2016 Lamborghini Huracan LP580-2 Quick Review

Lamborghini now offers a rear-drive alternative to its all-wheel-drive Lamborghini Huracan. What you lose in AWD wizardry is replaced with rear-drive magic.

TELL ME ABOUT THIS CAR

This is Lamborghini’s most affordable model, but it’s also arguably the Italian manufacturer’s most challenging and engaging, as it ditches all-wheel drive for rear-wheel drive, making it a properly testing - and rewarding - proposition for enthusiast drivers.

STRENGTHS

• The engine dominates the experience. The 5.2-litre (non-turbo) V10 is truly a very special powerplant, indisputably one of the best engines on sale today. For punch, noise and character, the free-revving V10 is nothing short of epic, feeling almost hardwired to your spine in this application.
• Removing the hardware that drives the front wheels in this car’s more expensive sibling saves 33kg, and other mechanical changes combine to make it even more lively and reactive at the limit of its performance envelope. Skilled drivers will love it, as demands precision and talent to deliver its best.
• Striking styling and low-slung stance screams supercar, and turns heads accordingly. Not for shy retiring types.
• Wonderfully planted and stable at high speed, unless provoked.

WEAKNESSES

• Marginally less power and torque than the all-wheel-drive variant, although Lamborghini claims this is in deference to the rear tyres’ ability to harness the V10’s output.
• An experts-only car with the electronic stability control turned off. For everyone else, the Corsa (Italian for “road”) mode allows sufficient slip at the limit to be both fun and challenging.
• Low-slung driving position requires dexterity for entry and egress.
• Low nose requires lift-kit function to clear speedhumps and driveways.
• Limited luggage space and daily-driver usability.

ANYTHING ELSE I SHOULD CONSIDER?

Ferrari 488 GTB is even faster, but almost $100K more expensive, and the wait list is extensive. A McLaren 570S is line-ball on price, has a heavy-hitting twin-turbocharged V8 engine, but its sound is a bit muted against the Lambo, and the Mac is generally more clinical and less extroverted in character. This only leaves the Lambo’s under-skin twin, the Audi R8 V10. It’s a polished jewel of a supercar, but all-wheel drive means it’s more benign; less manic on the limit than the slightly nuts Huracan LP580-2.