Audi’s first electric performance car is off to a flying start.

 AN airport runway and a super-fast car – you know how this is going to go.

Or do you?

Launch mode is engaged; left foot hard on the brake pedal, right mashing the throttle into the carpet.

Three, two, one …

Whap! My helmeted head smacks into the head rest.

Wow! Hunker into violent hurl transition is violently sudden and of such fluidity that, by the time you’ve come to terms with it, the speedometer is already at 80kmh and updating faster than my brain can register.

Eleven-point-three seconds to hit 200kmh; the limit for this exercise. Conceivably the car has at least 50kmh more pace in hand.

The Bay of Island airport runway is 1200 metres long. We barely used a third of it.

Rolling back the start point gives time to consider what is the most impressive single factor of this demonstration of this RennSport Audi’s huge muscularity.

 Was it the stomach punch initial oomph that arrives as this Kessel Run bid begins? For sure, that’s a big thing. Was it the unrelenting tidal wave of shove, with no discernible lapse as the car clicked through its single ‘gear’ change? Sure, that’s also stupefying.

Or was it that this performance explosion occurred without a big bang soundtrack?

I’m thinking the latter. Watching from the sidelines as other colleagues do their thing is seeing massive performance without hearing it.

The Audi e-tron GT in flagship RS format has the more potent electronically-affected powertrain note and, as synthetic noises go, it’s not too bad. Yet if you’re expecting rolling thunder? Erm, no.

 From 20 metres away the predominant noise carrying across is the slap of fat high-performance rubber digging into damp tarmac – though not to the point in traction loss; Quattros aren’t easy to wheelspin, and this car has massively fat feet, the RS rears being 305-aspects.

Aside from that, perhaps some wind rush around, over and under the body. But nothing from the power plant. Is a big soundtrack important at this moment?

 One other factor hugely impresses. Mine was the first run. With just an hour to undertake this exercise, Audi has laid on two cars so that everyone in our sizeable group has a chance to experience the sensation of smashing down the Kerikeri strip.

Each car guns this max attack repeatedly. Let’s say eight tilts apiece. In a petrol model, that’s be enough to raise serious heat; potentially enough to turn engine covers, if not bonnets, into hot plates. Ditto from the brakes.

But here, there is nothing untoward. No trademark hot metal ‘ticking’ whatsoever. Even the alloys seem unblemished by brake dust.

If the e-tron GT is un-RS-like, it’s also rather un-e-tron-like as well.

After six years in the market, the past three in wholly battery-fed formats, we’ve come to understand that this badge stands for ‘all-electric’ in the Audi family.

But that badge is about all the GT has in common with the SUV siblings we’ve known. Otherwise it’s so much more … well, ‘epic.’

At this juncture, let’s head off the obvious question. The answer is …” I honestly don’t know.”

I’ve not driven the Tesla Model S that’s a potential rival. From a layman’s perspective, the Audi is surely sportier. I mean, the shape alone says as much.

I also have not experienced the product with which the GT shares more than a little with. Porsche’s Taycan is also based on the VW Group J1 platform and shares much of the same drive tech even if they look very different from the outside. Brand politics demand that the most potent Porsche version is even gruntier and faster. But it also costs the fat end of another $100k over the Audi whose own pricetags are already rather, ahem, rather premium.

 What I can say is that, of all the electric cars I’ve driven I’ve not experienced any as energetic as this. In this sprint exercise, it’s also the most intense RS I’ve steered as well.

That brain-smashing step-off isn’t all that makes it different to every other RS in New Zealand circulation, of course.

RS has never been electric previously. Whether that makes it ‘different good’ or ‘different bad’ will depend so much on your mindset. But put it this way. Audi understood it had to make a strong impression with this car, not least in the flagship format. The dish they’ve presented for tasting is certainly not undercooked. 

The airport rush was the final phase of our experience. It all began the previous afternoon, with road driving; around 200kms of Northland byways. How much would the need to account, and quite properly, for other traffic and road regulations, hamper its spirit?

Due to a navigational blue, the car I shared with a colleague ended up at the back of the field, with the tail car right behind. An RS6 driven by a person who I know to be an experienced and highly competent race car driver.

We got to Mangamuka Gorge. By now, my driving partner – also a bloke significant motorsport background - was at the wheel. By the first corner, we’d gained a couple of car lengths. By the second, that distance doubled. By the sixth … well, we were alone.

This wasn’t about going fast, more a demonstration of how well an electric car with huge grip and traction can outwit a like-imbued petrol one at significant, but not outright silly, pace. 

In saying that, the one challenge with the GT is working exactly how hard it can be pushed. We found out just the once; the road was wet and, as it transpired, the climbing right hand apex attacked with great enthusiasm was slippery. Moreso than it looked. The sudden sideways’ shift was brutal enough to remind even a car this good cannot beat physics.

Then again, two factors worth considering. One; this was the only scary moment over the entire launch. Two: The one that ‘almost got away’ wasn’t the RS but the entry car, which Audi NZ is calling a ‘quattro’ (elsewhere it’s simply a GT). Anyway, the $194,500 entry choice.

 Logically, that means it’s the one that’s less feral. Certainly, every figure presented for either model shows there’s significant difference. The base has 350kW, rising to 390kW in boost mode and 630Nm torque. The RS pumps 440kW/490kW and 800Nm. 

Every timing device also affirms the RS as being the ballsier proposition: In Boost mode, the GT will get from a standstill to 100kmh in 4.1 seconds, which means it’s eating RS electrons, given the latter smashes that distance in 3.3s. Officially, 0-200kmh in a GT will take 15.5s. Which must seem pedestrian compared to the RS. Hence why, I assume, no GTs were flung down the runway.

And, yet, in isolation, the GT in its own right is seriously underestimated if you consider it as the label says it is: a ‘Grand Tourer.’ As much as there’s a lot to warrant why the RS costs another $79k over the ‘base’ product, the reality is that, in terms of talent and tempestuousness, the ‘lesser’ car is still a great.

If anything, too, it is perhaps the more flexible package. The RS is overtly muscular and never allows you to forget it, whereas the GT has a broader personality – it can play the role of long-distance cruiser one minute and seriously engaging sports car the next. It's a truly special creation. It doesn’t surprise, therefore, that sales split of the 60 cars so far signed up for NZ life is exactly 50-50. Whichever way you go, you still win, really.

However it presents, you’re buying a car that looks … well, downright stunning. As much as the adoption of Audi's existing design language means there's nothing truly alien about the shape, it is a hugely attractive car. I particularly like the rear view, where the width is emphasised by an LED light bar joining detailed rear lamps.

It’s a seriously wide and low-slung car; not quite so ground-hugging as to be utterly awkward to get in and out of, but you do tend to test your footing on egress to ensure a decorous exit.

Being electric does, of course, influence the cabin’s design. The GT's battery, is of course located under the car's floor between the wheels, though it has been shaped to allow for more rear foot room (nice idea, though the low roof and modest glass makes for a cosy feel cabin in which rear headroom is headroom is a little tight for the tall). Notwithstanding, Audi NZ is keeping sweet with potential family users by taking the GT as a full five-seater, albeit delivering with sport seats up front enforces the ‘driver first’ ideal. In either model the driver’s chair is 18-way electric. You can have seats finished in leather or covered by a high percentage of recycled material.

Some will doubtless wonder if the cockpit is perhaps a little too like the rest of the Audi range. It does get a few unique bits and pieces, and the shape of the dashboard is not found elsewhere in the line-up, but really other than the e-tron specific drive selector, there's nothing here to alienate people coming from other Audi models. Personally, I was relieved.

Under the electrically lifted rear hatch there's a useful 405-litre boot, with a small cubby under it that should take a charging cable. The total luggage capacity is augmented by a further space under the bonnet up front, which holds 81 litres. The rear seat backs splits and folds down, too, to allow for carrying longer loads.

Included as standard are touchscreen navigation, front and rear parking sensors, heated front seats, smartphone mirroring, three-zone climate control, electric folding door mirrors and a glass roof. The RS adds a styling package, fancier ambient lighting, matrix LED headlights with Audi’s laser light tech, a more banging sound system and sits on bigger rims, but mainly the premium is buying performance-enhancing gear. The RS not only has a trick rear differential but also the all-wheel steering, optional on the quattro. This tightens the turning circle by 60cm at low speeds. At high pace, the rear wheels swivel (slightly) in tune with the fronts, to tighten the handling.

Standard brakes are steel discs on the ‘quattro’ and tungsten carbide on the RS. Not fancy enough? Audi ultimately options the ceramic types Porsche favours. The tungsten carbides are pretty decent, being 10 times harder than steel, are more corrosion resistant, and produce 90 percent less brake dust.

The electric-specific side comprises a pair of electric motors running a two-speed transmission.

The 800V architecture means charging at up to 270kW is possible, which in theory means 100km of range in just five minutes, or an 80 percent top up in less than 23 minutes. When drawing off a DC hypercharger. Audi includes a hyped-up home charger set-up, too, and you’ll need it. Forget your home domestic plug. It’s distainful of that.

BTW, as on the Taycan, the GT has a charging port on each flank, though only the passenger side can take DC or AC charging. The quattro will run 487km and the RS 472km according to WLTP range judgement. Not on our watch, of course.

The operability is utterly ‘e’-easy.  Push the brake pedal and pull back on that selector to move into D and away you go.

In its default Comfort setting, there's a touch of synthesised 'engine' sound, but it's mostly just quiet and it lives up to the title, with decent bump suppression.

Select the Dynamic driving mode and the car firm up noticeably; moreso in the RS than the ‘quattro.’ Neither is outright rigid on the road, but the RS can get busy . The pay-off is solid body control. In either format, though, the GT feels tied down, stable and responsive. Yes, you can feel the weight – and it’s not insignificant (a quattro clocks 2350kg, the RS 2420) – and but it doesn’t feel podgy.

Is there delicacy? With the steering, yes. That superb chunky steering wheel is connected to a highly communicative system, direct and with no slop or nervousness in its responses. Quattro with electric delivers ability to 'torque vector' to assist with accelerating out of corners. Keep your foot down exiting a bend and you can actively feel it altering the level of torque to the front and back wheels. Dynamic mode favours the rear axle more, making for a rear-led sensation.

While family members and mates will very soon tire of those demonstrations of off-line shove – and assuredly they will, it’s literally sickening – they might always be captivated by how this car accrues speed when on the move, not least when it’s overtaking: Hoofing it on the move is another ‘hang on tight’ moment; the car zaps away as though it has just been electrocuted. It’s just so effortless you could quite validly argue there’s really no need to buy into the extra oomph of the RS model. Until, well, you try the RS model….

New Zealand is the world’s No.1 RS market by percentage and that fanbase has been put on notice by a first-tilt electric that happens to be the highest-powered production Audi ever.

Audi seems genuinely excited about the e-tron GT as a car, not because it’s electric. I can now understand why.

Even without a strident soundtrack, it’s a big noise event.