This might be the least expensive car in the lineup, but it packs 610 horsepower-worth of naturally-aspirated V10 fun.
Driving the most base model in a carmaker's lineup isn’t always ideal. For what seems like 95% of automakers, getting behind the wheel of the least-appointed models usually entails a massive amount of cost-cutting, and a general feeling of cheapness when it comes to ride quality, engine characteristics, and materials quality.
However, not when the carmaker is Lamborghini. Far from it.
Their least-expensive model, the Huracan, with its normal-opening doors and barely-over-$200,000 starting price, is indeed something else. Especially when its all-wheel drive system is ditched in favor of true-to-the-brand’s-roots, honest-to-goodness rear-wheel drive. This not only drops the starting price substantially, but also its curb weight. Power drops a tad too, but not enough to cause any concern.
The 2020 Lamborghini Huracan EVO RWD is a brutally-accelerating, fun-as-hell raging bull; I recently had a nice long weekend to come to this conclusion.
Massive thanks to Automobili Lamborghini America, LLC for covering the expenses and providing a complementary weekend with this gorgeous Viola Pasifae tester for this review.
Its starting price was $208,571, and after options and destination charge, came out to a total of $278,516.
A Wonderful Powertrain That Thumbs Its Nose At Ever-Increasing Eco-Friendliness
Despite being down on power compared to its AWD counterpart, the 5.2-liter, 40-valve V10’s output mounted up in this RWD variant is more than ample: 610 glorious, naturally-aspirated horsepower and 413 lb-ft of torque. Because it's only rear wheel drive, it has a bit less weight to push along as well: 3,062 pounds.
Thanks to these specs, the entry-level Lambo hits the 60 MPH mark in a scant 3.1 seconds, and reaches a top speed of 201 MPH.
The power plant was always entertaining, regardless of where the needle sat on its bright, digital tachometer. Whether it was calmly cruising along at 2000 RPM on the highway, or hitting its brutal 8500 RPM redline before braking into a tight left-hand turn on a fun mountain road, the noise it produced was always pure, beautiful music.
Making the experience even sweeter is the fact that it sat right behind my head; all of the mechanical and induction sounds came through to the cabin, mixing with its shrieking exhaust note to produce a wonderful symphony. In Sport and Corsa modes, it screamed even louder, and made some glorious crackles and burbles with a lift of the throttle; this gets old on most cars, but they were very much welcome following this Lambo’s lively exhaust note.
The V10's power band was progressive and a ton of fun. The mighty 5.2-liter lump revved up and down so quickly that it never took very long to reach 4,000 RPM, which is where the fun really started. Below that number, it still pulled well, and had a nice accompanying baritone growl. Putting one’s foot down from a stop, or on the highway without shifting, is sort of like poking and prodding a sleeping lion. It wakes up and snarls, and then promptly, viciously, roars.
Keeping the Huracan’s thirsty V10 full of fuel is an immense cost, but who cares? The Huracan EVO RWD is rated at 13 MPG City, 18 MPG Highway, and a combined rating of 18 MPG.
This is collar-jerkingly-low fuel economy, but also the last concern of anyone who’s in the market. It’s a small price to pay for experiencing this beautiful engine’s upper rev-range in fourth gear on a long, straight, flat road. I don’t recall the average I achieved, I simply didn’t care.
I can’t give such praise without talking about how all 610 horsepower reach the rear wheels: its seven-speed dual clutch transmission.
I was genuinely impressed by how smooth the Huracan shifted in all driving scenarios. It just changed gear; no slight jerk, no inkling of any kind of lag, it just upshifted and downshifted with a tap of one of its massive carbon fiber paddles column-mounted behind the steering wheel. The shifts were the sharpest Sport and Corsa mode, but were never jerky.
Incredibly Fun Handling, with Solid Steering to Match
At first, the 2020 Lamborghini Huracan EVO RWD sounds like it could be handful, as it doesn’t have all-wheel drive to keep its angry 5.2-liter V10 in-line. Though, my experience was quite the opposite.
Thanks to its intuitive Performance Traction Control System (P-TCS), bespoke to the RWD model, it did a great job at being lively, and never any degree of scary with traction control on. In Sport and Corsa modes, it rewarded proper inputs while carving through fun canyon roads, and the rear end only lightly stepped-out if I intended it to. Normal mode was indeed very normal; it lacked any hint of aggression and significantly cut power if I put my foot in it mid-corner while cruising around.
Building upon this intuitive traction control, I found the Huracan EVO RWD’s handling on twisty roads to be very neutral and confidence-inspiring. Thanks to a web of double wishbone suspension at all corners, a hybrid aluminum-carbon chassis, and magnetic active damping, it simply stuck to the road and exhibited no body roll whatsoever in Sport and Strada modes. No matter the scenario -braking late and slicing through a complex of tight corners, pulling through long sweepers, maintaining some maintenance throttle through tighter, off-camber sweepers- it stayed incredibly planted and held impressive cornering speeds without any drama.
Of course, its 245/35/20 front, 305/35/20 rear Pirelli P-Zero tires had a hand in its immense grip, too.
What was the most surprising about this angry little Lambo was how comfortable and docile its ride became in Normal mode. It soaked up some of the brutal tarmac in Southern California without issue. I found it rode even better than a McLaren GT I recently reviewed for a separate outlet; a supercar that was very purposefully engineered to be daily-friendly. In addition to its comfortable ride, the steering rack lightened-up significantly as well. This made rolling around sans cup holders a tad easier while going about my day (more on that later).
Steering in Sport and Corsa firmed up nicely and felt very knife-edge, though always lacked feel. This is common for modern electric steering racks, and it's a shame that Lambos’ units aren’t an exception. Each mode had great weight that adhered to its designated level of sportiness, with Normal feeling more VW Golf than supercar, but unfortunately it didn’t translate much about the tarmac’s surface.
This Huracan EVO’s brakes were conventional steel rotors with eight-piston calipers up front, four-piston calipers in the rear, and were barely-hidden behind its black mesh 20-inch forged alloy wheels. Pedal feel was solid and progressive without any hint of grabbiness. The brakes did require some warming up, however; a cold morning up in the mountains quickly affirmed this.
An Interior That Was a Nice Place to Be, Despite Being Too Tall For It
Once I was able to wedge myself inside the Huracan EVO’s cockpit, firmly held in place by my tester’s optional carbon fiber sport seat, it was a very comfortable place to be. The seat was firm and distributed my weight well, making longer bouts behind the wheel very comfortable. I had to recline it a tad more than I would’ve preferred due to my height, but not to the point of the position feeling more open-wheel formula car than supercar. The steering wheel telescoped out nice and far for optimal steering performance, ingress and egress were pretty easy for being so low to the ground, and overall visibility was good.
The interior materials of my tester were top-notch: a leather-topped dash, comfortable, Alcantara-and-leather-covered steering wheel, leather seats, Alcantara-covered trim pieces, leather floor mats, and more.
Nothing had any kind of chintzy feel to it. The cockpit was very driver-centric, and all HVAC and infotainment controls were via its big 8.4-inch touchscreen in the middle of the center console.
A lot of these were optional add-ons, and while eyebrow-raising, very on-brand. Sport seats: $7,500, roof lining and pillars in leather: $1,400, smartphone integration: $3,600; you get the idea.
Typical Lambo touches included its large number of big toggle switches, neatly aligned across the dash for the windows, lift system, hazard lights, traction control, etc. Also typical Lambo were some of their functions; pull the toggle down to raise the window, push it up to lower it; kind of backwards, but charmingly-Italian-supercar.
What's more to file under charmingly-Italian-supercar was the lack of cupholders in my tester. This is an optional package which includes one, just one, cupholder, as well as a cigarette lighter. I’m not certain what this package costs, but considering it already had a laundry-list of optional extras, it probably wouldn't be worth it. Anyone who’d get behind the wheel of something optioned exactly as such wouldn't be inclined to light up a cigarette, or be concerned with putting a coffee cup anywhere.
A Surprising Amount of Convenience
The infotainment system itself was a tad annoying to navigate through as its touch sensitivity wasn’t the greatest, and required very precise taps to adjust stereo volume, change fan speed and temperature, etc. Though, I was very impressed by how lightning-fast it brought up Apple CarPlay upon start-up, and then how easy it was to move through its Apple CarPlay menus. Weirdly, the Huracan did this better than pretty much every other car I’ve reviewed this year.
Visibility was very good; being so small and having not much car behind the seat meant that blind spots weren’t really an issue, and the mirrors conveyed the Lambo’s surroundings well. The front windshield was massive, and its low hood line tapered off quickly making frontal visibility excellent. Parking this small-yet-very-wide Lambo was easy, too, thanks to a clear backup camera in the dash with lines indicating the Lambo’s track. Combined with its light steering in Normal mode, and very sensitive parking sensors, gone are the days of impossible-to-park Lambos.
Chalk up more points to the Huracan EVO RWD as a supercar that’s very easy to live with for more than just occasional driving.
Cargo room was hilariously small, but then, longer road trips aren’t really in this beast’s wheelhouse. 3.5 cubic feet of it is all the front trunk has, good enough for one occupant’s overnight luggage.
Rounding out this little Lambo’s convenience was its suspension lift system. This wasn’t just a noise lift: it raised the entire car a few inches to vastly improve clearance. Southern California’s notoriously-steep driveways were never an issue, and if I forgot to air it back down it automatically did so once I got up to speed. It also aired up and down decently quick, quick enough to avoid any altercations with impatient SoCal drivers.
Brilliant Looks
I really dug the look of this Lamborghini Huracan EVO RWD. Luckily, Lamborghini makes it really easy for prospective owners to choose one of many wild colors, such as my tester’s beautiful, satin Viola Pasifae purple. Combined with its sharp, athletic lines and proportions, black mesh wheels, big exhaust pipes, carbon bits, and big intakes and rear vents, it made for a gorgeous overall package. It’s pretty fascinating that Lamborghini was able to build something so small and compact, with such wild design language, yet very comfortable and easy to see out of.
A Great All-Around Package
Despite being the least expensive model in Lamborghini’s lineup, the Huracan EVO RWD is a fantastic car. Substituting all-wheel drive for rear-wheel drive drops the weight significantly, and means drivers can take full advantage of tail-out fun with the brand’s advanced Performance Traction Control System. It feels as light on its feet as it does planted and solid while rocketing through corners and onto long straightaways. It’s also surprisingly easy to live with when active suspension and a lift system are optioned on.
It’s not exactly tall-person friendly, but luckily the brand accommodates this pretty well with comfortable, low-slung sport seats and a telescoping steering wheel. Once I was in, I never wanted to get out; it was such a pleasant place to be.
Adding to this was its glorious-sounding engine, brilliant handling, and brutal acceleration. The Huracan EVO RWD might be very easy to drive and pretty docile in the right mode, but it still has all the drama and wild charisma that the brand takes pride in. You hear the mechanical noises of the high-strung V10, feel every slight increase of its torque curve, and have the ability to shatter bystanders’ eardrums with its thunderous exhaust note. What’s not to love?