2023 Lamborghini Urus Performante Is More of a Track Monster

Arms races inevitably result in the creation of overpowered weapons techniques. That precept additionally applies to high-performance SUVs, such because the Lamborghini Urus Performante. Lamborghini started work on it properly forward of the introduction of the Aston Martin DBX 707 and the announcement of the upcoming Ferrari Purosangue, so the Performante technically is not a response to both. However the turned-up Urus is aimed on the similar crowd: cash-flush consumers who aren’t glad with merely quick and wish to skip straight to quickest.

Whereas the Performante has solely a slight edge over the common Urus in energy output and acceleration, Lamborghini says that round a typical racetrack, this hulking SUV is now faster than the unique Huracán LP610-4 was simply eight years in the past.

Granted, there are some provisos to that declare. Lambo’s chief technical officer, Rouven Mohr, credit a lot of the Performante’s improved efficiency to enhancements in tire expertise—consumers will be capable to possibility this super-ute with ultra-sticky Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R rubber. What’s extra telling: Rohr says that when the Performante and the usual Urus are utilizing the identical tires, the brand new model is three seconds quicker on the demanding 3.9-mile dealing with observe at Porsche’s Nardò proving floor.

We’ll admit {that a} track-biased SUV may sound as ridiculous as a supercar that has been tailored for off-road use (which Lamborghini can even supply, with the introduced Huracán Sterrato). However that appears to be the yardstick by which the makers of those super-SUVs assess themselves and their rivals. A prototype model of the Performante already has set an SUV velocity document on the Pikes Peak Worldwide Hill Climb course, with a time of 10 minutes and 32 seconds, lopping 18 seconds off the earlier benchmark from a Bentley Bentayga. So, this can be a factor. Having pushed the Performante on the Vallelunga circuit close to Rome, we are able to additionally affirm that’s an absolute monster on a street course.

Mechanical enhancements over the common Urus are extra about responses than straight-line velocity. The dual-turbo 4.0-liter V-8 right here produces 657 horsepower, a 16-hp enhance, whereas the torque peak of 627 lb-ft stays unchanged. The engine now exhales by way of a fair raspier sport exhaust, and throttle mapping has been sharpened in all drive modes.

The Performante additionally will get a brand new Torsen middle differential, which might ship extra torque to the rear axle, the place an lively rear differential apportions it aspect to aspect. It sits 0.8 inch nearer to the bottom and ditches the air springs for metal coils, which lose the flexibility to range trip peak however sharpen dealing with. As on the usual Urus, adaptive dampers, an lively anti-roll system, and rear-wheel steering are available, though with extra aggressive software-defined parameters. The eight-speed computerized gearbox has additionally been tweaked to scale back shift instances.

Like its Huracán Performante namesake, the brand new Urus variant has shed weight. A carbon-fiber hood, lighter wheels, and a titanium exhaust are a part of a bundle of revisions which have decreased mass by claimed 104 kilos. On condition that the final Urus we examined weighed 5314 kilos, the Performante remains to be no light-weight. Aerodynamic adjustments courtesy of the revised entrance finish and a brand new liftgate spoiler handle the twofer of decreasing aerodynamic elevate by as much as 38 % whereas reducing drag.

The hugeness of the Performante’s off-the-line acceleration stays probably the most visceral a part of the driving expertise. There’s something otherworldly a couple of automobile so huge that may go so quick, devouring gear ratios in a storm of sound and fury. Extra spectacular is the Performante’s potential to corral its enormous urge within the unlikely setting of a racetrack. The huge carbon-ceramic brakes—17.3-inch discs gripped by 10-piston calipers up entrance—are unchanged from the usual automobile, however cooling has improved. They scrub off velocity with out grievance even throughout multilap stints, radiating the warmth of an opened pizza oven as soon as the automobile returned to the pit lane. And the elective Trofeo R tires generated enormous grip and delivered a degree of dealing with precision wonderful in one thing of this dimension.

Steering feels crisper than within the common Urus, and the Performante is keener to show in. It fights understeer with rear-biased torque supply, and the rear steering is clear in quicker turns. The elemental legal guidelines of physics have been bent quite than damaged—even within the punchiest Strada mode, getting on the gasoline too early may have the entrance finish edging broad. However with self-discipline and belief within the enormous traction, the Performante felt far more agile than something this dimension and form has a proper to.

The much less aggressive Sport mode, which homeowners are extra seemingly to decide on on the road, offers a extra playful character, with extra freedom to affect cornering strains with throttle inputs. The one notable weak spot on the observe was the gearbox, which even underneath full handbook management utilizing the paddles nonetheless lacks the snap and velocity of a dual-clutch transmission.

Lamborghini additionally allowed us to expertise the Performante’s new Rally mode, successfully an off-road drift setting, on a twisty gravel loop. Whereas this was enjoyable, particularly in any person else’s quarter-million-dollar SUV, we winced on the sound of stones flung in opposition to the carbon-fiber wheel-arch and sill protectors. Rally mode requires a considerable throttle enter to start out a slide, and the driving force should hold the pedal stamped so the lively techniques can regulate the yaw angle. Backing off the accelerator—the pure first intuition—brings the traction management again into play and makes the automobile bathroom down.

What was lacking from our drive was the possibility to take the Performante on the road. The trip is undoubtedly firmer than in the usual Urus, whose air springs are supple within the softest Strada mode. However Lamborghini is assured that consumers can be glad to sacrifice compliance for the higher-intensity expertise. The corporate expects the Performante to make up greater than half of Urus gross sales.

Will anyone who buys one truly take it to a observe or an impromptu dirt-road drift session? “Perhaps not so many,” Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann admits when the query is requested, “however they’ll like the concept they will.” And certainly, they will.