Everyone who sees you in the Lamborghini Urus will think you’re a rock star. They look longer at the car, and you can see them trying to see who’s in the driver’s seat.
They watch you as you get out and hand the key to the valet. They drive by slowly at traffic lights so they can get a better look at you, or the car.
Feeling like a star is just the first thing you’ll have to get used to if you decide this is the car for you, which, after you’ve driven it, you can see; even with a starting price of $229,000, it’s a very special supercar.
After driving the Urus S, a twin turbo V8 that produces 666 HP, it’s easy to see why it’s Lamborghini’s most popular model; 60% of Lamborghinis sold last year were Urus SUVs.
She’s a special beast and she demands a special owner. This is what you need to know if she’s on your dream list.
Lamborghini’s signature taillights and headlights, slim, glowing and arrow-like, are iconic from hundreds of yards away. They are easy to pick out in traffic, even in the daytime. I saw a few Urus during my test drive and the lights were the giveaway, telling me to get ready to share a knowing glance with the other driver.
And that’s not a bad thing at all, though it may be overwhelming at first.
Take a moment, don’t be afraid to ask someone to show you around and soon, you’ll find every thing you need is at your fingertips. And, driving it will feel second nature because most functions you need are on the steering wheel.
A dedicated climate panel allows you to quickly tap temperature and fan settings, or use the voice activation button on the steering wheel to quickly turn up the air. A head up display puts key information such as speed and navigation in your field of vision.
That way you never have to take your eyes off the road or your hands off the wheel. Until you want to turn this supercar into a track beast. That’s the next thing you’ll have to get used to: Learning to drive like a pro.
We expect the roar of a performance engine to make us feel the excitement of a track, but Lamborghini goes beyond with a start-up procedure and stages of sport mode that add to the thrill.
Lift the red aluminum door and, with your foot on the brake, push the start button, and lower the door. Strada, or street mode, is the default.
For more power, pull the Anima lever to put the car in Sport and pull it twice for Corsa, or track mode;
this turns off traction control. Pull it three times for Neve, or snow mode; this is essentially all wheel drive.
If you really want to customize your drive, pull the Ego bar to set your level of suspension, steering and engine to normal, sport or off.
From there, some settings are obvious: “P” for park; “M” for manual (or, just pull the paddle shifters for
manual) and pull the lever marked “R” back for reverse. But something is missing. There’s no “D” mode. Pull the paddle, either one, for drive, as is done in Lamborghini’s sports coupes.