of fast electric saloon, there’s also the £97,845 BMW i5 M60.