Lighter, faster, and wilder. The Performante is the Urus taken to the extreme.
Anybody who has been to a high-end trackday recently will likely have found the pitlane packed with performance SUVs. Owners of cars like the Cayenne Turbo, Range Rover Sport SVR and Bentley Bentayga Speed know there is no better playground for their brutish monsters than a fast, technical circuit. Who wants to drive a track in one of those dull, old-fashioned sportscars?
No, wait – that was a fever dream, but this bizarre parallel reality does seem to have captured the imagination of the luxury automakers behind turned-up SUVs. Earlier this year Aston introduced the DBX 707, proudly pushing its ability to dominate a road course. Now Lamborghini has gone even further, with the entire first drive of the new Urus Performante taking place at the Vallelunga circuit near Rome.
We all know that nobody is likely to buy the Urus Performante for regular track work. Or even irregular track work. Yet it is in this unlikely environment that the Performante feels most different to the regular Urus.
Right, it’s time for a trigger warning. Anybody who believes that performance cars should be both low and light is likely to be muttering expletives well before the end of this story. As is anybody who has just experienced a full-bore start in the Performante for the first time. Because as unlikely as it sounds, this 4740lb, 63-inch tall SUV really did seem to enjoy life on the 2.5-mile circuit, and also on a dinky little dirt trail that Lamborghini used to show off the car’s new rally mode. But without the chance to drive it on road, the question of how well the Performante deals with the real world will need to wait for another time.
Power has been added to the Performante and weight shaved, but only small amounts. The 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 of the regular car has been retuned to make 657hp, a modest 16hp increase over the standard car, but with more effort put into sharpening its response and soundtrack. Mass has been shed through a carbon fiber hood and roof, plus lighter wheels, a new titanium exhaust system and reduced sound insulation. The difference is slight, with a claimed 104 lb reduction over the existing Urus.
The more significant mechanical alteration is a switch from air springs to firmer steel coils, these sitting 0.8-inches lower. That means the Performante can no longer vary its ride height, but it also improves high-load responses. There is also a new Torsen center differential which can send more power to the rear axle more quickly, while the software settings for the rear axle steering system, eight-speed automatic transmission, 48 Volt anti-roll system and torque vectoring rear differential have all been revised to improve track performance. Lamborghini will also be offering Performante buyers the chance to specify their car with track-biased Trofeo R tires. We’re through the looking glass here, people.
The existing Urus is already brutally fast, but the Performante feels immediately quicker. Only part of that is down to the actual increase in its ability to generate longitudinal G-forces; on Lamborghini’s numbers its Euro-spec 3.3-sec 0-62mph (0-100km/h) time is 0.3-sec better than the base car, and its 11.5-sec 0-124mph (0-200km/h) is 1.3-sec quicker. Both those numbers can be taken as a worst-case, stumbled start scenario: the regular Urus has already proved itself capable of blasting through an American-grade 0-60mph in just 3.2-seconds. More of the Performante’s sensation of speed is down to angry high-rev rasp of the new exhaust system, and the savage rate at which it devours its lower gearbox ratios. Vallelunga’s longest straight is well under half a mile long, but the Performante’s speedometer was nearing 140mph at the end of it.
At which point the narrative should probably shift to smoking brakes and the chatter of understeering rubber. Yet it doesn’t. Retardation is both as huge and consistent as it should be given the size of the 17.3-inch carbon-ceramic front discs, reckoned by Lamborghini to be the largest fitted to any production car, with these gripped by ten-pot calipers. The braking hardware is unchanged from the standard Urus, but the new bumper has improved cooling. Even at the end of multi-lap stints the brake pedal stayed reassuringly firm and stopping distances felt compact for the sheer amount of momentum that needed to be turned into heat energy.
But corners are where the Performante’s magic turned black. Its steering has a crispness and sense of connection that would feel respectable in a true supercar, with the active anti-roll system fighting lean and the rear steering adding input to help the Urus to turn. Once aimed at an apex, discipline is still required. Patience is the game. Learning to stay patient for long enough to be able to start winding lock off before getting hard on the throttle proves the deftness of the all-wheel drive system and traction management, the line tightening as the vast rear tires push to the edge of adhesion. I actually had more fun when I switched from the explicitly track-focussed Corsa dynamic mode, which works to minimize slip, to the more permissive Sport which brings more torque vectoring and allows more latitude.
The Performante still feels big and heavy, because of course it does. This is always going to be a car for fast sweepers rather than tight hairpins, and it did indeed feel imperious through Vallelunga’s fast Curva Grande. But my most significant gripe after three stints on the circuit was the slow reactions of the torque converter auto. Upshifts were delivered with respectable promptness when ordered by the steering wheel paddles, but it was much more reluctant to allow down changes that would bring the engine anywhere close to the limiter.
The Performante is brutally effective, even if it lacks the finesse of a sports car. Rouven Mohr, Lamborghini’s Chief Technical Officer, admits this hulking SUV is faster around a racetrack than an original Huracan LP610-4 was. Improvements in tire technology since then mean a modern Huracan would post a lower time – yet not by much.
If the prospect of a Urus on a racetrack is incredible, the idea of one on a gravel stage seems barely less unlikely. The new Rally mode is seemingly designed to allow owners to attempt low-grip hoonery without fewer risks than ESP-deactivated “watch this” moments. It manages this, although only under a very specific set of circumstances. Heading into a loose corner you need to make a big accelerator input so the active rear differential can throw torque to the outside wheel and start a slide. To maintain this the throttle has to remain stamped to prove commitment, the system then tries to maintain a heroic yaw angle. Backing off brings the traction control back into play and bogs the car down. But the expensive noise of gravel bouncing from the carbon fiber wheel arch protectors and rear diffuser was more of a disincentive to the thought of doing this to a car I had paid for. It will be fun in a large, empty, snow-covered parking lot.
Of course the Performante’s real role is to persuade Urus buyers to dig a bit deeper to get something which is louder, faster and flashier – three attributes that Lambo buyers have already evinced a marked enthusiasm to spend more money on. This isn’t a car of subtle charms, and although the differences in performance and handling are slight, the very fact this is Top Urus will be enough for many to justify the $260,700 price. The company reckons the Performante will likely make up half of Urus production.
Does it belong on a track? Of course not – but that shouldn’t stop us from hoping some owners will believe the hype and take it a circuit. You’d pay to watch a dinosaur fight, wouldn’t you?
Mike Duff European Editor Mike Duff has been writing about the auto industry for two decades and calls the UK home, although he normally lives life on the road.
Keyword: The Lamborghini Urus Performante Is Ridiculous