Driving report: Lamborghini Urus Performante
It gets even wilder
Lamborghini Urus Performante
© press-inform – the press office
The Lamborghini Urus is the ultimate performance SUV. With the addition of Performante, it now becomes a limitless fun machine.
The suffix makes a lot: Performante. You don’t have to know Italian to derive the word performance from it. And that means more power in a sports car. And there’s no question that the Urus Performante has power. But 666 hp are just 16 hp more than in the previous Urus. A performance explosion looks different, especially since the engine itself and its characteristics are essentially unchanged. As before, the 4.0-liter V8 biturbo unit also provides exactly 850 Newton meters of torque. The evolution can definitely not be identified on the engine.
So where then? By weight? It is also a popular variable for more performance among sports cars. Here you get a little closer. Sure, the Lamborghini SUV is not a lightweight. The 2,150 kilograms of the Urus Performante are not really small, but at least 47 kilograms less than originally. But the Lamborghini people had to work really hard for this tight hundredweight. Removing seats, painting the infotainment system or leaving out insulating material were not options. After all, the custom fulfills the role of the daily lambo, which is also used to travel or to transport the family. So a more subtle approach had to be taken. The expensive use of carbon still brought 7.3 kilograms, the fat, at least 22-inch forged wheels another 6.3 kilograms. And even with the materials in the interior, five kilos could be gotten out. The largest single item, however, is the exhaust system. The expensive version in titanium alone brings more than ten kilograms. All in all, this improves the value for the power-to-weight ratio from 3.4 to 3.2 kilograms per hp.
Even at this point, the whole thing still sounds like number games from techies. So there is still a look at the list of equipment, which is dominated by one point: the steel spring chassis. It is used instead of the air suspension, which is usually celebrated as the non-plus-ultra in chassis construction. It offers more comfort, allows a wider range of damping settings and also allows you to change the height. The stiff steel springs of the Performante make nothing of the sort possible and inherently lower the Urus by two centimetres. Technically speaking, they are a step backwards, but they also have a huge advantage: the feedback to the driver is much more direct, spontaneous and precise – which is also the reason why top sports cars avoid air suspension systems.
The effect in the Urus Performante is amazing. Of course, this also contributes to the fact that all relevant systems such as dampers, roll stabilization and steering have been adjusted accordingly. The Urus, already the benchmark among performance SUVs, is a performer that makes driving even more fun. It demands more of the driver, eliminates unsportsmanlike understeer and gives the driver the feeling of being in control. “Driving fun is a value that is important to us,” explains Rouven Mohr, Lamborghini’s chief engineer: “It can’t necessarily be measured in numbers. You can design cars that allow pros to set super-fast lap times, but overwhelm standard customers and make them feel like they’re not fast. That doesn’t make them happy.” That’s why Lamborghini prefers to pursue a different strategy. “Numerical values are secondary; what counts for us is the emotionality of driving,” adds Mohr.
In fact, numbers on the Urus Performante seem irrelevant – especially when compared to the original Urus. From zero to 100 km/h in 3.3 instead of 3.6 seconds, okay. The top speed is practically identical at 306 km/h. And yet it drives noticeably differently and pushes the limit upwards. It’s fun on the race track, but the surprise is perfect on unpaved roads. He digs wildly drifting through the gravel and puts a big grin on the driver’s face, who soon thinks he’s a rally star. The real star, however, is the newly introduced rally mode, which turns the heavy SUV into a controllable rear-wheel drive that prefers to drive across curves rather than lengthwise. Sports drivers know: It’s fun, but not necessarily fast – so it can’t be measured in numbers.
Other numbers, on the other hand, are already measurable. Namely the price. A 650 hp Urus previously cost 216,000 euros. The 666 hp Urus Performante costs 260,000 euros. A lot of extra charge for upgrading to steel springs, a rally mode, a little less weight and a slightly more muscular look with a new rear wing and more visible carbon. To complicate matters, Lamborghini dropped the old Urus and replaced it with the Urus S. Its looks are also refreshed, if not as expressive, but most importantly its engine also produces 666 hp. The whole thing is “already” available for 232,690 euros. And suddenly numbers play a role again.