Lamborghini Urus : If Overkill Drove an SUV
By William Ratcliff
Are you an overachiever? Do you wake up in the morning and instead of eating cereal, a poptart, or toast, you order gourmet pancakes with a crumpled leaf on top? With a small dabble of syrup precisely in the middle of the pancake? And instead of settling for some typical engine like an economy Toyota V6 or rumbly Chevy V8, you say "No! I need ze European moteur!" And most importantly, do you have $230,000 burning a hole in your pocket?
Well boy do I have the car for you.
Source: Wikipedia
Impractical Specifications
All that might be a tad unfair to this V8-powered Lamborghini SUV. It does very effectively do everything it was set out to do. That is, it's very offroad capable, beautifully styled, spacious and usable, and a gosh-darn Lamborghini SUV.
Following the world trend to sell more cars and compete in every possible market, Lamborghini produced the Urus. Based on the Audi Q7 and Porsche Cayenne platform, it has great handling and chassis performance. It has 4 doors and a trunk and room enough for 5 people. The styling is in the ethos of Lamborghini, taking the sleek design and signature taillight design, but certainly unique to this car. It's very upright, decently large, and very loud.
That's because under the hood is a twin-turbo 4.0L V8 making 657 horsepower and 627 lb-ft of torque. This is combined with a ZF 8-speed automatic transmission and an AWD system. That system sends 40% to the front wheels and 60% to the rear. But in other modes, it's capable of up to 70% in the front or 87% to the rear. It also has air suspension and rear wheel steer! And can sit as high as 9.8 inches off the ground. For stopping power, 10-piston carbon ceramic 440 mm brakes handle the front and single piston 370 mm carbon ceramics in the rear.
Source: MotorTrend
An SUV with Lamborghini Performance
The Lamborghini Urus can take off from a standstill to 62 mph (0-100kmh) in 3.5 seconds [2]. Having seen one accelerate in person, I can tell you it's quite a spectacle. It's large and monstrous looking, and makes crackling V8 exhaust notes.
Available to option is the Performante variant, which removes 104 pounds and adds carbon fiber styling. This drops 0.2 seconds off the 0-62 mph time and adds 10 bragging points. [3] Both variants have a top speed of 190 miles per hour and rev to 6800 rpm. The base "Urus S" weighs in at 2,150 kg (4740 lbs), which is lighter than the Bentley Bentayga and Audi Q7, but not the Porsche Cayenne.
Source: Top Gear
Interior
The interior of this car is luscious and comfortable, designed to match its off-road capabilities with in-car numbness to the world. On the center console is a unique and rocketship style gear level to select the driving modes, between Strada (Street), Sport, Corsa (Track), Sabbia (Sand), Terra (Dirt), and Neve (Snow). If you're taking your $230,000 SUV into the snow, I'm sure you know to pronounce those names.
On the dash is a 12.3 digital cluster, with an infotainment screen next to that, and a climate control and seat control panel. Notably, the seats are 12-way adjustable. So if 3 dimensions aren't enough for you, try 12! And it seems as though Lamborghini doesn't want you to start the car, hiding the push to start button underneath a red clamp next to the cupholders and mode selectors.
Summary
The Lamborghini Urus is designed to show off, just like every car produced by the Italian automaker. Even it's name is a fancy way to say "cattle", named after the ancestors to the modern domestic cow. But it holds its own against the Land Rover, Ford Raptor, and other cars in its absurd class. And in person it's undeniably cool and eye-catching, and fools you into thinking it has two more cylinders like its sports-car ancestors.
[1] Wikipedia - Lamborghini Urus
[3] Lamborghini - Urus Performante
