Lamborghini Huracan drives better than it looks

The Lamborghini Haracan runs on baby polar bears and causes extreme weather events. It sounds wonderful.

In the eye of the storm

In the olden days a family saloon took about 20 seconds to reach 100km/h, which then turned out to be its top speed. Whereas a supercar such as the Ferrari 308 GTB would get to 100km/h in a dizzying 6.7 seconds, then keep on accelerating all the way to an almost unbelievable 250km/h.

Today, however, family saloon cars can do 250km/h, so to keep ahead of the pack supercars are now so fast that if you keep your foot hard down on the throttle in second, third or fourth gear for more than about three seconds you will lose control and crash into a tree. This is a fact. And if you don’t believe me, put “supercar crash” into Google.

It’s not simply the speed and the power. Today, supercars are no harder to operate than a knife and fork. In a 1970 Lamborghini you really had to work for a living. The clutch pedal felt as if it were set in concrete, the interior was as hot as the middle of a star and the steering was heavier than dark matter.

A modern supercar doesn’t feel like that at all. This lulls people into a false sense of security. They think they can handle the savagery that lives under the bonnet. So with a big grin they shout, “Watch this!” to their passenger, and stamp on the throttle. Three seconds later they are going through the Pearly Gates, backwards, in a cloud of fire and screaming.

When I drove the McLaren P1 around the Spa-Francorchamps racetrack in Belgium recently it was raining and I didn’t use full throttle once. Of course you know that because I’m still here, writing this.

It was much the same story with the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta I drove in the snow a few years ago. I think I used full power once, for about a 200th of a second. But I was in seventh gear at the time, doing 40km/h. And still a bit of poo came out.

I love that these idiotic cars exist, but I wouldn’t buy one. What’s the point of buying a car so scary-fast you don’t dare use more than half of what’s available?

Much better, if you want a snazzy mid-engined rocket ship, is to come down a peg or two and buy something from the little league. The new Ferrari 488 GTB looks as though it might be quite interesting, and there’s always the McLaren (insert whatever name it is using today); that’s a good car as well. But come on: you aren’t really buying a supercar for the speed, are you? It’s because you like the way it looks.

And if that’s the case, then really the one-stop shop has always been Lamborghini, purveyor through history of cars that are demonstrably worse than the equivalent Ferrari but that look sen-bleeding-sational.

Let us examine the case of the recently departed Gallardo. It was not as nice to drive as the Ferrari 458 Italia, yet more than 14,000 people bought one. Me included. And Richard Hammond. Why? Because it was — and will remain — one of the best-looking cars ever made.

Which brings me to the Gallardo’s replacement, the car you see here. The Huracan. Sounds good, yes? As though it’s named after a cataclysmic weather event? No. Like almost all Lamborghinis, it’s named after a stabbed cow.

And straight away there’s a problem. It is striking, but as striking as a Lamborghini should be? This is a descendant of the mad Countach and the bonkers Diablo. What you want from Lambo is a Game of Thrones assault on the senses and, I dunno, the Huracan is a bit Wolf Hall. And, whisper this, I don’t even think it’s particularly good-looking.

Don’t be too disheartened, though, because beneath the styling you get four-wheel drive, a carbon fibre and aluminium chassis, a snappy flappy-paddle gearbox (manual isn’t available) and, joy of joys, a normally aspirated 5.2-litre V10. It’s fitted with a stop-start system for city driving, but don’t be fooled: a motor such as this runs on baby polar bears and causes extreme weather events. And it sounds completely wonderful.

I have heard it said there’s too much understeer when you really open the taps, but I didn’t notice any of that. I thought it was a joyous car to drive. In Road (Strada) mode it’s extremely comfortable, and if you go for Track (Corsa) or Sport on the Soul button on the steering wheel, it is fast. But not so fast you actually soil yourself. (Although there is a tremendous Huracan crash on the internet, during which both occupants almost certainly had a bit of a trouser accident.)

Apart from the lack of a cupholder, this is a car you could and would use every day. It’s not so big that it’s hopeless in town, the dashboard is wonderful to behold, and it’s comforting to know that behind the scenes everything is made by Audi.

There is, however, one problem that drove me mad. Italy’s motor industry finally mastered the art of making a decent driving position a few years ago, yet now Lamborghini has forgotten and mounted the seat far too high. Oh, and I have to mention the steering-wheel-mounted switches for the indicators and wipers. No, Lamborghini. Just no.

But this is an interesting car because it’s an other-way-round Lamborghini. It doesn’t look very exciting but it’s tremendous to drive.

If you don’t buy one, at least watch the crashes on the web.

Lamborghini Huracan: Supercar

Engine: 5.2-litre V10 petrol

Outputs: 449kW at 8250rpm and 560Nm at 6500rpm

Transmission: Seven-speed dual clutch automatic, all-wheel drive

Price: $US180,720 ($428,000 plus on-road costs)

Rating: 4 out of 5

Verdict: On the cover it says Wolf Hall but inside it’s all magic and dragons