The ‘Base Model’ Audi E-Tron GT Is Still Fast As Heck

Once upon a time, ordering a base model car would have meant sacrificing things like a radio, a rev counter, headrests and alloy wheels, all while your neighbours, with their fancy GLX trim, secretly looked down their noses at you.

Of course, things work a bit differently these days, especially in the upper echelons of the car market, which is why the new ‘base model’ Audi E-Tron GT is still a bit of a beast.

Simply called the E-Tron GT Quattro, the new model rounds out the range of the updated E-Tron GT, sitting at the opposite end of the scale to the 912bhp RS version.

However, it still gets a dual-motor, all-wheel drive setup which, most of the time, delivers 496bhp. Activate Launch Control, meanwhile, and that ramps up to 577bhp, or more grunt than even the most powerful versions of the Lamborghini Gallardo. That means it’s still good for 0-62mph in 4.0 seconds flat. Base model indeed.

The battery, meanwhile, gets a net capacity of 97kWh, giving it a WLTP range of 386 miles. Capable of accepting charges of up to 320kW, 177 miles can apparently be clawed back in just 10 minutes on a fast charger.

The base model E-Tron GT – the Popular, as we’ll call it – also weighs 30kg less than the next model up, the S E-Tron GT, which is more like a Popular Plus. It gets the same fancy-pants torque vectoring tech as its bigger siblings too, shuffling torque delivery between the wheels in a matter of milliseconds.

On sale now in the UK, pricing starts at a very un-base-model-ish £88,555. You can also get it in a slightly posher Vorsprung trim, which gets stuff like all-wheel steering, a head-up display, rich Nappa leather and a Bang & Olufsen sound system. That one will cost you £108,055, and deliveries of both trims will kick off in August.