After about five years, Lamborghini has revised its best-selling Urus. There’s more power, as well as visual and technical retouches to the powertrain. In addition, the carmaker submits a sporty version called Performante. How is she driving?
Lamborghini has subtly revised its sports SUV Urus and created a new variant that has been optimized in terms of driving dynamics: the Performante. The Urus, which has been boosted to 490 kW/666 hp – previously 650 hp – rolls 2 centimeters lower at the start in this form and is on a 1.6 centimeter wider track. Cost for the further developed offer: exactly 260,000 euros. The normal version is still available as the Urus S, but also slightly modified and with the revised 666 hp engine.
The engineers turned the Urus chassis inside out for the Performante. They replaced the air springs (still in the Urus S) with stiff steel springs and recalibrated the rear axle steering. There is more downforce for use on the track and many CFRP parts have reduced the curb weight by 47 kilograms. Newly developed semislicks from Pirelli should help to keep the all-rounder, which still weighs 2.2 tons, firmly on track.
So we climb in and see the almost lavish use of Alcantara. But today we don’t care about the interior design including infotainment overkill with three displays and tons of switches. After pressing the start button, which is hidden under a small red cover as a reminiscence to motorsport, the four-liter twin-turbo eight-cylinder engine roars away – more energetically in the Performante thanks to the specially tuned titanium exhaust system from Akrapovic.
The instructor in the Urus in front of us is already waiting impatiently for the start. Take a breath, pause for a moment. And then step on the accelerator: There is no rest lap to get to know the course of the Autodromo Vallelunga in nearby Rome. Already on the straight to the track, you accelerate fully. After only 3.3 seconds, the performer should be 100 km/h fast. After a further 8.2 seconds on the right pedal, 200 km/h are reached. Of course, there is no way to measure it here and now – but the factory specifications are credible, because the Urus is fed up with performance. And the commercial athletes are all in these regions anyway.
The course has at least seven nasty hairpin bends and almost more impressive than the acceleration are the biting, huge ceramic brakes. Fine tuning in the area of ??the center differential should once again ensure better lateral performance – and the speed level of the SUV, which is particularly low at 1.62 meters, is indeed surprisingly high. The Urus Performante manages around 214 km/h on the tightly held straight of the four-kilometer course, then it’s back on the irons. Subsequent trips on the road will have to show how it behaves in terms of comfort. Because it’s no feat that the test car with the 22-inch wheels mounted doesn’t rumble on the slippery road.
Basically, nowadays it is no longer about whether a manufacturer performs better or worse with a vehicle, but about the design. Who is the sportiest on offer? Who can a little more comfort? The Urus Performante is not the strongest in the high-end SUV segment (Aston Martin has 707 hp in the DBX top model, the future Ferrari Purosangue has 725 hp from twelve cylinders) and anyway not the most comfortable – here should be chunks like Bentley Bentayga or the once again easily 100,000 euros more expensive, velvety Rolls-Royce Cullinan have their hats on. But the Urus should combine the greatest sporty driving pleasure with a still sufficiently comfortable orientation.
And another complex is very important to Lamborghini, and the facelift doesn’t change anything: individualization. The configurator alone provides over 40 different paint shades – that’s significantly more than the average new car. And more can be achieved in a personal conversation. It’s nice when you can put together cars without budget limits.
Technical specifications