Cars

The Lamborghini Huracán: An all-wheel drive adrenaline delivery system

This car is a raging bull when you want it to be, docile and calm when you don’t.

Jonathan M. Gitlin – Oct 7, 2015 9:00 pm | 121

Credit: Ron Amadeo

Ars Editors take a test drive. Video shot/edited by Jennifer Hahn.

For most of its existence, Lamborghini built wild sports cars with big V12 engines and equally big price tags. In 2003 that changed with the addition of a baby Lamborghini, the V10-powered Gallardo. Cheaper, smaller, and ever-so-slightly more practical than the company’s traditional fare, the Gallardo went on to be Lamborghini’s best-selling model ever, with more than 14,000 leaving the Sant’Agata factory in Italy. The Gallardo platform was also used to good effect by the Audi R8, that company’s take on an everyday supercar (Audi bought Lamborghini in 1998).

The Gallardo got a mid-life refresh in 2007, but since then rivals like Ferrari’s 458 and McLaren’s MP4-12C advanced the art of the mid-engined supercar. The Huracán LP 610-4 is Lamborghini’s response to those cars. It’s still not the wildest machine you can buy from the Italian company (that remains the V12-powered Aventador), but it might be the most technologically advanced car in the range. Tech happens to be something we’re quite enamored with here at Cars Technica, so when Lamborghini contacted us and asked if we might like to spend a few days getting to know the Huracán better, we jumped at the chance.

Design

The car is wedge-shaped in the tradition of some of the best Italian exotica of the past. Penned by Filippo Perini, it’s a shape that works equally well in retina-searing colors as the metallic grey of our test car. That shade, called grigio lynx, gives the Huracán a rather subtle look; you could easily imagine it being Bruce Wayne’s daily driver, for instance. Up front, the LED headlights, hood creases, and the lip of the front spoiler and air intakes combine to give the car a rather angry visage. Behind the doors—which open conventionally—the bodywork suggests muscular haunches as it covers the rear wheels before ending rather abruptly.

The view from above or behind is dominated by the vast glass engine cover and the V10 that lives underneath it. It’s not as elegant an engine bay as the Audi R8 V10 we tested recently, with a few almost agricultural touches that could be an unconscious homage to the firm’s roots building tractors. Under the skin the Huracán is far from agricultural. The chassis is a mix of carbon fiber—resin transfer molding in this case rather than hand-laid prepreg—and aluminum. The new chassis is lighter than the aluminum space frame of the Gallardo and considerably stiffer, Lamborghini tells us.

If there’s one overriding design motif, it’s the hexagon. Six-sided shapes abound, from the (numerous) air intakes and the spokes of alloy wheels to the mesh in the grills. In fact, from the side the car’s profile even looks quite hexagonal. The hexagons continue inside. The pedals have six sides, as do the air vents and the door cubbies, and we lost count at 11 when adding up all of the ones we saw on the steering wheel.

Specs at a glance: 2015 Lamborghini Huracán LP 610-4
Body type	2-door coupe
Layout	Mid engine, all wheel drive
Powerplant	5.2L Naturally Aspirated V10
Transmission	Seven-speed Lamborghini Doppia Frizione 7-speed Dual Clutch Automatic
Horsepower	602 bhp @ 8250 rpm
Torque	413 lb-ft @ 6500 rpm
Steering	Variable ratio electromechanical power steering
Suspension	Aluminum double wishbones front and rear, “MagneRide” electromagnetic dampers
Tires	Pirelli Front: 245/30 R20 Rear: 305/30 R20
Top speed	“more than” 201mph/325km/h
Fuel economy (City/highway/combined)	14 mpg/20 mpg/16 mpg
Weight	3,135 lb (1,422 kg)
Wheelbase	103.1 in (2,620 mm)
Dimensions	175.6 in (4,459 mm) x 75.7 in (1924 mm) x 45.9 in (1165 mm) (LWH)
Base price	$237,250
Price as tested	$282,125
Options added	Navigation System, Carbon-ceramic brakes with red calipers, Rear view camera with parking sensors, MagneRide dampers and lifting system, Forged alloy wheels, Dynamic power steering, Floor mats with leather, Contrast stitching, Electric and heated seats, Bicolore Elegante, Style package, Roof lining and pillars in alcantara, Branding package, Transparent Engine Bonnet with Forged composite panels.

The cabin is a rather extravagant place to spend time, befitting a car from an automaker with Lamborghini’s reputation. The starter button (hexagonal!) is located under a red safety cover, reminiscent of a fighter plane. There are toggle switches to control the windows, the hydraulics that raise the nose to clear speed bumps and ramps, the hazard lights, and to turn off the car’s stability control. Reverse is a lever behind the start button and between the driver and passenger.

Electronics have taken over the displays. In front of the driver is a 12.3-inch (312mm) 1440×540 TFT screen that can be configured in a number of different ways; a giant speedo or rev-counter, a large map, or a combination of both, with ancillary information to either side. Above the toggle switches is another smaller TFT screen that alternately shows the climate control settings (when you fiddle with the dials) or the oil temperature, pressure, and battery voltage (the rest of the time).

The heart of the LP 610-4 is a 5.2L V10 engine, built as before in Gyor, Hungary. But the Huracán’s engine is much developed compared to the outgoing engine of the Gallardo and R8. When you fire it up, and when it’s under high load or up towards the top end of the 8250rpm rev range, it’s a direct injection engine. At lower loads fuel gets squirted into the intake manifold like a conventional engine, and both systems work together in the middle. This helps Lamborghini meet emissions requirements and helps fuel economy. Cylinder deactivation will do the same, and that will be available from model year 2016 cars (this cuts fuel to one of the two cylinder banks when the car is cruising in Strada mode). As you might expect there’s also variable valve timing, and start-stop is coming to the 2016 model year for those who think they’ll spend a lot of time in traffic.

Power and torque are plentiful. The engine makes 602hp (449kW) at 8250rpm and 413lb-ft (560Nm) of torque a little lower down the scale at 6500rpm. This is transmitted to all four wheels via a seven-speed dual clutch gearbox. The gearbox—built by Audi and called Lamborghini Doppia Frizione, which sounds so much more exciting than dual clutch—lives behind the engine, and a prop shaft runs through the engine’s crankcase on its way forward to the front wheels. Torque is distributed to the axles by a multi-plate clutch and controlled electronically. Most often the split is 30:70 front:rear, but up to 50 percent of the engine’s torque can be sent to the front wheels. All 413lb-ft can go to the back if necessary.

Complex electronics also control the suspension. The Lamborghini Inertial Platform, or LPI (expect a different name when it appears in the new R8), uses accelerometers and gyroscopes on each of the car’s three axis so that it always knows how it’s moving relative to the road. The LPI is mounted deep within the car at its center of gravity, and it’s constantly monitoring acceleration and braking as well as yaw, pitch, and roll. This data is used to vary the steering ratio, torque being sent to each axle, and the magnetorheological suspension (if fitted). It also tells the electronic stability control when to cut in. Lamborghini says the Huracán is the first car to be fitted with such a system.

What’s it like to drive?

Once behind the wheel, lift the cover on that button and fire the car into life. Immediately you’re greeted by the car’s most endearing feature (to us at least): the noise it makes. It’s a throaty V10 roar, and it dominates the cabin before settling down to a steady idle.

The seats are comfortable and supportive, and they come with lots of electric adjustment so almost everyone should be able to find a comfortable driving position. While visibility out the front is superb, trying to see behind you is another story. Reversing isn’t too bad thanks to the rear view camera, but the engine cover’s surround reflects into its glass in such a way that you’ll only ever see a sliver of what’s going on behind you from the rear view mirror. Craning your head around to look out the back doesn’t help either thanks to the massive rear wings. Thankfully the side mirrors provide a relatively good view.

The car’s ergonomics are good, with every control you might need within arm’s reach. Surprisingly, there isn’t a multifunction steering wheel, but the turn signals and windscreen wiper controls have migrated to the wheel, presumably because there isn’t room for them to live alongside the massive alloy paddle shifters that are fixed to the steering column. We quickly adapted to using our thumbs to indicate and control the wipers.

On the bottom spoke of the wheel is a red switch for changing the car’s driving mode. There are three flavors; Strada (or street), Sport, and Corsa (track). Left in Strada, the Huracán is remarkably civilized. In auto, the gearbox shuffles around seamlessly and the lightness of the steering belies the size of those 8.5-inch-wide front tires. It’s relatively quiet below 3000 rpm, which is all you really want when driving in town. At highway speeds in 6th or 7th gear, things can get a bit droney though. For mundane trips Strada mode is fine, but if you wanted to be unobtrusive you’d buy a Porsche 911 Turbo. (Nope, Sport mode it is.)

Instantly you notice two things. First, the steering has become much firmer. The Huracán has electric power steering, and our test car was fitted with the optional dynamic steering, which alters the steering ratio so that you can make tight turns in town without having an overly twitchy car when cornering at speed. These systems haven’t always worked so well in the past, but in the Huracán we never noticed a problem. There’s not much feedback from the tires, something all electric steering systems suffer from in comparison to hydraulic power steering, but the advantages to car makers mean we think it’s here to stay.

Second, the car is noticeably louder. There’s much more engine braking available, and when you brake (with the brake pedal) you’re greeted with a marvelous set of pops, crackles, and bangs from the exhaust. The effect was most eloquently described by one young passenger as sounding like firecrackers, and it elicits a childlike glee in those of us with gasoline in our veins. There are also minor emissions benefits to the fusillade of noise, as it’s achieved by slightly overlapping the combustion and exhaust cycles. This burns some fuel (and nitrogen compounds) in the exhaust on the way to the catalytic converter.

We didn’t really explore the car’s behavior in Corsa during our days with the Huracán. We didn’t have time to take it to a track, and we had little desire to bounce it off the scenery, not wanting to be the (soon to be blacklisted) journalist who had to call Lamborghini and tell it the car was now in several pieces. That setting makes the traction and stability control even more permissive and slightly louder than even Sport.

Driving the Huracán is far less intimidating than one might expect. Fire it up, disengage the parking brake, then pull the upshift paddle (the one on the right) and away you go. Ground clearance is low, but ramps and speed bumps are fine as long as you remember to raise the nose up (and then lower it afterward). In Strada or Sport, the seven-speed gearbox will happily shift gears automatically, but you can take control by using the paddles. The magnetorheological suspension is much firmer than BMW’s i8 and maybe even less compliant than the (passive damper-equipped) Audi R8 V10 Plus, but potholes and broken road surfaces won’t rattle your spine.

Once everything is thoroughly warmed up, it’s time to hit the loud pedal and see what happens. Even though the car has more than 600hp, a combination of all-wheel drive and sticky 20″ Pirelli P-Zero tires means that power is handled competently. The Corvette Z06 we drove recently felt much hairier from behind the wheel. There’s more than enough grip for driving on the public roads. In high-speed direction changes—through a fast S-bend for example—you’ll feel a little yaw as the car slips or wiggles slightly, but never more than a degree or two. What you won’t get is much body roll, thanks to LPI working its magic and telling the dampers what they need to do every few milliseconds.

The car piles on speed deceptively fast. You often look at the speed readout and see you’re going 20mph (32km/h) faster than you expected, and it’s possible to reach velocities that would get you locked up even on short stretches of clear road. The engine revs willingly up to the 8250rpm red line, something you want to experience frequently because of the noise and the longitudinal Gs that result. It’s extremely thrilling even if you back off the gas quickly to keep things legal—in fact, this doubles your fun because it means you’re treated to a riot of sound from the exhaust when you do. (For maximum effect, you’ll want to do that going through tunnels or driving down built-up environments with walls to reflect the sound back at you.)

Over the course of four days we gave more than a few passenger rides, since half the fun of supercars like these is sharing them with others. Several people we gave rides to used the word ‘rollercoaster’ to describe the experience. This car is better than a rollercoaster, though, since those don’t sound like the start of the apocalypse. It’s at its best on open, flowing roads and divided highways, where you can (local laws willing) stretch its legs somewhat. Twisty back roads, by contrast, aren’t quite so much fun. There’s so much power on tap that you tend to stay in second or third gear, working in the middle of the rev range so the soundtrack features more loud droning and fewer fireworks than is desirable.

What’s it like to live with?

An unexpected finding was just how civilized the Huracán is when the weather turns bad. We picked the car up in New York and then drove it back to DC after a long day’s filming, timing it just right to encounter a gigantic storm that covered the whole of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Despite torrential rain that meant driving some stretches at 40 mph (64km/h) with our hazard lights on, things never got scary. The Pirellis found grip, the wipers handled the rain, and the screen never misted up. Cruise control—an option not fitted to this car—would have been a welcome addition though. The car’s good manners in the wet were probably helped by the aerodynamic downforce generated by the body and the large diffuser under the rear. Lamborghini tells us that the Huracán makes 50 percent more downforce than the Gallardo, a figure we could well believe. The rain actually let us see some of the aerodynamics at work, as water would stream off the front and then get channeled and swept up past the windows and around the mirrors.

All of that makes the Huracán a rather versatile all-weather ride, one that you could conceivably drive every day if you wanted. That’s not to suggest it’s utterly practical, however. More than one passenger remarked on the lack of an “oh shit” handle. Since one of the purposes of this car is giving passengers a shock of brutal acceleration, it’s a bit of an omission. It’s also not particularly easy to get in and out of, since it’s so low to the ground, and the sun visors are tiny (and feature minuscule mirrors that would let a female passenger check her lipstick or eye liner, but not both).

How many Reviews Editors can you fit in the trunk of a Lamborghini? Watch this short clip to find out. Video shot/edited by Jennifer Hahn.

Storage space in the cabin is very limited, with a small cubby in each door, a small glove box, and another storage compartment between the seats that’s big enough for a cell phone. There aren’t any USB ports, but there is a proprietary connector that came with a USB port on the other end, located in that cubby. Trunk space is a bit of a joke—much smaller than even the Audi R8, although the government-mandated glow-in-the-dark release handle was present and correct.

The infotainment system is called Lamborghini Infotainment System II, a version of Audi’s rather good MMI setup. It’s controlled by a jog wheel on the center console, and other than having to scroll anti-clockwise in menus (which feels unintuitive) it isn’t complicated to use. We ended up streaming audio via Bluetooth and just charging our iPhone with USB, as LIS II would recognize that an iOS device was connected physically but wouldn’t accept audio data that way. There was another cable supplied with the car that had the older Apple 30-pin connector, which we think would have done the trick if we had an iPhone 4S with us instead of a newer device. Navigation was supplied by Google maps, and it never got us lost.

Fuel economy was adequate for a performance car with such a big engine. We averaged just over 16mpg over the course of about 600 miles, which is in line with the EPA number for the Huracán. Things might be a bit better with next year’s model, which benefits from cylinder deactivation, but hard driving will almost certainly see one’s mileage drop into the very low teens or even single digits. Sad to say, that’s not really good enough now that we know the effect climate change is having on the planet, and it’s a far cry from the numbers we saw driving BMW’s hybrid i8 (which is almost as fast in real-world conditions).

All in all, we highly enjoyed our time with the Huracán. It’s best to think of it less as a car and more as a way of controlling the release of adrenaline to your brain with your right foot, an effect mediated via your ears and the seat of your pants. Early morning drives on sunny days with minimal traffic were a better way of waking up than a large Americano with four extra shots of espresso, and we often left the car fizzing with excitement. Whether that justifies the $282,125 purchase price largely depends on the size of your annual bonus. If we’re honest, a BMW i8 at half the price does most of what the Huracán can and quite a lot that it can’t, but we still think the world is a better place for its existence.

Jonathan M. Gitlin Automotive Editor

Jonathan is the Automotive Editor at Ars Technica. He has a BSc and PhD in Pharmacology. In 2014 he decided to indulge his lifelong passion for the car by leaving the National Human Genome Research Institute and launching Ars Technica's automotive coverage. He lives in Washington, DC.

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