2021 Audi e-tron

DAN EDMUNDS: The Audi e-tron is a handsome looking, five-passenger SUV that just happens to be powered by electricity. Now, we've driven one before. Mark Takahashi ventured to Abu Dhabi and drove an early prototype. You can go to our YouTube channel and check out that video. But what we've got here is a fully-fledged American version with regular mirrors, not video cameras. And we're going to find out how does it ride and thrive on familiar US roads? Is the range and charging situation up to snuff? And are the cargo and passenger amenities right to make this a really legitimate luxury SUV? But before we do that, remember to click Subscribe and visit Edmunds next time you're ready to buy a car. So we just pulled into an Electrify America DC fast charge station with our Audi e-tron. And what's unique about this car is its battery is liquid cooled to such an extent that it can accept power at 150 kilowatts, which is faster than the current Tesla supercharger network. And Electrify America is putting in stations that can supply power at that very rate. So right now, we're here in a situation where we could be adding 160 miles in 30 minutes if we had arrived empty. We arrived with about 40% battery, so we're only going to be about 15 minutes before we can unplug and leave. That's really great. E-tron is powered by two electric motors-- one in the front, one in the rear. And most of the time when you're driving straight, the power distribution is 80% rear, 20% front. If you're in sport mode and you press the throttle all the way to the floor into the kick-down switch, it will engage boost mode that lasts for up to eight seconds. And during that period, you can accelerate-- according to Audi-- from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 5.5 seconds. My opinion about how the e-tron drives has been changing from mile to mile. Back on the straight, the steering felt a little bit indistinct and vague. It didn't have a great sense of straight ahead. It isn't quite as nimble in the really tight stuff as it needs to be to be truly engaging. But in the nice, gentle sweepers, it actually feels pretty pleasant. One of the things I'm not real crazy about is the brake pedal. It's pretty sensitive, and it isn't as easy to modulate as I would like. And of the things I like about electric cars is regenerative braking. And in some of them, you know, you can put it into a one-pedal driving mode where you lift off the throttle. And that engages the regenerative braking system. And this car does not do that very well. You know, we've talked a lot in other Audis about the virtual cockpit. And it looks beautiful. But it's a lot of touch screen and a lot of glancing away from the road to operate it. In their favor, the buttons that you're aiming for are all pretty big. They're not tiny. So it's pretty easy to find it if the car jostles a little bit while you're going for it. You're still taking your eye off the road. And they've put it down below the air conditioning vents, which just makes that worse. What's really neat is the shifter. I mean, it seems like every EV has to have a weird shifter, right? It's the price of admission if you're going to make an electric car. And this car is no exception. But it's different. This part here doesn't move at all. It's really just a hand rest. There's just this piece on the end that you just flick it with your thumb and first finger. It's actually really easy to use and pretty intuitive. And you can just use this as a hand rest all day long. Seating position, I got to say, is really comfortable. This is a very spacious cockpit. The e-tron is bigger than a Q5, a little smaller than a Q8, but not that much. It's kind of like a Q7 without a third row. The e-tron is rated at 204 miles of range, which is a little less than some of its competition. You know, if you want to go someplace on the weekend, having a little bit more range is nice. The interesting thing about this car is it can charge at a really fast rate-- 150 kilowatts, which is faster than the Tesla supercharger network is currently. And it can maintain that almost all the way to the 80% mark of the charge event. And they can do that because this battery pack is interlaced with cooling tubes that really manage the temperature better than anybody else. And it's a really heavy battery pack. The upshot of that is it drops the center of gravity of the vehicle, and so that helps handling quite a bit. This does not feel like a tall SUV when you're going around these corners. The e-tron has 204 miles of range, according to the EPA. And it looks like if you do prudent driving, you could probably exceed that. You know, we've noticed that with other electric vehicles, except our Teslas. And it seems like that's going to be the case here. Here in the back seat of the e-tron, I've got plenty of space. And I'm 6 foot 2. I have adjusted this seat to fit me. And you can see I've got clearance behind my knees. I've got tons of headroom. I mean, this is a really nice place to spend some time. It's really wide. I think three adults really could fit back here. We've got dual zone rear AC. So that's quad zone in all. These two USB ports down here send data to the infotainment system. So you can play carplay from back here. And there's AC vents not just here but also on the pillars. So there's a lot of airflow back here. And then this sunshade lifts up-- Yeah, this is really nice. Nice cupholder there here, does a little magic fold. And these are 60-40 split seats and fold down for cargo. And if you're going to put a car seat back here, these lower latch anchors are really easy to find and use. The e-tron isn't just good at hauling people in the back seat, it also is really good at hauling cargo. Right now behind me, there's plenty of space for at least four or five suitcases. And if you fold the seats forward, which is easy to do with the release levers that are back there in a convenient location, you can get a really good amount of space. These fold nearly flat. It's actually good at being an SUV, and the electric part is just an, oh, by the way. I gotta say-- the Audi e-tron looks to be the real deal. I'm really impressed with the ride and handling, and it's got the passenger and cargo space and amenities to play in the luxury SUV segment, whether it's electric or not. 204 miles of range seems to be adequate. The fast charging is really quick. The network needs to be built out, but I think that's going to happen. Stay tuned for more on that as Edmunds takes one back to our test track and do a complete workup. And for more videos like this, remember to click Subscribe and visit Edmunds next time you're in the mood to buy a car.