2027 Lamborghini Urus SE Performante review: Prototype drive

Nardo Test Centre, Italy | Lamborghini has unleashed a caller go-faster flagship mentation of its venerable (but inactive popular) Urus SUV, acceptable to instrumentality the combat to the likes of the Aston Martin DBX S, Bentley Bentayga Speed and Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT erstwhile it goes connected merchantability Down Under during the archetypal fractional of 2027.

The 2027 Lamborghini Urus SE Performante reprises a hallowed 'Performante' badge that antecedently appeared connected high-performance versions of the Gallardo and Huracan. In keeping with tradition, it elevates acceleration, braking and cornering capabilities to a higher magnitude than would person seemed conceivable for a hulking SUV.

The current-generation Urus inactive has astir 3 years to tally earlier an all-new replacement arrives successful 2029, truthful the SE Performante has an important occupation to do. Following its marketplace motorboat adjacent year, it volition inhabit Lamborghini’s portfolio alongside the existing Urus SE, providing the marque with a twin-pronged lineup with which to people ultra-premium-SUV buyers.

Given that we sampled the conveyance 2 months up of its nationalist debut astatine the Goodwood Festival of Speed, the SE Performante prototypes we flogged astatine the Nardo Test Centre successful confederate Italy were swathed successful psychedelic camouflage, masking the exterior changes vis-à-vis the modular Urus SE.

That said, we besides had the accidental to scrutinise an undisguised example, which was locked distant successful a adjacent unafraid garage.

How overmuch does the Lamborghini Urus cost?

Pricing for the Lamborghini Urus SE Performante is yet to beryllium nailed down, fixed that the conveyance isn’t expected connected merchantability locally until the 2nd 4th of 2027, astatine the earliest.

Even so, Lamborghini execs suggest it volition outgo astir 10 per cent much than the modular Urus SE. Given that the second is pegged astatine $457,834 positive on-road costs, we’d expect an introduction constituent astir the $500k mark.

The SE Performante’s main absorption volition travel from the likes of the Aston Martin DBX S ($475,000) and Bentley Bentayga Speed ($513,600), portion the Ferrari Purosangue sits successful a considerably higher echelon astatine $728,000 earlier on-roads.

Much cheaper, yet astir arsenic rapid, is Porsche’s precise susceptible Cayenne Turbo GT, which starts astatine just $376,300 positive on-roads.

The Urus SE Performante edges the Aston, Bentley and Porsche successful presumption of earthy gait and dynamism, but it’s virtually lineball with the considerably much costly Purosangue successful presumption of straight-line poke.

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What is the Lamborghini Urus similar connected the inside?

Although it intelligibly shares Volkswagen Group underpinnings, arsenic evidenced by immoderate of the proprietary switchgear, the Urus SE Performante has conscionable capable Lamborghini-ness to warrant its ultra-premium terms point.

Naturally, the Bolognese marque’s cherished hexagon motif is repeated passim the interior, astir notably successful the aerial vents, instrumentality clump housing, steering instrumentality hub and adjacent the icons connected the infotainment screen. 

Befitting the SE Performante’s flagship status, determination are lashings of exposed carbon-fibre scattered astir the cabin, portion the CorsaTex/leather seats with opposition stitching and ‘Performante’ embroidered successful the seatbacks look and consciousness great.

There’s much CorsaTex connected the steering wheel, precocious aboveground of the dashboard and doorway trims, helping the Lambo basal isolated from different platform-sharing siblings from wrong the VW Group.

There’s nary denying the basal architecture of the Urus is getting agelong successful the bony (it debuted mode backmost successful 2018), but the upgrades it’s received on the mode means the interior doesn’t consciousness peculiarly dated, and nor are the ergonomics flawed successful immoderate important facet.

Even so, luggage capableness of conscionable 454L is paltry for a large SUV – It shrank from the archetypal model's 616L erstwhile the Urus transitioned to a plug-in hybrid powertrain.

If hauling IKEA furnishings oregon different ample items is connected the agenda, past you’ll request to fold down the rear seats, which ramps up disposable abstraction to 1596 litres.

As you’d expect with immoderate caller Lamborghini these days, there’s a immense array of personalisation options – successful presumption of interior and exterior trim materials and colours – connected connection via the Ad Personam program.

Among the caller exterior colours connected connection are Giallo Crius (an in-your-face agleam yellowish that archetypal appeared connected the limited-edition Fenomeno) and Verde Hydra Matt (a striking shadiness of matte green).

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What’s nether the bonnet?

As with immoderate go-faster special, the SE Performante’s upgrades statesman with the powertrain, which comprises the aforesaid ground arsenic the modular Urus SE – a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8, supplemented by an electrical centrifugal and a 25.9kWh artillery pack.

The 'base' exemplary is already a accelerated chariot, but the SE Performante ups the ante with towering outputs of 597kW and a gobsmacking 1000Nm of twist – versus 588kW and 950Nm for the modular Urus SE.

A power-to-weight ratio of 3kg/hp – acknowledgment to the extended usage of carbon-fibre successful the bodywork – yields straight-line show that wouldn’t person seemed retired of spot for a hypercar 15 years ago.

The large SUV scorches from 0-100km/h successful 3.3 seconds, dispatches 0-200km/h successful 10.8 seconds, and tin deed a V-max of 312km/h if you support the footwear planted agelong enough.

Also unsocial to the Performante is simply a titanium Akrapovic exhaust that’s 10kg lighter than the strategy utilized successful the modular Urus SE.

The 4 abdominous pipes exiting beneath the rear diffuser emit pops and burbles galore connected throttle liftoff, but ever-tightening drive-by sound regulations mean the V8 isn’t arsenic raucous arsenic 1 mightiness person expected.

Complementing the Performante’s hybrid powertrain is simply a caller ‘AURA’ dual-chamber aerial suspension strategy that’s claimed to halve assemblage rotation during accelerated driving and trim vibrations by 25 per cent, providing a immense dispersed betwixt comfortableness and track-worthy dynamics. 

The aerial suspension besides enables thrust tallness to beryllium raised by 70mm, truthful light-duty off-roading is ostensibly good wrong the vehicle’s capabilities – adjacent connected low-profile rubber wrapped astir optional lightweight 23-inch rims.

Another cardinal dynamic breakthrough the Urus Performante makes is via a caller 6D sensor that’s housed adjacent the centre of the car.

Its sanction derives from its quality to measurement six antithetic carnal parameters: accelerations on the 3 spatial axes and angular velocities related to pitch, roll, and yaw movements.

You could deliberation of this 6D strategy arsenic being akin to an Einstein-esque encephalon that performs thousands of calculations per 2nd and preemptively manages each the chassis-control systems to support the conveyance tracking on the intended trajectory portion remaining astir devoid of rotation and pitch.

Out successful the existent satellite it means that immoderate intrusions by the stableness and traction-control systems are truthful subtle and miniscule that they’re hardly perceptible from down the wheel.

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How does the Lamborghini Urus drive?

There’s thing laugh-out-loud comic astir a 2.5-tonne SUV annihilating the laws of physics with specified ludicrous nonchalance. 

The 6.22km Nardo Handling Track successful the southeastern extremity of Italy is simply a challenging ribbon of tarmac. Replete with unsighted corners and crests (one of which gets the car airborne), the circuit throws up changeless changes successful camber and elevation. 

A premix of choky hairpins and accelerated agelong sweepers (two with treble apexes) tests some conveyance dynamics and tyres to the limit, and determination are scant fewer moments for the operator to unbend – particularly arsenic there’s astir zero runoff connected astir sections of the track.

It’s not an situation successful which you’d expect an almost-1.7-metre-tall, 5.1-metre-long behemoth to shine, yet the Lamborghini Urus SE Performante monsters its mode around, embodying a airy footedness and agility that 1 mightiness subordinate with a well-sorted high-performance GT.

We were each allotted astatine the Nardo Handling Track comprising an retired lap, 2 flying laps and a cooldown lap, truthful there’s nary clip to faff around. The program of onslaught is to strap in, consciousness the large Lambo’s responses for fractional a thigh and past commencement exploring its dynamic envelope.

Even a mates of laps are capable to glean that Lamborghini’s assertion that this is the “world’s fastest SUV” isn’t an idle boast.

There’s a immense set of torque to pat into, with the highest torque fig of 1000Nm accessible each the mode from 2000rpm to 5500rpm. Its gargantuan grunt launches the Performante retired of hairpins with a slingshot urgency that’s beyond expectations. 

Another happening that's instantly evident is that there’s nary perceptible lag betwixt adjacent the smallest steering inputs and the conveyance changing direction.

There’s an astir go-kart-like agility whereby the Urus SE Performante darts near oregon close connected request with nary perceptible hint of understeer. Even the 2 180-degree hairpins astatine Nardo are easy dispatched, without the request to upwind connected armloads of steering lock.

Four-wheel steer helps successful getting the car deftly rotated, and the immense footprint provided by the low-profile 23-inch rubber ensures the 2473kg remains glued to the tarmac.

Even though there’s an armoury of chassis-control electronics moving beneath the aboveground – including the 6D sensor mentioned earlier – the Urus SE Performante ne'er feels distant oregon synthetic. Quite the opposite. The feedback relayed to your toes, fingertips and spot of the pants is textured and organic.

The ZF eight-speed torque converter car retains the aforesaid hardware and ratios arsenic the modular Urus SE, but immoderate clever recalibration has sharpened effect and displacement times to the grade that you could beryllium fooled into reasoning it’s a dual-clutch transmission. Any tugs connected the upshift oregon downshift paddles trigger a fast, crisp displacement into a higher oregon little cog.

The garbage-can-lid-sized carbon-ceramic discs besides merit a notation arsenic – present controlled by an IPB (Integrated Power Brake) power portion – they crockery up humongous stopping power.

Acting arsenic an precocious unit modulator, the IPB overcomes the limitations of accepted ABS systems by eliminating “on-off” interventions successful favour of continuous and fluid modulation of braking torque astatine each idiosyncratic caliper. 

You tin confidently dive heavy into the braking zones – overmuch deeper than mightiness look imaginable for specified a dense conveyance – earlier stomping hard connected the pedal. Speed is wiped disconnected astatine a prodigious rate, mounting you up for a cleanable country introduction earlier utilizing the monolithic torque and traction to rocket distant erstwhile past the apex. 

The modular Urus SE already has a plethora of driving modes that are accessible via the ANIMA selector – Strada (highway), Sport (er, sport), Corsa (track), Neve (snow), Terra (gravel) and Sabbia (sand) – but the SE Performante goes 1 amended by adding a ‘Rally’ mode.

We get the accidental to illustration this connected the snaking 2.1km Strada Bianca gravel loop astatine the Nardo Test Centre. Throwing up a succession of choky corners with unsighted exits, arsenic good arsenic a mates of accelerated sweepers, this entertaining small circuit is simply a large arena successful which to trial the SE Performante’s off-road dynamics.

What you’d usually find with a big, dense SUV connected a way specified arsenic this is simply a inclination to plough consecutive up done acute corners.

Refreshingly, that’s not the lawsuit with the Lambo arsenic there’s torque vectoring successful some longitudinal and lateral planes, courtesy of an e-diff astatine the rear and an electro-hydraulic multi-plate clutch that splits powerfulness successful a adaptable ratio betwixt beforehand and rear axles.

This means you tin tube impossibly heavy into braking zones, basal connected the anchors portion concisely steering successful the other absorption to the corner, and past flick the instrumentality into the turn, with the abrupt value transportation helping get the SUV rapidly rotated.

The Urus SE Performante makes executing Scandinavian flicks truthful casual that you consciousness similar Sebastien Ogier (even though I’m intelligibly not).

You astir person to shingle your caput astatine however casual the Urus SE Performante is to manhandle connected escaped surfaces. You tin get the car dancing utilizing judicious bootfulls of throttle and fingertip power connected the steering wheel. It’s highly entertaining.

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What bash you get?

As you’d expect, the Lamborghini Urus SE Performante comes generously kitted out, but there’s plentifulness of scope for personalisation via the Ad Personam program.

Standard instrumentality highlights:

• Carbon-fibre bonnet with cardinal powerfulness dome and S-ducts
• Carbon-fibre rear wing, instrumentality arch extensions, beforehand splitter
• 22-inch alloy wheels
• Akrapovic titanium exhaust
• Electric tailgate
• Adaptive headlights incl. auto-levelling
• Cornering lights
• Automatic precocious beam
• Soft-close doors
• 8-speaker audio system
• Lamborghini Infotainment System
• Connected navigation services
• Wi-Fi hotspot
• Wireless Smartphone Interface – Apple CarPlay, Android Auto
• Online vigor
• Voice activation
• Audio theft deterrent
• 3 x LCD monitors – front
• Real-time postulation display
• 12-way powerfulness adjustable and heated beforehand seats
• 40-20-40 split-fold rear seats
• CorsaTex/leather upholstery 
• CorsaTex steering wheel
• Carbon-fibre interior trim
• Valet function
• Remote Keyless Entry
• HomeLink
• Alcantara Headliner
• 4 x 12V DC powerfulness outlets
• Air filtration

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Is the Lamborghini Urus safe?

The Lamborghini Urus SE Performante has not been clang tested by ANCAP oregon Euro NCAP, nor the NHTSA, but it’s equipped with a barrage of progressive and passive information features.

Standard information instrumentality includes:

• Adaptive cruise control
• Emergency SOS Capability
• Autonomous Emergency Braking – AEB
• Blind-spot monitoring
• Lane departure warning
• Lane-keep assist
• Parking sensors – front, rear
• Reversing AEB
• Reversing camera
• Tyre unit monitoring

Also worthy noting is the information that portion the Lambo SUV hasn't been officially crash-tested, it's based connected the aforesaid VW Group MLB evo level that underpins the likes of the Audi Q8, which portion present unrated antecedently wore a 2019-stamped five-star information rating.

To spot however the Lamborghini Urus lines up against the competition, cheque retired our comparison tool

CarExpert’s instrumentality connected the Lamborghini Urus SE Performante

If the question is “who needs the Lamborghini Urus SE Performante?” the reply is astir apt nary 1 – being capable to circulate a racetrack astatine warp velocity isn't a prerequisite for immoderate SUV.

But if the question is “who would want a Urus SE Performante?” the reply would beryllium antithetic arsenic the caller Lambo SUV flagship has undeniable desirability and wow factor.

You could, of course, besides see the Aston Martin DBX S, Bentley Bentayga Speed and Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT. Each has its ain merits, but the Latin charm of the Urus SE Performante whitethorn good beryllium much appealing for galore buyers.

The Urus’s well-rounded capabilities resulted successful it accounting for astir 70 per cent of Lamborghini’s planetary income past year, and the SE Performante looks apt to guarantee the exemplary line’s continued popularity from 2027 onwards.

Interested successful buying a Lamborghini Urus? Let CarExpert find you the champion woody here

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