Loads more power and vastly improved ride and handling makes the 2025 Audi E-Tron GT the consummate Gran Tourer – almost.
⊕ PROs
- Huge performance even at ‘entry’ level, supernatural handling on active suspension
- Usual Audi high-quality feel inside
- Impressive and reliable driving range
- RS models finally nail the brief
⊖ CONS
- Rear comfort not quite up to ‘GT’ standard
- Limited cabin storage
In its 2025 Audi E-Tron GT form, the four-ringed brand’s halo EV has been given what looks like a light midlife refresh – but the specs sheet reveals there’s a lot more going on beneath the skin than it might seem.
Unveiled in June, the 2025 E-Tron GT limits the exterior design changes to the usual basics: new bumper designs at both ends, new wheels, new carbon-fibre accenting details and new paint options. There are updates inside, too, including a new steering wheel and updated infotainment.
Although chuffed with those tweaks, it’s the tech upgrades the Audi boffins are most eager to show off, and so we’ve been jetted into Frankfurt for a poke and a steer after June’s initial first look.
Departing the airport in a new-generation VW Multivan, four chatty Spaniards were enough to drown out the usual diesel notes — but, thankfully, I wouldn’t be sharing the hushed notes of my electric test car with anybody.
Arriving at Geleefabrik Dreieich, an old jam factory converted into the latest Classic Depot location for driving enthusiasts to admire and store their cars, we’re given the rundown on what makes this refreshed 2025 Audi E-Tron GT a ‘more than meets the eye’ update before we’re ushered into the awaiting samples.
What’s changed about the looks?
Not a lot, but it was already the most advanced styling in the stable.
With its new bumper designs at both ends, the E-Tron now offers a more obvious visual distinction between from the S to the RS and RS Performance models.
All three have a new look, but where the S has tall silver ports at the front and a relatively tame lower insert and diffuser at the rear, the RS models share a meaner look with a spread of carbon-fibre and gloss black elements wrapping larger outboard ports on the front end and the taller, bulkier rear diffuser.
The RS Performance goes one better on the carbon-fibre theme, borrowing – for the first time – the ‘camouflage’ or ‘chopped’ carbon look more often seen in the Lamborghini rooms down the hall. Audi Sport says we’ll see more of this in future RS models.
Those options continue into the cabin, along the dash and doors, and you’ll find Audi’s new steering wheel design in there too.
There’s little else of note for the less attentive spot-the-differencers out there, but you should notice Audi’s newly simplified ‘flat’ logo on show, along with the new Bedford Green colour that’s exclusive to the RS Performance.
Pricing, power, range and features
It’s power. The big feature for 2025 is power.
Audi’s asking price hasn’t been revealed for the Australian market yet, with the local launch still some months away, but a jump beyond the current opening price of around $182,000 should be expected.
Although not strictly a comparison point, the E-Tron GT’s also recently updated platform mate, the Porsche Taycan, is at least $8K dearer in its 2025 form with the rear-wheel-drive entry model now priced from $175,100 before on-road costs.
Power at all paws
Unlike the Taycan, the E-Tron GT remains an exclusively Quattro-equipped range, meaning there’s a dual-motor and all-wheel-drive configuration in all three variants.
Yes, three variants: the cheapest model has been promoted to S E-Tron GT (above in silver), followed by the familiar RS E-Tron GT and an extra-spicy new hero grade, the RS E-Tron GT Performance. Given the $70K price difference between the current E-Tron GT and RS E-Tron GT models, we could see this one blast past the $275K starting price of the Audi R8 supercar.
That would be fitting, because the RS E-Tron GT Performance is Audi’s most powerful production model ever introduced, offering up to 680kW through its launch mode and 10-second ‘push to pass’ boost button – enabling a claimed 0-100km/h time of just 2.5 seconds.
The ‘new’ S model lists 500kW and a 3.4-second run to 100km/h, while the now mid-range RS E-Tron GT has grown to 630kW with a 2.8-second sprint.
As before, the E-Tron GT models feature a single-speed transmission for the front motor, and a two-speed transmission for the rear, all intended to optimise performance and efficiency as needed. Depending on the driving conditions (and driver demands), the E-Tron GT can run on both motors or just the rear, the latter mode delivering the car’s best efficiency and range.
| Model | Power | 0-100km/h | Efficiency (WLTP) |
|---|---|---|---|
| S e-tron GT | 500kW | 3.4 seconds | 18 – 19.7 kWh/100km |
| RS e-tron GT | 630kW | 2.8 seconds | 18.4 – 21.1 kWh/100km |
| RS e-tron GT P | 680kW | 2.5 seconds | 18.7 – 20.8 kWh/100km |
How much improved is the 2025 model over the outgoing version?
The pre-update E-Tron GT offered up to 390kW in base form for a 4.1-second run, while the hero RS listed a still mighty 475kW max output to claim a 2.5-second launch. That’s a bump of 110kW and 205kW for the 2025 cars.
For the record, the 449kW/560Nm Audi R8 V10 Performance lists a 0-100km/h time of 3.2 seconds – but you’d be right to not give up drooling over the noise and fun of that one.
Charging speed & driving range boosted
There’s little point in getting quicker if it takes longer to reach where you’re going, so the more powerful 2025 E-Tron GT range now also charges faster and goes further.
The reformulated and more energy-dense battery is up from 93kWh to 105kWh now, in all three variants, with usable capacity growing from 84kWh to 97kWh.
Better yet, a 50kW boost for the new model year means the already 800V E-Tron GT can now charge at up to 320kW with a compatible station, while energy recuperated from the brakes can now be taken in at up to 400kW.
How fast does the 2025 Audi E-Tron GT charge?
All of this means the E-Tron GT can now charge from 10 to 80 percent in just 18 minutes, smashing the 22.5-minute claim of the outgoing version. If you don’t have that sort of time, that same ultra-rapid DC station will give you around 260km in 10 minutes.
Audi says a full charge will deliver up to 609 kilometres of driving range in its most efficient form, which will certainly be the S E-Tron GT and with the ‘smaller’ 20-inch standard wheel pack, but even the more powerful RS and RS Performance models come close at 598km and 592km respectively – again on the standard 20-inch wheels.
In each case, those numbers represent a huge 100km improvement over last year’s E-Tron GT models. And, for a bit of trivia, 609km works out to a smidge over 1.02km per kg of battery weight.
Interior comfort and space
For a sedan, the E-Tron GT a lovely two-seat Grand Tourer. Oh, it has four seats?
If you’ve ever described the rear seats of a two-door, 2+2 coupe as a glorified parcel shelf, that’s about where we are here – except that the E-Tron GT adds hatches for easier access to that shelf. In Audi parlance, they’re called rear doors.
Okay, it isn’t quite that silly, but as with many ‘four-door coupes’, this Audi is designed around the front row – where any road trips will be enjoyed far more by the couple in first class than the pair stuck back in coach, despite its almost A6-matching 2900mm wheelbase.
At 176cm (and longer in torso than in leg), I found maybe four centimetres of forward knee room behind my own driving position, while headroom saw me fixing my hair on exit.
Toe room, at least, is good, while the officially five-seat but effectively four-seat design means shoulder space in the rear is also fine – for two. You’d simply never ask a third person, adult or child, to sit in the middle.
This is a neat trick, though: almost as if to make a show of the very concept of Grand Touring, buyers ticking the active suspension option will also get a fancy, rapid lifting and lowering of the car by 70mm to make entry and exit easier on the back and knees – and, perhaps, the ego as well.
Although Audi won’t confirm just yet, it’s likely the Australian-delivered cars will come with the active suspension as standard on the RS Performance, if not the RS. Don’t expect it on the S, although perhaps as an option.
Cabin storage
Storage is a little hit-and-miss here. In the cabin, most of it is in the front row, with two large cup holders in the centre console, a phone or sunglasses slot, and a shallow cubby under the arm rest.
The front door pockets are fairly unimpressive, with most of that space taken by the speaker boxes. The glove compartment, at least, is quite large.
The rear gets door bins big enough for a phone, but misses out on map pockets. Two cup holders can be found in the centre arm rest.
Audi E-Tron GT boot space
In the S E-Tron GT there’s a decent 405L boot, shrinking to 350L in the RS models (allowing for the bigger rear motor), with a flat and deep design aided by folding rear seats if needed.
You won’t need that for most jobs, however, as you’ll fairly easily get most of the usual things in without fuss: a stroller and the groceries, or a few travel cases. A couple of golf bags, too, incredibly.
This is joined by a huge 81 litres under the bonnet, but note – you won’t find a spare tyre at either end of the car.
On the road
The absolute standout upgrade for the 2025 Audi E-Tron GT is a new adaptive dual-chamber air suspension system with dual-valve dampers.
Australian-delivered models already had as standard what was previously the optional three-chamber setup, but this simplified and improved system is now standard globally.
The new dual-valve dampers separate the rebound and compression components, very effectively providing a smoother ride in normal driving while tightening up nicely in corners.
It gets better: the RS models can be had with optional active suspension, which of course our testers were equipped with.
A set of four 5kW pumps control one wheel each, delivering a marked improvement in comfort over uneven surfaces while dramatically sharpening handling – the latter lifting the front under heavy braking and tilting the body into corners by two degrees.
If that doesn’t sound like much, think again. The RS E-Tron GT already cornered nicely, but it’s now preternaturally flat, proven well as we tore through the winding roads surrounding the Verkehrswacht’s driver training centre. Likewise hard acceleration and heavy braking; the usual effects of these are astonishingly well countered by those hydraulic pumps.
All of this is shared with the Taycan, but where Porsche’s sleek sedan is focused on Sport machen, the E-Tron GT finds a more balanced place that befits those two letters.
It is a comfortable yet confident and capable cruiser, and that active suspension, combined with rear steering turning the back by 2.8 degrees, hides the car’s weight wonderfully – a sensation helped in the RS Performance by the Bridgestone Potenza Sport rubber (265 section at the front, 305 at the rear) wrapping the optional 21-inch wheels. The tyres benefit in kind with a more even load.
Efficiency: What range anxiety?
A launch event is rarely the best place to test a performance car’s efficiency, but it does make for an excellent look at one extreme end of things.
Leaving the Depot at Dreieich in an RS E-Tron GT with a 94% charge, a tour out to Heilbronn meant covering nearly 200km – a great deal of it on open-speed stretches of autobahn, often cruising somewhere close to the E-Tron GT’s 250km/h limiter.
Arriving at our pre-dinner stop, the electric sedan showed 49% remaining charge, dropping below 50 just as I reached the venue. As far as the still-raring GT was concerned, we were good for another 285 kilometres or so.
Apart from the updated battery pack, much of the e-tron GT’s improved range is thanks to the upgraded regenerative braking system.
Previously, it could deliver around 2.94 m/s² of deceleration (roughly 0.3g), recovering up to 265 kW of energy during braking. Now, with the 2025 update, it offers up to 4.5 m/s² (0.46g) and boosts recuperation power to a huge 400kW.
If you’re a fan of one-pedal driving, however, you’re out of luck here. While some EVs will handle the entire job of bringing the car to a stop, the E-Tron GT’s regenerative braking disengages just before it stops – so don’t get distracted.
VERDICT
It’s a tough act to beat, this 2025 Audi E-Tron GT – depending on what you want from a performance sedan.
If it’s power and probably some of the most outstanding handling and comfort of any EV available today, the RS E-Tron GT Performance sits handsomely as a solid option.
If you want a lot of that for less money, the regular RS is probably the ‘just right’ bowl on the table – and yet, the well equipped and still very quick S model will likely turn just as many heads and rarely leave you wishing you’d sold the other kidney too.
If it’s a spacious cabin with a home for all your accoutrement, this GT is perhaps less appealing. Nonetheless, among the few flagship performance EVs in the legacy premium market, the 2025 E-Tron GT sets out one hell of a challenge to BMW and Mercedes – neither of whom appear likely to introduce a compelling all-electric rival in the immediate future.
Play on, Audi.