New: Lamborghini Urus Perfomante: new heights

Lamborghini is actually in a bind. Every facelift of a model has to be able to do everything better than its predecessor. This is how the Italian sports car brand wants to see itself. But how do you do that without upsetting the customers of the current model. As if that wasn’t difficult enough, with models like the SUV Urus, the sensibilities of the German group relatives from Ingolstadt and Zuffenhausen, whose power crossovers share the technology with the Italians, also have to be taken into account.

With a Lamborghini, the first look at the data sheet is always the performance specification. The four-liter V8 biturbo engine now delivers 490 kW / 666 hp and a maximum torque of 850 Newton meters to the crankshaft. That’s 12 kW / 16 hp more with the same torque. Not exactly a value that tempts solvent customers to storm the halls of Lamborghini dealers to get a new Urus.

To justify the “Performante” attribute, the Italian engineers studied the chapters on aerodynamics and weight from the dynamics textbook in detail. The revised Urus is 47 kilograms lighter than before and drag has been reduced by two percent while downforce has increased by 38 points. Anyone who has ever tried to make a car faster and more agile in this high-performance area knows how big the difference is. This has an effect above all on corners and handling. The improvement is also visible on the data sheet – especially in terms of acceleration. The Urus Performante reaches the 100 km/h mark after 3.3 seconds and manages 306 km/h. That is 0.3 seconds and one km/h faster than before. It is just as important that the 2,150-kilogram crossover stands still after only 32.9 meters at 100 km/h.

“We used a lot of carbon, pulled the front down and lengthened it,” explains designer Mitja Borkert as he explains the vehicle to us in detail. Among other things, the roof, the hood and the air outlets are made of carbon. The compound is also used extensively in the front apron, where it increases downforce. Visually, the difference in the front end is immediately apparent, especially the larger air intakes and the changed arrangement of the flaps and other aerodynamic add-on parts. The rear, which has also been lengthened, is now adorned with an additional Gurney flap (provides downforce) and the door handles are black. A reminiscence of the sports cars of the 1980s.

A lot has also happened in terms of driving dynamics. The weight distribution is 58 front to 42 rear. The newly tuned steel chassis lets the body dash two centimeters lower over the asphalt. This data suggests a tighter set-up. Also interesting is the wider track, which has grown from 1,695 millimeters to 1,711 millimeters at the front and from 1,710 millimeters to 1,718 millimeters at the rear. That’s why the Urus also gets new rims, which can be up to 23 inches in size if desired. The steering behavior and stability when changing direction should improve, which is something.

To show what the power SUV can do, the Italians chased a camouflaged Urus Performante through 156 curves and more than 20 kilometers up the mountain at the legendary Pikes Peak race in Colorado and promptly set a new record for SUVs with 10:32.064 minutes . What makes the triumph even sweeter is that the previous best time of 10m49.902s was set by a Bentley Bentayga in 2018.

The Urus Performante has four driving modes: Strada (road), Sport, Corsa (track) and Rally. The latter is new and is a fun off-road mode. The matching sound comes from the Akrapovic exhaust system. The cockpit, which uses less chrome than before, also adapts to this purist basic idea. The Urus Perfomante will be available early next year, priced at 260,000 euros.