Ashish Jha 
I’m not sure who needs to know this, but I will say this anyway. I was heartbroken when Lamborghini decided to make an SUV which eventually went on sale in late 2017-early 2018 with a rather distinct name – Urus. I wasn’t ready for one of my favourite supercar makers to submit defeat to the SUV frenzy building up around the globe. I was not ready for it to go from making road-hugging, crazy-looking, power-puking supercars to producing tall, wayward, pointless people carriers. It’d be an uninspiring thing to do, and I was confident that an Italian brand as mental as Lamborghini wouldn’t ever give up its racing boots for Wellingtons. But it did – not for Wellingtons, but for a very different type of racing boots.
I’m sure you know that the Urus isn’t Lamborghini’s first SUV. It was the LM002 – a project that evolved from a failed pitch to US defence into a completely over-the-top civilian off-road machine. That effort; that machine – that’s 100% Lamborghini because it’s silly and amazing. The LM002 should’ve been classified not as an SUV but more as an OUV – an outlandish utility vehicle. It was a total departure from the supercars in Lamborghini’s portfolio. But it shared one very important thing with its supercar siblings – the strain of DNA that gives Lambo its craziness.
The Urus not only has that DNA, but it has also more of it than even the LM002.
And no matter how much I dislike the thought of Lambo making noises in the super-SUV category, the fact of the matter is that the Urus drives over 50% of the brand’s sales which gives it enough money to keep producing the supercars that we all lust over.
Now, why do I say that the Urus has more of that craziness DNA? That’s because the LM002 was designed to be a massively imposing V12 monster of a truck that could comfortably go into the rough and come out unconcerned. You expect an SUV or an off-road vehicle to do exactly that. But with an SUV like the Urus, things are different. So different, in fact, that if I were to take my Physics professor in for a spin on a racetrack in the Urus, he’d have to rethink his education.
Building an SUV that can decimate even some sports cars on racetracks is mind-bendingly amazing if you think about it from an engineering perspective. That’s what the Urus was designed to do. And the Performante – which is this variant of the Urus – is designed to do that to an even greater extent!
Design
The Urus is a radical take – in typical Lamborghini fashion – on the established SUV norms of design. It’s an instantly recognizable shape. There are sharp lines everywhere and I don’t have to go on explaining the design features of this thing – even Lambo itself doesn’t bother with that kind of stuff!
But where the Performante is different from the regular Urus is in the details that give it the nameplate-justifying credentials. It’s been given a heavy dose of carbon fibre.
The front bumper is carbon fibre; the bonnet including the air outlet is carbon fibre; carbon fibre roof and wheel arch trims are carbon fibre. The fins at the end of the rear spoiler, lower rear bumper, and diffuser; all are carbon fibre. So, yeah, there’s a lot of this expensive stuff on this thing.
While the Urus Performante is still a big SUV, it tries to manipulate and cheat the air in very interesting ways. The curtains at the front direct air over the front wheels. The bonnet’s air outlet contributes to aero efficiency.
There are two spoilers at the back – together they give the Performante a 38% advantage in rear downforce. And the top-mounted spoiler with fins at its ends is inspired by the one on Aventador SVJ – pretty cool!
Interior
Inside, it’s a similarly crazy world. There’s a sea of black, as you’d expect, and it’s got carbon fibre and Alcantara splashed all over, with a bit of leather here and there. The quality levels are fantastic and this interior, while rather hectic looking, is superb.
The seats are just right – fabulously contoured and they grip in a manner fitting of high-performance sports cars. Which is appropriate as the Urus is precisely that, and a bit more. There’s enough space for two more people in the back. This means it’ll be a pretty shouty companionship when you dig the right foot in.
There is, pretty obviously, a touch screen — it works through haptic feedback, so you really have to press it a bit to navigate through the menus, and it feels amazing really. It gives you a slight vibration on the fingertips and just feels different and special. When going through the options, you’ll realise that Lamborghini hasn’t lost its childishness.
Driving
In the vehicle drive mode selection, there’s the regular list of modes — Strada, Sport, and Corsa; and then it gets an additional mode called Rally — we’ll get into this in just a bit. But the thing that I’m most amused by is another mode called Ego — it allows you to set the traction, handling and ride according to your preference, which you can also do with these buttons below this stalk labelled Ego. Other manufacturers call such an option ’Individual’ or ‘Custom’. Not Lamborghini. They’re like, it’s an ego massage and we’ll call it Ego. Brilliant, kickass and juvenile in the most amazing way!
The engine. Lamborghini has had a great legacy of building howling V10s and V12s. But the Urus doesn’t get any of those formats. Its source of power is a 4-litre, twin-turbo V8 sourced from Audi and modified enough to become the monstrous personality that does justice to the Lamborghini narrative. It’s got the number of the devil emanating from its heart – 666; that’s 666 PS of power. And this, I am sure, is no freak coincidence.
When Lambo can name one of its most iconic cars Diablo – the devil himself – then it’s no big deal for it to chase the devil’s number for this version of the Urus. It’s only about 16 more than the standard version which makes 650 PS, and the torque figure of both is the same 850Nm; so… there you go, more proof that it was perhaps an intentional chase to get to the devil’s number of 666.
The Performante weighs almost 50 kilograms lighter – 47kg to be precise – than the standard Urus but it’s the sheer force of the engine that defines this car, and it’s totally crazy to feel how all that power is delivered through the differentials onto the road. The Perfomante also gets new steel springs that have lowered the chassis by 20mm, and its track is wider by 16mm. You may think these are small numbers but when pushing this heavyweight of an SUV in the right setting – under full attack on a track that is – it’ll surely be the high point because of the handling advantage.
This thing has rear-wheel steering and gets a new torque vectoring differential that manages the torque distribution by increasing the ratios in drive as well as coasting scenarios. While all this helps this SUV in fancy city spots and manoeuvrability is surely benefitted, the real magic of rear-wheel steering and torque vectoring is for when giving it the beans.
The steering and braking are big highlights. There’s a sense of urgency in the way this thing steers without being fidgety. There are several fast-steering racks which are way too sensitive and can get tricky to manage, but the Performante gets a very responsive yet linear steering to manage any nervousness. And the brakes are sensational – carbon discs all around; the fronts are gripped by aluminium 10-piston callipers and the rear gets a cast-iron single-piston floating unit.
Unfortunately, we don’t have access to a racetrack. We’re on public roads and that has its limitations – we’ve not gone anywhere near the limit of the Performante’s handling capacity even when hooning a bit before the cameras started rolling. But the knowledge that the dynamic limit is much, much beyond that level is very satisfying and I really can’t wait to get the chance to unleash this thing on a great technical racetrack with a couple of fair straights thrown into the mix just so I can have the pleasure of hearing this glorious engine at its maximum revs.
Tyres: Pirelli developed the P Zero Trofeo R specifically for the Performante, and the grip on the tarmac is sensational. But I have a bit of a reservation…
As I said before, the Performante gets the standard list of drive modes – Strada which is the street mode and is more for getting about comfortably; then is Sport which dials up the excitement level of every parameter a bit – and that’s what we’ve been driving the Performante in for the most part. But in Corsa or Race mode, things get a bit serious. The performance map is altered to angry levels. The anti-roll bars get dialled up to maximum damping and the chassis response is angled towards four-wheel sideways action if pushed really, really hard.
But the Performante gets another mode called Rally, and that’s where things get interesting. The roll stabilisation is optimised for gravel-y use and the SUV should encourage you into friendly slides. Too bad that we are restricted to just the Tarmac application today. But what I am most keen to understand is how this would drive through some off-camber sections. Because of its heft, lowered springs and active anti-roll bars, on-camber, it’ll be glued; and hooked 100%, but it’ll be immense fun to see it manage itself in an off-camber section – whether you’d throttle feed it more and manage it on the slide or just get off the throttle and let it gain its natural composure… that’s the trick thing!
Conclusion
Bloody hell. I’m getting lost in dream scenarios! So, back to where we are – here, in a very regular, mostly tarmac setting, driving the Performante at 6-10ths… maybe less! But even then, it’s been lovely – and that’s largely down to that engine.
The raucous, rumbling V8 with a throaty Akrapovic exhaust just makes the smile even broader.
The Urus Performante, or any Urus for that matter, might never get driven as hard as it can. I’ve seen several owners drive them out and about and they only dig deep on the accelerator in a straight line – reducing this thing to a drag racing flaunt item. The Urus can do so much more, and the Performante, even more than that. I’ve got a very slight taste of it, and I can’t wait to have this thing at length in the most appropriate setting.
Now when I think of it, rallycross is where it’ll feel its best! And what a laugh-inducing sight that would be! One day… one day!
