WITH the introduction of the Urus
Performante, you might wonder why
anyone would take a second look at the
more conservative Urus S. No other car
company has a reputation like Lamborghini
for wild designs and an intoxicating driving
experience, and the Urus S could seem
a bit contradictory at first glance.
It’s the replacement for the standard
Urus, and arrives five years after the model
first went on sale. To say that the Urus has
been a success over that time is something
of an understatement, because it’s been
Lamborghini’s biggest seller and key to
record growth last year. It makes sense,
then, that the Italian firm hasn’t fiddled
with the Urus too much for this update.
The visual tweaks consist of a new front
end with a sharper bonnet line and more
aggressive front bumper. As with the
Performante, the S gets a body-coloured
carbon-fibre bonnet, while matt-black vents
are optional. The carbon-fibre roof can also
be bare or painted, while the rear bumper
has been tweaked, with a new exhaust tip
design and vents behind the rear wheels.
Those rims range from 21 to 23 inches.
Starting from £185,271, the Urus S is
priced comfortably below the £206,732
Performante. The 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8
produces 657bhp, 16bhp up on the standard
owners might take their cars, given the
sporty wheel and tyre combo.
Despite its significant mass, the Urus S
is more engaging than you’d expect on a
twisty road. It contains its weight well,
and you gain plenty of confidence from
the quick steering, while there’s lots of
feedback from the front wheels. Active
torque vectoring through a revised rear
differential and rear-wheel steering give
the car a slightly rear-biased feel through
tighter corners and plenty of agility.
The enormous 440mm carbon-ceramic
brakes are excellent, with progressive
feel despite immense stopping power.
On the more track-focused
Performante, there are stiffer steel springs
for the suspension, resulting in a 20mm
Urus, while torque stands at 850Nm. The S
accelerates from 0-62mph in 3.5 seconds
and can hit 190mph – quite significant
numbers for a car weighing 2,197kg.
The way the Urus S delivers its power is
sensational – and there aren’t many other
SUVs that offer this level of drama. Strada
mode is fine when you’re cruising (which
the Urus does just as well as the related
Audi Q7), but if you shift to Sport, the
throttle response is sharper, while the
exhaust note – which has been retuned –
is addictive as you climb through the revs.
The eight-speed automatic gearbox is
quick enough in its changes, and switching
to Sport or Corsa sharpens up the shift times.
There are six drive modes, including Terra,
Neve and Sabbi off-road modes, although
we’re not sure how far off the beaten track