Lamborghini crossover
Everything in it is hypertrophied, everything is for show. The length is more than five meters, the wheelbase is over three. Even with an empty cabin, it weighs 2200 kg, and five people and a bunch of things can fit inside. This is a Lamborghini Urus crossover. He is gaining a “hundred” in 3.6 seconds and is considered the fastest on the planet. But does it make sense to drive it on the race track
It is unlikely that this question can be considered one of the key ones for the universe, but you need to ask at least some questions. After all, who cares how many hooks for securing cargo are in the Lamborghini crossover for 15 million rubles? And the volume of the trunk is 616 liters – is it under the shelf? But orders in Russia have already more than covered the small quota of 50 cars, and Urus has fulfilled its main function – to stake out a place in the still empty niche of supercrossovers. We will tell you all the details about it in our comparative test, but for now, only one short session at the Moscow Raceway.
In the pit lane, where there are rarely cars with a clearance of more than ten centimeters, the Urus looks simply huge: in the lowest position of the air suspension, it has 158 mm to the ground. Is he handsome? Oh, hardly. Under the onslaught of a huge body in broken wheel arches, even 23-inch wheels, the largest in the industry, were lost. The biggest brakes here are ten-piston calipers the size of a good anvil. And carbon-ceramic discs with a diameter of as much as 440 mm in front and 370 mm in the rear.
The interior is recognizable to those who have driven Lamborghini supercars. Instruments are decorated in a similar way here, a steering wheel of a complex shape, but the architecture is like that of all new models of the Volkswagen concern – with two large screens between the front seats. The seats are hard, but the lateral support is focused on large people – you can’t even say that China is the main market for the Urus. Largely due to the peculiarities of Chinese taxation, under the hood is not a V10 from Huracan, but a four-liter V8 with two turbines. The power is unimaginative – 650 hp, only a little more than the BMW M5 sedan, which I recently drove around the race track in Sochi. And it is with the M5 that I want to compare the behavior of the Urus, because, according to the creators, putting it on a par with other crossovers is almost an insult.
BMW is faster on a straight line: passport 3.4 s to “hundreds” are indicative here, but spurt to 200 km / h in 11.1 s versus 12.8 s for Lamborghini is an argument. But more importantly, the M5 is 350 kg lighter at once. Is the Urus really going to break the laws of physics?
The motor wakes up after pressing the scarlet button under the folding cap. In the cabin, the sound is muffled, but outside the Urus makes you turn around. The foot of the mode selector of the eight-speed “automatic” is wide, but the parking button is miniature, and you can select one of the six programs of driving electronics only by sequential enumeration. Drive mode is activated with the right paddle on the steering wheel. Rushed!
Reactions to the steering wheel are very fast, precise and unambiguous. The rolls are vanishingly small, and already on the familiarization lap I can hardly keep myself in the chair. The eight-speed “automatic” in the road mode Strada is not too quick, but already in the Sport it quickly turns on the lowered brakes and does not chew traction on the exits of the turns. And there is a more aggressive Corsa program.
Urus doesn’t avoid rough terrain: among the mechatronic programs there is, for instance, Sand, and you can show the inclinometer readings on the screen.
Speed increase is quick, however without enhancements. Simply the numbers on the speedometer are changing, as though in a kaleidoscope. However, the brakes. For a vehicle of this size, the inclination while decelerating “to the floor” is truly “like against a divider”!
However, it lasts only one lap, and then the tires begin to float. And in the first place just because of the brakes. Which remove so much heat that the start of braking from 240 km / h is powerful and smooth, and after a second the huge Pirelli P Zero Corsa track tires are already giving up. Because they are overheated!
Lamborghini with passenger seats! Instead of a solid sofa, you can order two separate armchairs. The roof is low, but there is enough legroom
And alas, Urus on the track is boring. Yes, he tries hard with his active stabilizers with 48-volt motors and helps with the rear thrusters, but there is not enough emotion. The main task of the driver is to brake powerfully on the verge of demolition: at the entrance to the turn, such a heavy car, of course, has a desire to slide out. And then you need to get to the apex and accelerate powerfully.
Clearly, Moscow Raceway is a big go-kart track, and on running tracks or winding roads, the Urus can be more impressive. For example, you can clearly see how much traction here goes to the rear wheels and how cool Lambo screwed itself into an arc with an active rear differential.
By the way, a couple of days later here, at MRW, I drove a Porsche Cayenne Turbo – which can be considered the Urus’s main competitor among crossovers. I got more emotions: the sensations from the chassis are more natural. And behind the wheel of a Lamborghini, you all too clearly feel the mechatronic threads twitching inside the car. Here the stabilizers were clamped, and now the car went inside because of the differential … Plus, deliberate, but artificial heaviness on the steering wheel.
Different settings for different buyers? Wow-spectacular Urus and rides for show, so that the new customer can feel the work of all the latest technologies of the Volkswagen Group. However, I remember how, at the presentation of the Huracan Performante supercar, the Italians complained about the established image of the brand. Like, suddenly rich rappers fell in love with Lamborghini across the ocean. They buy Aventador, order a wild color, but I would like to see a more serious audience.
But now they’ve made a Urus that would look perfect next to a pink Aventador in the garage of a very swarthy youngster in a fur coat over his naked body. The kitsch car is sure to become successful in China, the Middle East and, of course, Russia. After all, there is something in this defiant thug from the original a la russe style, which became fashionable in France after Russian troops entered Paris in 1814. A huge Lamborghini with harem pants and a fur trim is an exact hit in the audience.
