Lamborghini Urus | Review

22 January 2022 Redazione News, Tested, Your Cars

LAMBORGHINI URUS

Words Christian Parodi / Photos Lamborghini Media

After the time spent at the wheel of the Huracán you will have noticed we did not dwell much on the production made in Sant’Agata Bolognese. Know that it was not a deliberate choice – not on our part at least – but probably ‘cause on the second floor of the raging bull HQ they are not interested in the quality of our pages and will not have deepened the visibility we can offer, preferring the sympathy of other channels, maybe due to the fact that at least they say what they wanna hear the most. At the base of our work there has always been honesty and since we’re not an Instagram page, if we have to say something about a car we rely only on those factors that make it or not a product that deserves not only the attention of our readers, but also their money. Especially in cases like this where it’s not about a pocket of videogame coins. With this necessary premise, in an afternoon like many others, a dear friend of mine offers me the opportunity to get on board his new Lamborghini and, due to professional deformation, I immediately make sure not to miss the opportunity and take advantage of the few hours at my disposal in order to understand if the Urus is worth our and your attentions. Too late my friend, it almost seems he wants to bite his tongue, but I already hold the key in my hand and as I close the door and promise to come back before running out of petrol.

Introduced in 2017, the Urus looks a bit like the first super-SUV in history, but at least as far as the timeline of the brand concerns, we cannot forget the mammoth LM002, produced by Lamborghini between 1986 and 1993. Of course, it was more of an off-road vehicle for extreme conditions, with military use in its sights and light years away from the careful study that led the bull to expand its factory, offering numerous new jobs and creating a car that promises to be as effective on dirt as it is on velvet-like tarmac. The Urus does not hide the fact that it was born from the floor of the Audi Q7, thus making use of a structure and a starting point of absolute value. But from a car that requires over two hundred thousand euro, you might not expect a mere evolution of a pre-existing and much cheaper model, but a real new way of understanding and enhancing driving moments.

Lamborghini has always been a brand that throughout its history has always thrown compromises in the garbage. Ferruccio’s own vision has never focused its energies on politically correct, but rather on what true thrill-seekers are looking for in a car. And if just before 2020 the automotive world was looking for performance SUVs, why not give them the king of the jungle? Very little has passed from being a concept to reality and so, based on a Q7 and with lines and edges borrowed from both the Huracán and the Aventador, the Urus arrives with all the arrogance that distinguishes it. This is what goes through my mind as I lift the inevitable aeronautical-style flap and bring the 4-liter twin-turbo V8 to life. From this moment we start to speak with our soul (which aptly translates to “anima).

Despite the smaller dimensions compared to the engines that we find in the rest of the lineup, this 8-cylinder is not only able to mutter idling and scream like a possessed maniac when going hard on the throttle, but it is also capable of moving the almost 2 and a half tons through the busy streets of Nice, in a mixture of comfort and excitement due to the fact that these edges certainly do not pass unnoticed. The delicacy is not really its strong point, but that is precisely how it should be. It is necessary to shout to the four corners of the globe that you are aboard an SUV that takes every concept to the extreme – from design to performance – and that leaves no room for half measures or the aforementioned compromises. Finally the road opens up and pointing towards the Var valley, I act on the ANIMA, that is the special selector that allows you to intervene on the car settings and set the response of throttle, gearbox, steering, suspension and exhaust sound in order to make the Urus more prone to off-road use, or more devoted to pure performance. In Sport (favoring rear traction) or even Corsa (traction controls are turned off) seems like being on the last day of the year again. The V8 takes a fraction of a second to go from one town to another and I soon forget those details that, at least when the world outside the window moves frantically, do not matter at all. The gearbox is a torque converter, not a double clutch, and although this can make you turn up your nose, looks like a plus when you discover that the Urus is really good on dirt roads too. This granted the fact you’ll really want to take 230,000 euro for a drive among sharp rocks.

It does not matter if 90% of what you touch in the cockpit is literally borrowed from any Audi, maybe just varying the fonts and playing on the symbolic pattern repeated with insistence even in the optical groups. I also forget an excessively massive front and a too plastic-like rear, because what the Urus excels at is offering the feeling of being behind the wheel of a real supercar. If the SUV nature remains at least in terms of weight and understeer providentially granted by an all-wheel drive and adaptive air suspension with electronically controlled shock absorbers that avoid pure disaster at the first turn, the 650 horsepower and the enormous torque of 850 Nm are the figures loading this weapon of road destruction. The carbon ceramic brake discs are colossal as well: 440 mm at the front and 370 mm at the back. What makes it so damn destructive is a supernatural set-up capable of tracing the lines I had imagined in my mind, thus creating an almost spiritual dialogue with a gigantic SUV that at first glance I would never have believed capable of moving with such agility.

The hours at my disposal run fast as the kilometers devoured by the pointed mouth of the least Lambo on the list today, confirming that if you can digest a look taken to the extreme, you will have something that on a winding road even manages to overshadow the same Aventador. While I return to a friend who is now seriously thoughtful, I realize that where the more traditional sports cars of the Sant’Agata bull are undoubtedly exciting to drive, they have as their limit the fact that once the competition is playing, the gap in terms of driving involvement suffers because of an obsolete powertrain/gearbox duo, something that neither on track nor on the road is able to keep the levels of the various Ferrari, McLaren or Porsche and the awareness that at least that slice of connoisseurs customers is not necessarily willing to base its investment on Lambo’s poster look.

Instead, what the Urus manages to accomplish is precisely the fact of excelling in what it represents: a super-SUV, proving to be able to exploit its Audi DNA when used it in everyday commutes with 4-seats and a decent luggage compartment, but sharpening its claws when it’s time to justify the pissed-off bull up front. I turn off the engine and sit still for a few moments in the driver’s seat, imagining what a car like this would deserve, where I would have taken it if only I looked more kind to the current Lamborghini press office and how much fun I had without paying attention to those useless details that when you take just 3.6 seconds to shoot up to 100 per hour leave room for simple and primordial emotions. This despite the fact that the steering is soft, precisely because Lamborghini’s intention with the Urus was to offer a Lambo even for those who do not necessarily live for the zero to infinite kph you have at disposal exactly where needed. If aesthetics prevails over your personal tastes – and in my opinion the most successful part is precisely the side profile – good looking or awkward, Lamborghini pulled a nice surprise out of its horned cylinder.

LAMBORGHINI URUS

Engine V8 cylinder Twin-Turbo, 3.996 cc Power 650 hp @ 6.000 rpm Torque 850 Nm @ 2.250 rpm

Traction All-Wheel-Drive Transmission 8-Speed Automatic Gearbox Weight 2.275 kg

0-100 kph 3,6 sec Top Speed 305 kph Price from €229.085

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