Road Test: Lamborghini Huracan V10

Lamborghini Huracan V10 tested in South Africa 2015

Is the Lamborghini Huracan the best starting point in Lamborghini’s history or would it be better to first sample the awkward, unforgiving, guttural models of old in order to truly appreciate how far the brand has come? Unfortunately I don’t have a choice…this is my first encounter with the brand but I’m not hung up on the past because the Huracan is at the apex of Lamborghini’s brilliance. Everything the brand has done and improved over the years is intertwined in this car.

First though I must sign my way through two jargon-worded loan agreements; one from Italy and the other from Lamborghini South Africa. Two conditions stand out: no track testing and no comparative testing. Below that it states the car must be back by 17:00 which gives me about ten hours to get to grips with Lamborghini’s most refined and best looking model.

By inheriting a lot of Audi’s DNA, the Lamborghini Huracan comes across as snugly accommodating but there are a few key differences from what you’d find in say, an Audi R8. The indicators and wipers are a small flimsy switch on the wheel and the Start button is hidden behind a red cover. Reverse in engaged by a lever you pull upwards but selecting one of the seven forward gears is all done by enormous paddles behind the wheel. The instrument cluster is completely digital meaning you can customise the stuff you want to see, and how you want it displayed. This will become a feature in future Audis, starting with the TT.

First few kilometres I just breathe in the attention the Huracan gets. People hoot, cameras pop out of open windows. You try wave back but you’re seated too low…besides politeness is replaced by smugness. This car does that to the most humble. I reach for the button that raises the Huracan’s nose at everything that vaguely looks a threat to the bumper and this slow-speed crawl is a perfect opportunity to assess the new dual-clutch transmission – a first for Lamborghini and an overdue replacement for e-Gear. This alone is simply why you must have the Huracan versus the old Gallardo. Other observation is how easily the Lamborghini Huracan fits in any lane – marginally shorter than an Audi A4 and only a touch wider.

Traffic, however good the gearbox and ride is, is no place for this car and besides, there are still two more settings on this steering wheel to make every reaction faster, louder and harder. Strada is the middle setting and boy is it a big leap – bigger than any Stage 2 setting I’ve ever felt. Truthfully as it jams down several gears in the space of a few metres it’s a touch too aggressive for ordinary roads. The engine noise though, that’s worth the jarring and jerking. I switch to Corsa mode, nearly vomit, and turn it off. It’s perhaps the only mode where the Huracan seems as fast as the stats suggest. No really, because it’s a hard-working, high-revving normally aspirated V10 with a predictable power curve, the Lamborghini Huracan is so deceptively fast I have to keep checking the speedo. . In a modern turbo car you know when the fireworks are about to happen but in the Huracan it goes on and on and the speed piles up to the very top.

And yet I’m equally happy to just park it nearby and, along with many others, simply stare at its vents and chiselled body that hint an added touch of class and sophistication. As much as it has evolved there’s still a primal aspect to it and that’s something that Ferrari and McLaren with their clinical designs and new-fangled turbo engines might be losing.

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