Lamborghini Urus
Meaden takes a turn with our long-term Lambo. Here’s his verdict
WHERE TO BEGIN WITH THE URUS? I’M sure many of you have already made up your minds about it without even so much as sitting in one. And that’s okay, because perhaps more than any other new car currently on sale, it exists to provoke strong reactions.
When your Urus is painted in Oompa Loompa orange and upholstered with the hides of a hundred Space Hoppers, those reactions are amplified tenfold. Approval is exhibited by having passengers or sometimes the driver of passing cars point their cameraphone at you with goggle-eyed enthusiasm. Presumably to be immediately uploaded to their social media channels. Disapproval comes in the form of 1000-yard straight-ahead stares while resolutely refusing to let you merge in a traffic queue. Sometimes you get some interaction in the form of a slow head shake or mouthed insult.
I suppose all this says more about people in general than the Urus in particular. Yet despite having spent much of my life smoking around in brash, look-at-me supercars I found the attention the Urus generates to be especially uncomfortable. Dialling back the exterior and interior colours would make it less provocative, but still the sheer bulk of the vehicle and the angular, faceted surfacing of its bodywork makes a brutalist statement of its own.
Weirdly, given how aggressive it looks, the way the Urus goes about its business is largely undramatic. Yes, it huffs and puffs a bit on start-up, clearing its throat in theatrical fashion before settling into a throbbing idle, but beyond this its character and delivery is very much from the Ingolstadt highperformance playbook. This means huge pace across the ground, with a natural gait that would happily see it romping along country roads at three-figure speeds. There’s an almost Ferrari-esque urgency to the way it changes direction, with massive support from the suspension and giant gobs of grip from the tyres, but little in the way of connection.
Such disdain for physics is impressive, but requires monastic levels of abstinence and inner peace if you’re to avoid driving everywhere at inappropriate speeds. Such crushing competence goes with this territory. You can’t hurl 2.2 tons down the road without keeping that mass and high centre of gravity under tight control, though the Aston DBX proves you can combine control with some genuine tactility and enjoyment at low speeds.
My biggest issue with the Urus isn’t its image or its dead-eyed ballistics, but its cynicism. Porsche got endless stick for the Cayenne, yet it still somehow drove like a Porsche. That it also generated a ton of cash which then paid for a succession of 911 GT3S rather sweetened the pill. The Urus is also a cash machine for Lamborghini, but while blisteringly quick it feels nothing like a Lamborghini to drive. Strip away the face paint and Marvel superhero costume and its Audi-ness is all too apparent. It would never have sold in the same volumes, but a wild, latter-day LM002 – complete with V12 engine – would have been far better for the brand, if not the bottom line.
Date acquired December 2021 Total mileage 5880 Mileage this month 601 Costs this month £0 mpg this month 17.1