Driven: Lamborghini Huracan EVO – Ludicrous Speed

An old Talking Heads song comes to mind, so excuse me while I ruin it. "This is not my beautiful car. This is not my petrol card. And this is not my driveway. How did I get here?" Who cares, I think as I exit the Lamborghini dealership and point the exotic splinter of carbon composites and ten barking cylinders onto the highway.

Yes, there are many parallels between last year's Performante and this EVO. They both represent the epitome of Huracan, but whilst the older car felt stripped away and honed, the new car feels lush with comfort and tech. It's the latter you'll notice immediately as the cabin now sports a massive, vertically oriented 8.4-inch touch screen in the bowels of its centre tunnel. This new human machine interface aka HMI dominates proceedings – there are no buttons here.

The living space in general feels less shouty and ergo, less special, if you don't mind luxury as a trade-off. Still a festival and shrine to the supercar, if somewhat less of an occasion. Caution, this is the opinion of a man for whom the Performante was his debut Lamborghini experience. I mean, you'll be tempted to compare the EVO to its arguably frumpier (ha!) non-identical twin, the Audi R8 V10+ but you mustn't. You shall not. For many reasons that make it a Lamborghini.

Absolutely efficient, the tippy top

This is italian DNA, the raging bull circa 2020 and present you'll find many signatures. Such as the 'Y'-shaped lamps, the echoes of aero past – with some details lifted from the Murcielago, Gallardo and other ghosts of Lambos past. Airways and glass conspire to point the EVO through the air as quickly as physics will allow, while a new extended (duck bill) spoiler assists with this job. The new wing then is great to behold. Its job? Beholding the rear end of the Huracan to the ground for maximum grip. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Look here, but how does it go?

Insanely rapidly, but you already knew that. Two point nine seconds is nothing to be sneezed at when discussing zero to hundred figures after all. It is less scary, less intimidating than the Performante, with the conversation between driver and machine steered from "I dare you" to "shall we?" The other car was a maniac that wanted you to make bad life choices. But the new car has bail money.

Clambering back aboard the wedge of excellence and I should mention that I am not alone. I am joined by LDVI, the Latin name for the very clever brain that oversees a host of functions including engine, suspension, and drivetrain including the clever torque vectoring and traction control, so dynamics in general. Yes, Lamborghini Dinamica Veicolo Integrata is a central supercomputer but don't you fret, the ECU never takes the wheel, that remains my job, for better or worse.

The Huracan EVO now sports a massive, vertically oriented 8.4-inch touch screen

The naturally aspirated 5.2l V10 revs to 8000rpm in my command alone! And stops with carbon ceramic brakes, 380mm (front) and 356mm (rear). So I grab the right gear paddle (now mounted to the column rather than the helm) and feed in a bootful of throttle. The coastal road renders itself a blur, I materialize on the bit of horizon I had a split second ago thought of occupying. The sound of an orgy of bumblebee bees in a cast iron pot fills the cabin, punctuated occasionally by the artillery noises of a World War II dogfight.

But I'm still in Strada mode, that's Italian for street. I shift it into Sport mode, that's Italian for Sport. And immediately the EVO tightens up, rears itself and clears its throat for the proper soprano. Everything marvellous has immediately dialed up to eleven. I thumb at the helm; the red button once more descends, and I've arrived in Corsa mode. That's Italian for Race. It's also Italian for "hold onto your nuts!" I oblige and do my best to keep it pinned along some of the Cape's finest driving roads.

To answer the question, it goes like a lightning bolt through a tub of Vaseline, but with all the grip in the world. The irony is not lost on me. The helm is perfectly weighted, and I mean it, we're talking the Goldilocks of wheels – flavourful and pointy, light but oh so precise. Frankly, you need that deft precision when your right pedal is essentially a teleportation device.

A very quick summation

At R5.5million (sans options) the Lamborghini Huracan EVO is dear. But it's the kind of car that well, if you have to ask the price, you probably cannot. Unapologetically so, because you're not buying a car, you're buying an experience.

Options, yes, leagues of them, including the usual array of trim, dual camera telemetry, and I believe for the price of a small hatchback they'll even fit a cupholder.

Now, the Performante if memory serves me, was louder by the most infinitesimal of measures, and with less of the crackly drama, a mild bias in RWD and a lighter helm – but the EVO feels as though it revs as quickly if not marginally quicker – but that's from memory. And memory is rose-tinted here so allow me to add that the EVO feels as though it shifts smoother too.

Then, according to Lamborghinis own data, the new car's aero is seven times more efficient than the car it replaces. They're both brilliant. They're both hero cars, consummate head turners and worth every damned penny. Rating a Lamborghini Huracan on price is like rating a gourmet dish on spelling. You've sped past the point entirely.

Lamborghini Huracan Evo Spec: