2023 Lamborghini Urus Performant review: the V8 novelty act

April 25th 2023

In an age when supercar makers seem to believe bigger is always better, the Urus Performante fits in, says Andrew Frankel

It’s a supercar that hasn’t been on a diet. This monster Lamborghini SUV boasts some mind boggling numbers.

The time will come when we look back at cars like this Lamborghini Urus Performante and simply goggle that it even ever existed. “What were they thinking of?” our descendants will say. “How could they possibly think that such a car ever constituted a good idea for anyone?”

‘Such a car’ is an enormous SUV with even more power than the car upon which it is based, with even more performance provided for even more money. And the fact that it also weighs a little less is really neither here nor there in the context of a car that already weighs so much.

And yet not only does it exist, it exists in a class with a competitor set, including cars from Porsche, from Aston Martin, and Bentley. Even Ferrari is getting in on the game with its new Purosangue, albeit at a rather different price point. Moreover, such cars are genuinely popular, not merely with the customers who buy them but particularly with the manufacturers who make them, because they sell in large numbers, and with a healthy profit margin.

All the key statistics surrounding the Urus Performante read like misprints. Its twin turbo, V8 engine now develops 657bhp, it will reach 62mph from rest in 3.3 seconds, it has a top speed of 190mph, it weighs 2150kg and it costs £204,000. Truly, this is excess all areas in automotive form.

Lamborghini Urus Performante Interior — For all its impressive traits, the Urus Performante still has issues, ride being a very noticeable one

Your eyes will tell this Urus from the standard car by its vented bonnet and carbon fibre wheel arch extensions. Your ears will tell it thanks to the fully titanium Akrapovic exhaust. But to appreciate the most substantial changes, you’ll have to drive it. Do this, and you will discover the effects of a chassis which has been lowered by 10mm, its comfort-oriented triple chamber air suspension replaced by stiffer, racier coil units, its steering rack quickened and a more rearward torque bias achieved through the reprogramming of its Torsen centre differential. The result is an automotive novelty act, a car able do things common sense suggests should be beyond the ability of anything of this size and weight. It is, of course, preposterously fast in a straight line, but that in itself is perhaps the least surprising aspect of this Lamborghini’s performance. What is far more memorable is the dogged determination with which it clings to your chosen line through a curve, almost irrespective of how hard you are trying to push it.

It corners flat and unfeasibly fast for a car of this mass and these proportions, and while it never feels smaller or lighter than it actually is, I must concede that it is far more capable and impressive than I had imagined, despite having driven the standard Urus over long distances.

But is it actually fun? Fun in a way that makes you not just want to seek out decent roads, but set an alarm for the early hours of the morning to ensure those roads are traffic free? It would be one of the most remarkable achievements were that the case, for that is not something that I would choose to do even in the aforementioned Ferrari. Truth is you could buy a Mazda MX-5 for £1500 and find yourself having far more fun on such a road than you would ever have in any of these overblown SUVs. But that does not mean such cars cannot be impressive in such an environment, and the Lamborghini is nothing if not that. Nor is it merely superficially capable; even when the weather and the surface are far from ideal, the Lamborghini’s composure remains rock solid. Like these cars or not, it is hard to deny that in this regard at least, Lamborghini’s engineers have done a very impressive job.

But there are problems, and not just those you expect, namely the appalling fuel consumption, sky-high emissions, and that nagging suspicion that every other road user hates you. The only way that Lamborghini has been able to persuade a car of such height and weight also to handle so capably is to tie it down in its springs to such an extent that its body scarcely moves at all. Which means that on the vast majority of occasions when you’re not driving it like your trousers are on fire, the ride quality is mediocre at best and at times makes you want to get out of the car and walk.

Which, I have to say, was never a feeling I had when driving its closest real-world rival, the Aston Martin DBX707.

The Aston provides a driving experience just as rich, if that is even a word to use in the context of such cars, but remains at all times a quiet, comfortable and civilised car in which you and your family can go about their business.

Of course Lamborghinis are all about flamboyance, drama both visual and aural, of making a statement by projecting a very bold era. And by its own terms of reference, the Urus still does that job better than any other, which helps explain its phenomenal success. But if you want something a bit more rounded and user-friendly from your full-size high performance SUV, the Aston is unquestionably the better option.