Repaired with Rice: Flooded Audi e-tron GT Given Clean Bill of Health
Getting a flooded Audi e-tron GT to start again by using rice is one thing. But can it still do donuts in an empty mall parking lot?
The Audi e-tron GT is an impressive all-electric sports sedan. And even though it undercuts the price of its Porsche Taycan sibling the Audi is not exactly cheap. In fact, the one you see here stickered at $110K. So, even if one is damaged in a flood, you really don’t want to give up on it. It is worth trying everything to get it running and driving again. And that is exactly what YouTuber Rich Benoit from the Rich Rebuilds channel has done. We have shown you previously that he was miraculously able to get the flooded e-tron GT running again by using the old-fashioned rice trick. After submerging the car in thousands of pounds of rice the e-tron GT started and moved under its own power. Truly an impressive result.
However, starting and rolling forward 6 inches is one thing. To prove that the rice trick is truly viable the car has to actually behave like a car. Benoit still paid $56K at auction to get this car. And while that is far less than the original MSRP, it is still a serious chunk of change. And for that kind of money the car still needs to do all the things that an e-tron GT is capable of doing. That means driving at highway speeds, acceleration runs, and most importantly donuts in an empty parking lot. Once that road test is complete it is taken to an Audi dealer for inspection. Is the Audi really free of defects now? Let’s find out.
Clean Up in Aisle Four
The rice may have done an incredible job of absorbing all the moisture from the car. But it also left behind a mess. You know when you open up that container of takeout Chinese food and a few grains of rice always seem to pop out and land in your kitchen? Well, imagine that times about 5,000. And the grains of rice land in every nook and cranny there is. The first job for Benoit and his team is to get rid of all the rice they used. After vacuuming, shaking, and banging the car they finally seem to get all the rice out. Although it would not surprise us if there were still grains found ten years from now.
Road Test and Inspection
After the rice is removed it is time to truly test the car. First up are a couple of launches to see how the car accelerates. It passes that test with flying colors. The e-tron GT takes off as you would expect a 522 horsepower EV to take off. That is nice and all but a little boring. If you buy a car like this, you want to have a little fun with it right? A nearby mall parking lot is the perfect place to have that fun. The Audi has no problem performing a number of smoky burnouts. There are no warning lights to be found and the car seems to be performing just fine. Next up is a trip to the Audi dealer for the formal inspection. And believe it or not the car is given a clean bill of health. There are no error codes or faults found with the car at all. Incredible.
The Power of Rice
So, the Audi e-tron GT that was flooded with ocean water in a hurricane is brought fully back to life in the lowest tech manner possible. Rice. Of course, the car is flagged as totaled and will forever carry a salvage title. So, from a financial standpoint it will never be worth as much as a car with a clean title. But do you care? Benoit sold the car and while we are sure he sold it for more than his initial investment, it probably still sold for far less than a similar clean title car would. Now the new owner has a basically brand-new Audi e-tron GT at a massive savings. And since the car has a clean bill of health that owner should be able to enjoy it for years to come.
Sure, the factory warranty is gone so there is some risk when buying something like this. But in theory this car should be as reliable as any other Audi e-tron GT. And if something does go wrong you just need to dip into the tens of thousands of dollars you saved on the purchase price to get it repaired. Not a bad deal. Rice Rice Baby.
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