The silence of the Lamb(o)

Last year, Lamborghini celebrated six decades of logic-defying motoring. From making something as agricultural as a farm tractor to as luxurious as a yacht, if there’s one thing that defines Lamborghini’s 60-year-long run, it has to be the ability to display its engineering prowess without being confined by the kind of automobile it makes. Having said that, it’s highly unlikely that we’d be talking about a Lamborghini that’s not a ballistic missile on four wheels here, so here goes; and what a missile the new Revuelto is! It replaces the well-appreciated (but also ageing) Lamborghini Aventador, and as the Italian carmaker’s flagship, it has been presented with shoes the size of Big Foot’s and a heart as large as the blue whale’s. So, how well it fares? We find out all about the brand-new Lamborghini in our first drive report.

Lamborghini has a celebrated history of making V12 cars. Nearly all well-known Lambos that doubled up as posters — and more recently, as wallpapers — had a V12 engine. Underneath the striking bodywork was nearly always a sonorous V12, whose noise would ricochet off the walls of the urban architecture, while on roads open and wide, the wail of its exhaust could be heard from far away, ensuring those anticipating your arrival could revel in what was easily some of the best man-made orchestras. You would get inside the cabin, fire up the V12 and it wouldn’t require more than a few mm of accelerator travel to make you understand that you are at the helm of something not just unique but also challenging. Ask anyone who’s driven a V12-engined Lamborghini and there’s very little chance that they wouldn’t be able to recall the experience without a smile on their face. I drove the Aventador a few years ago and that’s etched quite strongly in my memory. Wonder how the new one drives...

If you’re coming from the Aventador, you’ll find the Revuelto’s cabin not only better put together but also more spacious

The thing with the Revuelto is that it’s no ordinary car, even by flagship Lamborghini standards. To fill in the shoes of cars like the Countach, Miura, Diablo, Murcielago and even the Aventador once existed is an incredibly big ask. Despite that, Lamborghini is confident that the new car has all that takes to steer the brand in the right direction.

By now, given how the world operates, you’d have assumed that it’s powered by a forced-induction V8 or a V10, with Lamborghini having possibly ditched the V12 for something more sensible (relatively, of course). Allow me to break it to you that you’d be completely wrong. The Italian carmaker continues the tradition and has given the Revuelto an engine that’s not just more powerful but also comes with the same number of cylinders as before. Another plus is that it still breathes in air naturally, which shouldn’t come as a surprise when you see that the maximum power is developed at 9,250 rpm.

1001 bhp output

The Revuelto, successor to the Aventador, gets a 6.5-litre naturally aspirated V12 which makes 825 bhp and 74 kg-m. Promising figures but not quite Lamborghini supercar-worthy one would think. Yeah, I’d have assumed, too, but then, in addition to the V12, it also gets three electric motors, taking the combined output to 1,001 bhp. That sounds frenetic on paper, and I don’t see a reason to believe otherwise because the 0-100 km/h time is claimed to be a mere 2.5 seconds. That’s less time than you’d take to register the fact that this car can — without any mods or optional extras — do more than 350 km/h. That’s despite weighing nearly 1,800 kg and spanning nearly 5 metres in length. Not just logic, this one clearly defies Physics, too.

With the combination of electric and petrol powertrain, as a plug-in hybrid, the Revuelto is also offered the ability to indulge in EV-only motoring — with 178 bhp to play with for 10 km to be exact. This means you can start the car without waking up the neighbours, or try your luck at making silent getaways without anyone noticing. Of course, if you’re driving a V12 Lamborghini and don’t have uncountable hours with it, you too will like to summon the engine instead. Flick the red dial to ‘Strada’ (which is Italian for ‘street’) and you’ll have the V12 engine’s symphony taking over in no time.

The first thing you’ll notice about the Revuelto is that it takes off more gracefully than the Aventador, without the abruptness of the single-clutch gearbox, as you pick up speed. There’s still plenty of urgency and just about a jolt with every shift, but it allows you to focus on other aspects of driving — like enjoying the drama the engine brings. It revs all the way up to 9,500 rpm but in practice you don’t even need to reach the limiter to get enough impetus to attain scarily fast speeds. Its maximum torque is developed at just under 7,000 rpm, and there’s an abundance of mid-range grunt, which makes living with the car surprisingly easy, for which, its hybrid powertrain deserves a good pat on its back.

Most powerful V12

Completely exposed to the elements (although weather-sealed) and covering a fair bit of your view in the in-cabin rear-view mirror, the V12 power plant is equipped with a new cylinder head, higher compression ratio, new pistons and reworked manifolds. It’s also every bit as special as you would expect a Lamborghini engine to be — it’s the lightest and most powerful production V12 by the carmaker. Longitudinally mounted, it’s been turned 180 degrees with the eight-speed AT gearbox hanging at the back, placed transversely. In the transmission tunnel now sits a 3.8 kWh battery which powers the three electric motors in the car (two at the front axle and one above the gearbox).

And not for a moment did I feel that it was a nearly two-tonne car that I drove. Not only is it more docile than its supercar status might make you believe, but it’s also more forgiving. The steering is light and precise (exactly how you’ll want in a car like this), its torque vectoring system works brilliantly well, and the presence of rear-wheel steer is worth appreciating, too. The way the hybrid powertrain catapults the car out of corners deserves a mention, if we haven’t spoken about the V12 enough. Even with the presence of electric motors, it’s still the centre of attention, the engine, and offers many reasons for you to believe why — like the inimitable sound and strong power delivery. Then there’s the inordinate amounts of grip from the all-wheel drive; it comes with Bridgestone Potenza Sport tyres — on a mix of 20- and 21-inch wheels. The brakes, too, are worth a mention — the 10-piston carbon ceramics have a stronger bite than the ones on the Huracan Tecnica!

If you’re coming from the Aventador, you’ll find the Revuelto’s cabin not only better put together but also more spacious. Weird that we’re talking about practicality on a blisteringly fast Lambo, but it’s a huge improvement over the past. While the optional Sport seats are a touch too stiff, the Comfort seat is just fine. The digital console looks impressive, there’s a digital display for the passenger, too, and a small infotainment screen, which loves to accumulate fingerprints. There’s also a charging pad for your smartphone while storage space is limited to the frunk and some behind the seats. The steering feels superb to hold and gets huge gearshift paddles behind it. The all-important red dial lets you toggle between driving modes while the other one allows to operate features like nose life and switch suspension stiffness: between soft and hard, a bit binary, in that regard, but it’s a Lamborghini.

A proper Lamborghini, at that. The V12 hybrid powertrain is exceptionally good, the way the Revuelto drives is unlike anything else I’ve experienced, its ride quality isn’t bad at all, and I won’t be able to say enough about its composure — it’s that good. It’s also a maverick, not following the herd towards electrification and rather embracing what Lamborghini fans expect from it. It’s true that it has imperfections and its heavy price tag (of close to ₹10 crore) won’t make up for those, but if you’re looking for a V12 Lamborghini that embraces the present as willingly as it holds on to its legacy, it’s highly unlikely that anything (from the past or even the future) will come close to the Revuelto.