Lamborghini Huracan LP 610-4 2014 Review

I've flown half way around the world to drive the Lamborghini Huracan, and I can't fit in it – that's the first thought enters my mind as I squeeze over the high sill and down into the seat.

At 185cm tall, even the lowest base setting for the Huracan's electrically-controlled, heated and superbly trimmed seat isn't sufficient, forcing me to adopt a laid-back pose more in tune with Chapel Street cruising than fast-lap fanging.

We're at Japan's Fuji raceway for the dynamic launch of the Huracan in the Asia Pacific region. That doesn't mean right-hand drive, however. The array of raging LP 610-4s sitting in pit lane are all left-hookers – and it's drizzling. No pressure, then.

Ahead of us is a series of on-circuit driving tests, co-ordinated by Lamborghini Squadra Corse chief instructor, Marco Apicella, a former Formula 1 driver with Jordan back in 1993.

The tests – slalom, braking and standing start acceleration – are designed to highlight Huracan's strengths, and allow drivers to familiarise themselves with the $428,000, 448kW baby bull before observed circuit lapping is allowed.

It also affords an opportunity to try the three driving modes, activated by the ANIMA (Italian for ‘soul') switch on the almost-rectangular steering wheel.

Once I've overcome my headroom challenge, I realise just how special a place the interior of the Huracan is. There are swathes of beautifully finished alcantara and leather, tactile jet fighter-style switchgear and lovely extended gearshift paddles. Column mounted, these sculptural beauties belong in an art gallery.

Firing up any Lamborghini is an event almost as visceral as the drive itself, and the Huracan is no exception. Flip the centre console toggle, hit the red switch and the 5.2-litre V10 flares briefly, aggressively, before settling down to a relatively unobtrusive idle.

We are encouraged to take off in Strada (road) mode with automatic shifting selected for the new seven-speed, dual-clutch transmission. Squeezing the accelerator there's a typical slight delay as drive is taken up, though it is already a vast improvement on the Gallardo's automated manual system. If you can drive a DSG-equipped Volkswagen Golf, you can drive the Huracan.

Strada smoothly slurs upshifts, while also affecting steering and throttle response rates, engine sound, stability control intervention and suspension damper tuning with comfort and safety in mind. You are free to select ‘M' on the centre console to engage the tranmssion's manual mode, but the Huracan will still auto-upshift and kick-down gears automatically if you breach the throttle détente, which sits at about 90 per cent of pedal travel.

Through the slalom there is a confidence about the Huracan's turn-in and balance, though you can feel the built-in softness. The chassis is slightly delayed in responding to driver inputs and the all-wheel drive system reacts to loads with a quite obvious shift of drive bias.

The default drive split is 30:70 front-to-rear, though the system is capable of varying this from 0:100 up to 50:50 as required.

Braking, via standard-fit carbon ceramics, is inspired, with far better pedal feel than previous carbon-braked Lamborghinis. The strength of the brakes exaggerates the weight balance to the front axle under hard braking giving a feeling of lightness to the rear which can be disconcerting. The 305/30-series Pirelli P Zeros – marked ‘L' to indicate a Lamborghini-specific tyre, 245/35 up-front – pattering slightly before settling.

For the straight-line acceleration test, I select Sport mode. Instantly the Huracan tenses, rising to the task of sending me to 200km/h in 9.9 seconds. The cabin suddenly fills with the most glorious, dirty V10 sound as we shoot for the rambunctious 8500rpm redline. The car achieves this with such ferocity that it's quicker to let it shift automatically (it does this in Sport, rather than snag the limiter) as you can't quite time the fully manual shift in Corsa mode.

It is in Sport mode that the Huracan comes alive, with less longitudinal and lateral roll and quicker response from both the transmission and the variable ratio steering system. Brakes remain tireless, but now you can play the V10 out from 1000rpm (where 75 per cent of the 560Nm torque peak is available) right through to redline. Back off, and there's audible exhaust crackle. It's rich and complex – art in aural form – and the sharpness of throttle response… Lamborghini, please don't ever go turbo.

The final move to Corsa (Race mode) is less obviously revealing than the shift to Sport, however, the further reduction in stability control intervention becomes apparent. Into a couple of tricky Fuji braking zones, where some steering lock as well as braking pressure is required, the rear end becomes feisty, while corner exits see the stability control light flicker to trim excesses away, working in unison with the all-wheel drive system.

Slow your inputs, smooth out your transitions from brake, to steer, to throttle, and the Huracan hunkers down and fires out of hairpins.

Fuji's 1.5-kilometre straight allows speeds in excess of 270km/h, even behind the instructor. Rolling off the throttle at such speeds reveals the Huracan is less stable at such speeds than it perhaps should be, ‘wandering' slightly before settling as speed drops, despite the press release indicating a 50 per cent increase in downforce over Gallardo.

A definitive verdict of just how good the Huracan is will have to wait until we drive it locally, on Australian roads and their bumps, crests and draconian speed limits. But after this initial drive, it has certainly moved the Gallardo game on, in a big way. If only I could fit in it…