With the summer in full bloom, I know I like to take some time to myself and hit the road for a long morning drive, right before the heat sinks in, the traffic starts up and a dirty-blonde pallor sets over the Los Angeles skies.
I have been noticing on my drives over the last few months that all the best cars I have driven, with very, very few exceptions, have been EVs. Perhaps, now that the current generation of EVs look less like a stick of futuristic deodorant and more like an actual car, we have somehow reached performance and styling parity between the gas and electric models in the marketplace. To me, now that we’re a few generations into mainstream EVs, the OEMs are hitting all the right notes.
Or, maybe it’s the fact that, with work and family and what’s going on in the world, I like the solitude and quietude that driving an EV brings (and, on that note, I tend to spend the first half of my drive with the radio off and my celly on airplane mode).
“Until you drive an EV, you really have no idea how great they can be. They’re not simply soulless golf carts. Depending on the vehicle, they can offer owners as spirited and engaging a driving experience as a gas-powered car.” says my fellow automotive journalist pal, Lyn Woodward, adding “One pedal driving makes me feel like I’m driving in a video game. If you get it down and are smooth about it, it’s more fun than you’d think.”
Take for example, the new Audi RS e-tron GT performance; I remember a few years ago attending the first generation launch of the e-tron GT. I enjoyed the ride, the styling looked good, it was fast and luxurious and I was sold on the e-tron GT concept. That said, and to my shock, I didn’t see as many e-tron GTs scooting around town as I did the now ubiquitous Porsche Taycan.
Now, with a mid-cycle refresh in the books, Audi’s e-tron GT is now called the S e-tron GT (from $125,500) but the brand has upped the model range with the introduction of the new RS e-tron GT performance model (from $167,000). Recently, while driving the RS, I felt a familiar snugness to drive, one of those uncanny feelings where something feels similar in quality but also quite different from the car I drove a few years back. Thanks to the technical wizardry of the team at the Böllinger Höfe Audi Sport GmbH production facility in Neckarsulm, Austria, the team zhuzhed up the new RS e-tron GT performance, and I can attest that when I spent an afternoon with the RS on a track outside of Las Vegas that this EV just cooks.
While doing flying laps and futzing with launch control, the RS’s 912-horsepower can, according to Audi, shoot you from 0-60 mph in just 2.4 seconds and while I am a ‘good driver’, I think I hit those numbers. Audi added a slew of technical upgrades - battery, chassis, ride and handling performance - including an RS only “RS performance mode”, which when deployed, optimizes the ride for the twisties and as the anti-slip control, torque vectoring, suspension tuning, aerodynamics, and cooling strategy are all engaged, you are cooking with gas, er, electric.
Also, Audi added two individually configurable RS-specific modes, RS1 and RS2, where you can select specific drive, suspension, ride height, and sound parameters from the flat-bottomed steering wheel.
While I like to go fast - and Audi is saying the RS has ‘the distinction of being the quickest-accelerating production Audi ever’ - being a man of a certain age and proclivities and of very bad knees, I don’t like to mash the pedal all the time and have my kishkes in a bunch, so I subscribe to the ‘fast car, slow’ mantra.
With all the power and dynamics tuned way down, the RS was a ball to drive in city traffic and on boisterous roads. With a 105 kWh (97 kWh net) battery pack and a 278 mile range and charging speeds up to 320 kW, allowing the RS to go from 10 to 80 percent in about 18 minutes, it’s a great city car. If it was me, I’d get one in Bedford Green metallic.
On the same thread, I also had a chance to drive the new Porsche Macan Turbo Electric and the Audi Q6 e-tron quattro SUVs; while both share the same PPE (Premium Platform Electric) architecture and utilize the same 800-volt charging technology and a lot of the same underlying technology and some running parts, you could think they are flip sides of the same coin. You’d be wrong and not in a bad way.
The Porsche Macan Turbo Electric starts from $105,300 and it being a Porsche goes way up from there. While Porsche has a full range of electric Macan models on offer - like the base rear-wheel drive Macan Electric starting at $75,300, the all-wheel drive Macan 4 Electric at $78,000 and the Macan 4S Electric at $84,900 - the Turbo Electric sits at the top of the heap. I adored the Copper Ruby Metallic Turbo Electric I spent a few days in. From the looks, the drive, and all the very Porsche fussiness, it was fast enough at 430 horsepower, had a swell range of 288 miles and very much felt like what an electric Porsche Macan SUV should be. The version I drove topped out at $132,740 and while I think the Macan 4 Electric will be the volume leader, if you wanted to shell out the extra stack of dough, it would be well worth it.
The Audi Q6 e-tron, in the quattro prestige package I drove, too, is a wonderful everyday ride around town car, looks and drives with the Teutonic flair you’d expect from Audi, has 456 horsepower, scoots to 0-60 in 4.9 seconds and has a 307 mile range, and while I haven’t had a chance to drive the SQ6 e-tron, I expect the same with more power and a zhuzhed-up design. I enjoyed the Q6 - it’s the brand’s volume EV and, if you look around the streets of LA, there are a ton on the road. If I was in the market for an electric SUV, the Q6 e-tron would be one of my top cross shops as it starts at $65,800.
But what surprised me the most of all the EVs I have driven was the Ford Mustang Mach-E, a car I hadn't driven since early 2023. While there have been some minor technical and trim changes over the past few years, I forgot how much I liked this car. Its ease of use, no-nonsense demeanor and the 260 mile range on the standard battery pack was good enough to not cause range anxiety. I drove a premium rear-wheel drive model in a fantastic Eruption Green Metallic color and, with a few options, it stickered well under $50K–A bargain in today’s market. The Mach-E felt different than other Ford models, in a good way, and as a bonus, my persnickety kids loved it. Acceptance from a hard- to-please crowd is always an added bonus for any car.
