LF Says: ★★★★
The automotive landscape is changing rapidly, but the continuous rise of SUV is only gaining stronger momentum with every passing day. SUVs continue to rule sales charts and a lot of that is due to the incredible engineering that goes into them. Till some time back, sports cars were thought to be quick, entertaining driver’s cars, which were made to go quickly without much regard for practicality. Now, the car buyer wants all that, but within the appealing canvas of an SUV.
Add in new epicentres of wealth sprouting all over the world and the genre of performance SUVs has taken off in a big way. A lot of that credit must be bestowed upon the Lamborghini Urus. It started the 'super SUV' phenomenon, and its recent Urus Performante iteration takes things to an altogether new level.
The new Lamborghini Urus is further dipped into the brand values of this revered supercar maker. Lamborghini makes raucous and sharp performance cars, and the same feeling has been grafted in the Performante. This moniker is used for the hardcore Lamborghini where weight is stripped out and more power is squeezed from the powertrain.
With the Urus Performante, the 4.4 litre twin turbo V8 now makes a stratospheric 666 bhp. Coupled with 47 kgs of weight saving and this SUV flies to 100 km/h in just 3.3 seconds – figures you would normally associate with a supercar.
However, the Urus Performante goes beyond that with a sense of aggression dialled in with its unique driving experience. The steering chats with you with direct feedback as you are kept aware of minute direction changes with a sense of connection normally reserved for a nimble sports car. A lightweight titanium Akrapovic sports exhaust as standard gives you a sharp V8 soundtrack with a rich baritone and it goes harder as you further dig deeper within its dynamic limits.
"…it is a practical SUV on one hand, and a sharp suited supercar on the other."
It is eager, the Urus Performante, and the engine feels even sharper than before – which is unreal if you have ever driven the earlier Urus. Lamborghini has also given the Performante a stiffer chassis and suspension which further unlocks its supercar persona. It feels angrier, edgier and drives like any Lamborghini supercar, but for the fact that you are cocooned within an SUV silhouette. Flick through the Anima switches and there sits a new Rally mode which tunes the car to handle dirt surfaces with ease. Yes, a Lamborghini that you can enjoy regardless of any surface.
That, in many ways, is the highlight of the Urus Performante since it is a practical SUV on one hand, and a sharp suited supercar on the other. The exterior is drowned in carbon fibre with a special set of performance enhancing tyres – again normally seen on some low-slung track supercar.
In a way, the unique concoction of infusing these elements in an SUV is what ultimately separates the Urus Performante from any other super SUV. Here, Lamborghini has gone the whole hog in terms of providing pure and distilled supercar theatrics, but without the needless drama of stopping at every speed-breaker or only driving it on pebble smooth roads. It is about performance – anywhere and everywhere.
LF Says: ★★★★
