Audi RS E-Tron GT

The performance arm of any car maker has a difficult time trying to navigate the murky waters of electrification.

- Kenny Yeo

So much of how a high-performance car feels is inextricably linked to its powertrain. And when everyone uses an electric motor, which, as powerful as they can be, all feel one-dimensional and samey, how do you differentiate yourself?

Step one for Audi RS is to embrace the speed. The RS E-Tron GT has dual motors - one on each axis and their combined peak power is 590hp. There's an overboost mode that takes that number up to 637hp - but only for 2.5 seconds. Maximum torque is an earth-moving 830nm. As you'd expect from figures like these, it's very fast almost uncomfortably so.

Despite weighing just shy of 2.5 tons, the RS E-Tron GT takes off like a frightened rabbit whenever you flex your big toe. The rate at which it gains speed is equal parts intoxicating and frightening. Every time I accelerate, I can’t wrap my mind around how a car this big and heavy can gain speed at such an explosive rate. I don’t believe I’ve been in anything that gets from a standstill to our national speed limit faster than this.

Audi also tried hard to replicate the sensations of a regular petrolpowered car. Audi has gone to great lengths to compose a noise for the RS E-Tron GT. It’s hard to describe this in words, but it sounds like a spaceship that’s about to enter hyperspace. Given the way it takes off whenever you depress the accelerator, I’d say the noise is very apt.