Almost Crashed the Dealership's E-Tron GT

Technology Electrified Vehicles
1

i was at Audi today again and for shits and giggles asked them to test drive the E-Tron GT …

1260×710 108 KB

i had already previously test driven the RS E-Tron GT and was curious to see if the regular one feels different …

we couldn’t figure out how to engage the “Boost” and the idiot tech started playing with all sorts of settings and turned off the traction and stability control hoping that might enable the boost … and then he forgot to turn them back on.

coming out of the parking lot i felt pretty confident because i had driven that car before so i just floored it while turning onto the street - and it immediately went sideways - i was like OH FUCK ! ! !

i tried to correct and it spun in the opposite direction then i corrected again and finally i regained control … this all happened at a very low speed of like 30 mph but the amount of spin was like nothing i ever experienced before - the car went almost completely perpendicular to the direction of the road - i though we were going to crash …

what almost did us in was i didn’t expect this behavior at all because it doesn’t happen when the stability and traction control are on but like an idiot i assumed the tech turned them back on after turning them off …

NEVER ASSUME ! ! !

we were lucky the problem manifested itself coming out of the parking lot and not on the freeway ! ! ! after it happened we turned the ESC and Traction Control back on but at that point i was scared to floor the gas in the corner even with ESC on because - what if is still not on ?

we then went to an empty parking lot and i tried flooring it while also swinging the steering wheel side to side and this time nothing happened - the car remained stable.

moral of the story is - if you have a rear wheel drive car with a lot of torque DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT turning off traction and stability control ! you have to be unironically retarded to turn them off anywhere outside of an empty parking lot !

and if you do turn them off on the street at least have somebody film you while you crash !

2

as for the car itself @OldFriendSaysHello would laugh at how slow it is compared to the plaid …

it has a lot of torque to the rear wheels off the line due to having an extra gear on the rear motor ( which is why we spun so wide ) but it starts to run out of steam as early as about 40 mph and by 80 mph the acceleration is tepid …

but the ride and comfort are amazing for such a playful car …

i also test drove ( for the second time ) the 3-motor E-Tron SUV ( actually sportback ) and it simply didn’t have the same feeling at all …

the 3-motor SUV ( sportback ) was quick enough and it was very competent but it never gave me the feeling of being on rails like E-Tron GT …

i test drove in the following order:

3-Motor SUV first ( on both street, highway and parking lot )

then back to my Volvo on the same loop

then E-Tron GT on the same loop

then back home

switching from SUV to my Volvo sedan i felt very little difference. the e-Tron SUV ( 3-motor ) was more spacious and more solid but it didn’t really feel any more planted, on-rails or more grippy in corners - thought i didn’t really push it that hard.

but that’s the entire issue - i didn’t pus the SUV that hard because it didn’t feel like it wants to be pushed.

when i got into the E-Tron GT i had that whole incident where i almost crashed but the chassis and suspension was so rock stable while i was spinning out first to the right and then to the left that the superiority of E-Tron GT platform was immediately obvious …

once i had traction and ESC back on i just felt a kind of confidence behind the wheel that the SUV simply didn’t have … more impressively though the GT still felt as solid an spacious and comfortable as the SUV …

in fact if anything the GT had a better ride than SUV which had a sport suspension because of it being the 3-motor “S” version …

finally when i got into the Volvo to head back home the difference was obvious - even though the Volvo is as quick as both e-Trons were it isn’t as solid as either of them and isn’t as planted and on-rails as the GT …

3

my final verdict for the 3 cars:

3rd place - SQ8 E-Tron, aka “E-Tron S” ( the 3-motor SUV ) - all around good car, no flaws, but too heavy and expensive for a car that doesn’t excel at anything and is simply a good all-rounder.

2nd place - Volvo S60 T8 Recharge PHEV - quick, safe, comfortable, efficient, long-range … it pretty much offers the same thing as SQ8 E-Tron but for 2/3 of the price. yes the Volvo is slightly less roomy and slightly less refined but really it is quite comparable to the E-Tron SUV which is about 50% more expensive.

1st place - E-Tron GT … the downsides are small trunk, frameless doors may cause issues, sunroof doesn’t open, acceleration is only hard off the line then peters out …

but the combination of ride, handling and comfort is BANG ON. when you drive it you may think it could use more power but you never think it could use a better chassis or suspension.

it is comfortable enough that you can enjoy it going slow … but also it gives you the confidence to go fast at the same time if you feel like it … which is what you want in a car. you want a car that CAN go fast but doesn’t NEED to go fast for you to enjoy it.

also the sound system in E-Tron GT is better than in E-Tron SUV - at least from from the front seats.

4

i’m still probably just going to keep the Volvo but i owed it to myself to test drive those cars to know what i’m missing …

it looks like to get really fast acceleration you need to go to Tesla or Lucid … the German EVs aren’t really that fast at all …

but at least in the E-Tron GT you do get that German Quality feeling

the E-Tron GT is for somebody who wants a German EV with great ride, handling and comfort and doesn’t plan on drag racing anybody.

the E-Tron GT doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in h3ll in a race against Lucid or Tesla but those EV startups have to cut a lot of corners to deliver cutting edge performance and tech …

E-Tron GT goes in the opposite direction. It sacrifices performance but doesn’t cut corners on things like quality.

you might ask - what is the point of getting an EV unless your goal is to win drag graces ? well that’s a good question - there honestly probably is no point.

but if for whatever reason you do want an EV and you don’t care about the price or acceleration then E-Tron GT is an amazing option !

5

oh by the way i tried to test drive BMW i5 M60 twice and both times they wouldn’t let me even though they had the cars. one time their excuse was the car was in the showroom and the other time " oh the manager is driving that car " …

by contrast i drove E-Tron GT 3 times out of 3 times i asked to. first i drove RS, then i drove one that ran out of juice and went into limp mode. third one was the one i almost crashed.

so BMW certainly has a reason to worry but if they think their car is that dangerous they shouldn’t be selling it. fuck them.