Audi’s personal brief for its e-tron electrical SUV, right from inception, was that it should sense common, so that purchasers transitioning from internal combustion would sense at relieve. Be that in the way it drives, how its interior appears to be and feels, or how comfortable it is. That ethos also extended to the way it appears to be, which is just like any other Audi SUV, but it is below that maybe not all buyers would be totally sold. An EV, especially below in India and even extra so in the luxury segment, is as substantially about producing a assertion as it is about preserving the natural environment or residing fossil-gas-free if you have acquired 1, you want to stand out from the group! Luckily for us, Audi has considered of that and has introduced this Sportback variant of the e-tron along with the standard 1.
Forward of the curve
Sportback, of study course, is Audi’s expression for ‘four-doorway coupe’, be that in sedan or SUV sort. It interprets to a roof line that tapers efficiently all the way to the tail end of the car, producing for a much extra consideration-grabbing sort. It is not just sort, nonetheless – the roof is decrease by 13mm, and this has resulted in a slipperier .25cd drag coefficient, compared to the standard e-tron’s .27cd.
That reported, the entrance-50 % of the SUV is unchanged, providing you the exact same significant (albeit largely shuttered off), single-body grille, sharp-on the lookout 20-inch alloy wheels, trim digital Matrix LED headlamps with their four-slat e-tron signature, and twin charging ports on each of the entrance fenders. Our exam car’s colour – Plasma Blue Metallic – is exceptional to the Sportback, but there’s a large array of paint shades you can select from. There are no frameless home windows below, like you’d locate on Audi’s sedan-dependent Sportback versions, but search past that and the sloping roof definitely injects the e-tron with a huge dose of type.
Charging ports on both entrance flanks.
The roof curves down gently, rather than slamming sharply like in a Q8, and fulfills the edge of the tailgate with a hint of an integrated spoiler, eschewing the need for 1 at the roof amount. Curiously, there’s no rear wiper, but the rear glass is curved and so greatly raked that h2o didn’t accumulate there even after on our rain-soaked exam times. The now-signature LED tail-lamps joined by a light bar stand out even extra on this trimmed-down rear end, and overall, the Sportback search functions very well with the e-tron’s measurement and proportions.
Discreet spoiler is aesthetic & purposeful.
Open up the driven tailgate, and though the boot quantity has absent down from 660 to 616 litres, you will agree which is still a huge volume, and it will easily choose a couple of significant suitcases, should you need to do an airport operate. And if you are fearful about rear-seat house becoming compromised, it is truly not that bad. Sure, you never get the vast volume of headroom you do in the standard variation, but many thanks to some intelligent scoops in the headliner, there is a extra-than-comfortable volume, even for tall travellers. Leg space and seat convenience, way too, continue being generous.
On the devices entrance, it is identical to the e-tron fifty five, so you are very well catered to, with the likes of adaptive air suspension, Matrix LED headlamps, four-zone weather control, driven steering adjustment, wi-fi cellphone charging, twin MMI screens and Virtual Cockpit digital dials. There are, nonetheless, some optional extras way too, like 360-degree cameras, a head-up display, gentle-close doorways and a Bang & Olufsen seem technique.
Electric glide
Below the skin, the Sportback is the exact same as the e-tron fifty five we road examined final month. That suggests a 95kWh battery very good for a WLTP-rated assortment of up to 484km, which should translate to about 350km in serious-entire world utilization in our circumstances. It can be charged at up to 11kW by using an AC charger (or 22kW if you alternative it though purchasing your car or truck), and at up to 150kW on a DC charger. At 11kW on the AC wall box charger that will come with the car or truck, we observed it took about eight hours to charge from ten-a hundred percent.
The steering-paddle-operated, two-phase regeneration technique is a exciting trick to perform with and, at its strongest placing, aside from recouping the maximum electricity, can gradual the car or truck to a in the vicinity of-halt without the need of you touching the brakes. We just wish there was extra serious-time facts displaying the e-tron’s battery amount, fee of discharge, crucial electricity consuming aspects and extra, for the driver. This is crucial details in an EV, especially for new homeowners with assortment anxiousness, and what you get on the instrument cluster and touchscreen is much way too minimal and simple.
Twin motors, 1 on each axle, develop 408hp and 664Nm, deployed to the road, torque-vectored and in the vicinity of-instantaneously, by using Audi’s e-quattro AWD technique. Effectiveness is brisk when you flatten the accelerator in Dynamic mode, accompanied by a neat, artificially improved electrical hum in the cabin, and though we didn’t get a likelihood to exam this 1, Audi statements it is just as brief as its extra common sibling. We did general performance-exam that variation, and it did -100kph in 5.58sec.
We’re not confident the somewhat reduced centre of gravity of this Sportback helps make a huge variance on what is a two.6-tonne, higher-riding car, but the e-tron by now taken care of truly very well for what it is. With the bodyweight concentrated decrease down, many thanks to the underfloor battery, it reveals stunning composure all around corners. What is extra, the e-quattro AWD technique acts so immediately, it offers grip like no purely mechanical Quattro technique can whilst, as ever, the steering is nothing to produce household about. This could extremely very well be the best-dealing with Audi SUV that doesn’t wear an RS badge.
Normal air suspension suggests journey excellent is rather very good, and the 20-inch wheels even have a very generous fifty-portion profile, retaining shocks from sharp bumps at bay. And though the air springs do let you lift the car or truck so that its underfloor battery pack doesn’t scrape on tall speed breakers, we in no way observed the need to, as the standard journey peak gives adequate ground clearance.
255/fifty R20 tyres soak up shocks very well.
Silent and smooth
Audi has been rather intelligent by launching the e-tron in a few distinct variants. The entry amount e-tron fifty may well have a smaller sized battery, significantly less electricity and a smaller sized assortment, but its attractive selling price will entice in purchasers who want the eco-friendly credentials and use the car or truck in metropolis confines only. The e-tron fifty five we examined final month is the best all-rounder, and this Sportback caps the assortment off by including a small extra type for all those who want to make a assertion, with a compact penalty to practicality. The best portion is, at Rs 1.eighteen crore (ex-showroom, India) it is just Rs two lakh extra expensive than the standard fifty five quattro, producing it pretty much completely an aesthetic choice, and significantly less of a money 1. So yes, if you ended up enamoured by the e-tron but felt the standard model was just a bit way too nondescript, you will not go erroneous choosing the Sportback rather.
More Stories
Mercedes GLS 450 review: Rising senses
Genesis Electrified GV70 (2022) | Expert Rating
12 Tips to Find the Best Car Wash Sponge for Your Mercedes