The Bull with a Brain
Does Lamborghini’s newfangled electronic system help you tame The Bull? We drove the latest Huracan Evo to find out!
Sant’ Agata has been busy
Before the inevitable hybrid revolution, Lamborghini is undergoing an evolution, chiefly with the evergreen Huracan model which has over the years been sold in varying levels of modernization, grip and downforce to continue hooking customers over the last six years. This latest, perhaps greatest, is the Huracan Evo.
How is it different to the Performante?
By deleting the rear wing and the ingenious ALA asymmetric downforce it produced, the Huracan EVO can be compared to Porsche’s own GT3 Touring model. Lambo’s understudy to the Performante is otherwise fully intact with the same engine and the same power but without all the garish garnish. Subtle? Not even in matte silver could we criticize the Evo for being anything but jaw-dropping but now it looks like it belongs on the roads around a county rather than on the Nurburgring, which is where they all end up gathering anyway in a game of Top Trumps.
Nothing boring about the engine
Power alone does not make an engine an immediate benchmark. If that were the case this would be behind McLaren’s and Ferrari’s own V8. What it does do rather cunningly is escape the tightening noose of downsizing and turbocharging to remain the beguiling antithesis that will no doubt cement its place among the holy grail of mid-mounted engines.
This V10 is the scintillating culmination of German engineering and Italian theatrics, able to entertain on the spot. Audi offers the same engine in the R8 but in the Huracan Evo the extra layer of drama is evident in the loud exhaust crackles and pops which are accompanied by the driver’s own yelps and giggles mixed with uncontained swearing.
I don’t think I’ve ever felt as enthralled by an engine as I am with this; as if a little piece of its soul is surgically fused to the stem of my brain.
The V10’s cerebral soundtrack throwing everything it has at the 8,500rpm limiter is usually an experience kept aside for the world’s top racing drivers but here I am, an ordinary driver, testing the braveness of my right foot and soon discovering that the all-wheel-drive system is largely imperious. It’s a cinematic alchemy of power that transforms and sweetens the harder you drive it; You give and it returns the favors and if you’re lazy for whatever reason there’s another uncompromising side that will force you to shift down a couple of gears that wouldn’t be necessary in a turbocharged supercar. In the Evo, every meter of speed requires a perfect symphony of throttle, brakes and gearbox.
This Evo has a large electronic brain
Supercars equipped with a plethora of sensors form a responsibility towards driver safety as well as for extracting profound cornering speeds on sub-optimal road surfaces. The Evo debuts a system called LDVI. Information from the all-wheel-drive system pours in, LDVI then analyses the data, adds feedback from the driver’s input and within 0.2 milliseconds sends out the answer via the car’s torque vectoring and traction control system.
The driver can modify where these parameters are set – all the way down to being a spikey two-wheel-drive drift mode we wouldn’t suggest disclosing to your insurance company.
Truth is, even Sport mode will have you sweating adrenaline on the right piece of road. It’s only because my co-driver was glancing at the torque vectoring screen that afterward, he alerted me to how much often my heroic actions were being enhanced and molded into a few extra kilometers per hour. These systems could never nip and tuck so silently unless they were supported by a chassis so astoundingly good at enveloping the driver at the center of every decision.
The doors don’t open upwards
That’s strictly the Aventador’s party piece. Ingress to the Huracan is simple in supercar parlance and you’ll be pleased to know it’s not going to bruise and rattle you to death or make any parking maneuver a butt-clenching bit of guesswork. Comfortable seats luxuriate the best of a small cockpit with a new digital screen that effectively uses the space between them.
The screen runs a Lamborghini veneer but no doubt has elements of uniform VAG software underneath. Elsewhere Lamborghini adds its own identity in the start button as well as referring to modes like Normal Sport and Sport Plus as Strada, Sport and Corsa. The indicators and windscreen wipers buttons sit on the face of the steering wheel (to allow for very long gearshift paddles) while a row toggle switches operate the ESC and windows.
From this point on Lamborghini will not be allowed to foist their famously cheap interiors or unintuitive switchgear upon its exclusive clients because as it turns out, they have what it takes to be up there, competing with McLaren in terms of quality and user experience.
Verdict
On paper, the Huracan is one of the oldest supercars of the bunch. It should be slow, frightening to drive on a narrow road and balk at the mention of Android Auto. These changes on the Evo should in no way deliver such a vast upgrade, yet they have shaven years off the Huracan nameplate. Take your time Lamborghini, no need to rush the successor especially if it’s going to affect its spine-chilling source of power. JP