Lamborghini Revuelto: Rambles with a Revuelto

As a child, Lamborghini was the evil empire. I was a Ferrari man and the only explanation I could find to explain why Boxers and Testarossae always lost comparison tests involving the Lamborghini Countach was that those who wrote them were quite clearly wrong.

Then, years later, I started driving them myself and found little reason to change my mind. The Diablo VT – the first all-wheel-drive Lambo if you omit the mad LM002 – would have been a terrible disappointment were I not already expecting it to be precisely that. I then drove a Countach for some historic story and it was even worse: slow and impractical.

But then I drove a Diablo SV – a lighter, cheaper, rear-drive car and loved it. So too the part-carbon SE30. Then came the Murciélago and every one of those was a joy, which was followed by the Aventador which really was a disappointment because looking that good, following the Murciélago and having a carbon tub, by now I was expecting it to be brilliant. Which it really, really wasn’t, until I drove the final SVJ version which unquestionably was. And if I wasn’t completely flummoxed by then, Max Girardo recently leant me a Countach just like the one I’d hated and it was fabulous, for which the only explanation I can find is that the first one must have been worn out. So the point is you never really know what you’re going to get with these big Lambos.

And this Revuelto is the biggest of the lot: longer, wider and higher than the already enormous Aventador and more powerful, its 1001bhp making it the first Lamborghini production car with a four-digit power output. Because that additional power has been achieved by fitting a hybrid drive with no fewer than three electric motors, it’s well over 200kg heavier too. And at £454,830 basic (I doubt a single car will be sold for less than half a million) it’s over £100,000 – an entire 911 – more expensive. Which sounds ludicrous for a car that’s not even a limited production item, until you learn it’s sold out until the end of ’26.

“The motor fires up with the subtlety of someone crashing a pair of cymbals”

I guess the first thing to be said is that while Ferrari gave up on making mid-engined 12-cylinder standard-production models over 30 years ago, Lamborghini has kept the faith. No sign of any throttle-damping, rev-limiting turbochargers either. So committed to the future of the naturally aspirated 12 is the company that it says this 6.5-litre one is all-new – all-new despite sharing the precise cubic capacity, bore and stroke as the old one… I’ll leave you to decide how new that really is.

I don’t like its looks anything like as much as the Aventador, but I’d trade that for the fact it’s far easier to climb in and out, there’s much more space inside and, slightly offset pedals aside, a really terrific driving position to be had. Forward visibility is great too, though over-the-shoulder remains lamentable.

It starts in electric mode which has a range of around five miles, enough to get you out of the village and far away before you summon its mighty V12. The controls look more confusing than they are and so long as you don’t scare yourself off the road when the motor fires up with all the subtlety of someone crashing a pair of cymbals behind your head, you can now start to find out more.

It rides well enough for this kind of car and despite its width is easier to thread through lanes than an Aventador because its extremities are easier to judge. All the time you’re watching the redline on the electronic tacho wind back from its 4000rpm cold start limit. Where will it stop? 7000, 8000, 9000rpm? Hardly believably, this engine will spin to 9600rpm. Yet on the motorway it is barely audible.

In the mountains it is anything but, and all the better for it. The only problem is you never get to hear its scintillating voice for long enough, because anything more than the briefest of bursts will take you to speeds you’d not want to do on any British road, let alone a tortuous pass. This is a glorious engine but you need a race track to enjoy it at its finest. So instead you use the double clutch ’box that should have been in the Aventador to gear up and limit the performance that way.

Its handling is not quite to the same level. Grip is prodigious and the balance is correctly towards understeer, but while the steering is accurate enough, there’s not enough feel to really involve and enthuse you.

Still, this is a vastly improved Lamborghini, one that comes with all the theatrics you’d expect, with a level of daily usability you would not. Hopefully it’ll coax more owners into using theirs for more than display. I should also say it’s a far better car than its only true rival, the Ferrari SF90, not least because it has a howling V12 and some luggage space. Yes you could save £200,000, buy a McLaren 750S and have a car that’s as quick and more fun, but of all those mid-engined V12 Lambos I’ve driven this may not be the greatest, but it is the best.

Lamborghini Revuelto

• Price £454,830
• Engine 6.5 litres, 12 cylinders, petrol, hybrid drive
• Power 1001bhp
• Torque 595lb ft
• Weight 1892kg (DIN)
• Power to weight 529bhp per tonne
• Transmission Eight-speed double clutch, four-wheel drive
• 0-62mph 2.5sec
• Top speed 218mph
• Economy 23.7mpg
• CO2 316g/km
• Verdict Outclasses Ferrari’s SF90.