Fast Facts – 2025 Audi RS e-tron GT Performance
⚡ Power: 912 horsepower from a dual-motor Quattro system
🛣️ Range: 278 miles EPA estimated
⏱️ 0–60 mph: 2.4 seconds
🔌 Charging: 10–80% in ~18 minutes (320 kW)
🎯 Price: Starts at $168,295, including destination
🎵 Tech: 10.1" touchscreen, 12.3" digital cluster, wireless Android Auto and CarPlay, Bang & Olufsen sound system
Luxury Meets Hypercar Acceleration in Audi’s Latest EV
My wife has had the privilege of riding shotgun in some of the world's finest machines, and over the years, she's become a bit of a launch control aficionado. If something shows up with quick acceleration, she's ready to give me her take on how it launches. She's been in all manner of super and hypercars, yet Audi's e-tron GT Performance was the first car that launched hard enough to make her genuinely scream in fright. It gets off the line with startling fury, then adds speed at a rate that makes it tough to keep your eyes focused.
Audi's latest performance machine is far more brutal despite looking almost the same for 2025. Under the skin, though, a series of upgrades result in a car with more speed, more range, and yes, more terror too.
EV Evolution
Audi's RS e-tron GT launched in 2020 as the sister car to the Porsche Taycan, which got way more attention in the press. The Taycan was shapelier, available as a wagon, and came with a more coveted crest on the nose. But the e-tron offered pretty much the same driving experience and sold well enough for Audi to take the time to release this second generation. For 2025, the company's engineers made a series of mechanical updates that radically boost the car's performance across the board.
The e-tron GT now comes in two trims: the 670-horsepower S e-tron GT, which starts at $126,795, and the 912-horsepower RS e-tron GT Performance, which starts at $168,295, including destination. For this review, Audi sent me a Performance trim with over $20,000 in options, including the $11,000 Dynamic Plus package with its advanced suspension and the $8,400 Forged Carbon package. The total price, including destination, was $190,690.
Forged Carbon Flare
As a mid-cycle refresh, it's no surprise that the e-tron GT looks much the same as it did before. But a series of subtle updates makes the sedan more compelling than the original. The biggest change up front is a redesigned grille, plus revised lighting that creates a stronger first impression. At the back, a giant new diffuser hangs from beneath the rear bumper. I confess it's not my favorite part of the GT's style, but overall, I like the car's pointedly flared fenders front and rear, and its long, low shape.
I would skip the so-called forged carbon package on display here, though. Forged carbon is made from the fragmented leftovers of more traditional, long-strand carbon fiber. The result is too messy for my tastes. The good news? It's purely optional, an $8,400 upcharge that I wouldn't tick.
Interior and Tech Refinements
Much of the interior remains the same inside the 2025 e-tron GT Performance, with the biggest change being a new steering wheel. It has much of the same outer shape as Audi's wheels from the past, that is, fairly narrow and firm, but the inner portion is all new. This year, the e-tron GT receives capacitive touch controls on the spokes, which is kind of a downgrade from the buttons on the earlier cars.
Behind the steering wheel, there's the 12.3-inch Virtual Cockpit system, which is thoroughly customizable and presents a bright, clear view of the path ahead for navigation. There's also a 10.1-inch central touchscreen that supports both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay wirelessly.
There's a wireless charger to match, but it's awkwardly tucked in the back of the armrest, and my phone, a Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, simply wouldn't fit. Surprisingly, I myself fit quite nicely in the rear seats. Neither headroom nor legroom is particularly generous, but there's more space back there than you might think, given the aggressive downward slope of that roof.
In terms of active safety tech, the e-tron GT has the usual offerings: adaptive cruise control, lane departure warnings, and automatic emergency braking.
Keeping Level
The RS e-tron GT Performance does something special to welcome drivers: It jumps to attention like a puppy eager to play. That's the hallmark feature of GT Performance's Active Damper Control suspension, an improved form of air suspension that not only does all the usual active suspension stuff — going from stiff to soft at the touch of a button — but also enables a series of tricks.
Jumping up when I opened the door was the most immediately apparent one, a move that'll not only dazzle friends but genuinely made it easier to get into this extremely low car. While driving, that same suspension kept the car level when cornering, even dipping the nose under acceleration and raising it under braking.
These moves aren't to boost grip. In fact, those features are disabled in the GT's sportier modes. They're there to ease the stomachs of your more sensitive passengers. Driving like this was a truly odd sensation, but it's surprisingly effective.
For more day-to-day duties, though, the suspension did a remarkable job delivering good ride quality. The GT Performance rolls on aggressive Pirelli P-Zero summer performance tires, yet over broken, uneven roads, it felt calm and comfortable.
Pushing Harder
The e-tron GT features six different drive modes, starting with Efficiency, Comfort, and Dynamic, getting sportier as you move from one to the next. Then come the three more fun ones: RS1, RS2, and RS Performance.
RS1 and 2 can be fully customized, letting me dial up my chosen amount of power from the motor, stiffness from the suspension, ride height, and even simulated engine noise. The RS Performance mode is where I went for maximum everything, and the car was a real eye-opening experience, to say the least. Yes, launch control is again the highlight, but any little flex of my right foot on the accelerator, at any speed, resulted in an instant surge of G force pinning me into the seat.
On smooth, flowing roads, the GT had plenty of grip to be a real test of my neck muscles. Thanks to the dual-motor Quattro all-wheel drive, it was also extremely planted on looser surfaces. Unexpected sections of mid-corner gravel caused no concern.
It was really only on extremely tight, technical roads, especially bumpy ones, that I started to feel the GT's prodigious weight of 5,137 pounds. While Audi's suspension engineers did a marvelous job of hiding that in most conditions, you just can't break the laws of physics all the time.
Wrap-Up
For its final trick, the 2025 e-tron GT delivers far more range than the previous generations. The base S model can travel up to 300 miles on a charge, and the RS can manage 278. It even charges faster, with maximum rates boosted to 320 kilowatts. That means you get more power, better handling, and more range, a combination that makes the GT even harder to resist than before.
You'll be paying for that privilege, though. The GT, especially in Performance trim, is expensive, but its acceleration and overall performance figures are on par with exotic hypercars that cost many times more. That, in some ways, makes it a heck of a bargain and a real thrill ride.
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