2019-10-01_CAR_UK

OCTOBER 2019 | CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK 97

The Huracan might look scary, but rarely is a supercar as friendly as this.
And ordinary Lamborghinis, if you can forgive the absurdity of the phrase,
are never this satisfying to drive.
So you jump out of the Huracan feeling heroic, swap to the McLaren
and set off down the same road. And it’s like discovering Father Christmas
isn’t real. But Spider-Man is! This is how you do steering. This is what it
feels like to be hardwired into a car, into a road. The carbon jewellery
plastered all over this one cost how much?? Forty-four grand is the answer,
helping lift the price from £202k to almost £260k. But you don’t need any
of it. Because the 600LT is not a car you buy for the way it looks (which is
decidedly effete next to the Lambo, despite the aero clobber). You buy this
car because, judged in terms of chassis behaviour, it’s one of the very best.
No, it hasn’t got the air-sprung compliance of its 720S big brother, or its
outright punch, but it’s even more fun on a road like this. And the Spider is
even more fun than the 600LT we enjoyed so much last year on these same
roads. There’s a hint of a tremor from the rear-view mirror, but there’s no
suggestion that the driving experience is any less special or rewarding. In a
couple of very important areas, it’s better. Roof-down you can actually get
in without running yourself under a hot tap for five minutes, and it allows
so much more of that twin-turbo V8 noise into the cabin.
The LT’s 592bhp motor is absolutely brutal when it’s lit, hurling you
forward violently on a 457lb ft wave of torque. Despite lacking the Lambo’s
four-wheel drive it matches its 2.9sec 0-62mph time, and by 124mph it’s
half a second ahead. It’s almost too much for these roads. You’re barely into
the power before you have to back off. But trying to deploy as much of it as
you can get away with is addictive.
What the M838TE V8 doesn’t do is give you that same instant connec-
tion to the back wheels that the steering gives you to the fronts. Like the
Megane’s, the throttle response in the sportiest settings is pretty sharp. But
that hardly matters when you’re still waiting what feels like the best part of
two seconds for the boost to arrive.
A turbo-free zone, the Huracan never keeps you waiting. Though the

chassis has improved, it’s the engine that remains the focus. Still 5.2 litres,

still 10 cylinders. But now delivering 631bhp instead of 602bhp. Unlike its

Audi R8 V10 cousin, which feels decidedly flat in the low and mid-range,

the Evo feels strong all over, delivering power in one beautiful sweep to

the redline, the sound changing constantly. Whether you’re slogging from

30mph in fourth or homing in on the limiter in second gear, it sounds and

feels like we always thought a supercar should, but won’t for much longer.

Which leaves us a dilemma. The sexy Italian with the stirring soundtrack

and much-improved chassis, or the Brit with a chassis it would be hard to

improve and storming pace, but blighted by lag? Over to you, James. ⊲

The LT’s almost too much

for these roads, but trying to

deploy its power is addictive

Sports Car Giant Test 2019

Huracan’s fiddly old

centre console now

replaced by similarly

fiddly touchscreen

Transition to Evo

involves a double-

decker ducktail

G A v IN G REEN’s vIEw

T URb O s sTIll lAG

Turbos are all the rage, of course. Naturally aspirated motors are

now an endangered species. But for sheer driving enjoyment, you

can’t beat a good n/a motor. This test gathers two of the very best,

Lamborghini’s ferocious V10 and Porsche’s legendary flat-six. They

sound better than their turbo rivals, generally rev higher (8000rpm

for the GT4, 8500 for the Lambo), and there is a marvellous

linearity and predictability about their power delivery that turbos,

for all their explosive punch, just can’t match. Plus the delicacy and

immediacy of throttle response helps balance these cars as they

dance at speed, allowing steering by throttle as well as by wheel.

There is no lag. It’s surely no coincidence that all testers agreed

which cars had the finest engines: the GT4 and the Lambo.