Lamborghini Huracan LP580-2 2016 Review

The world's supercar makers have a problem. Their cars are getting more powerful and faster with each new generation but the talent of their customer base isn't rising at the same rate. Across a global average it might even be declining, as sales spread into the bits of the world with no previous performance car culture. So how to make your customers feel like driving heroes, without actually killing them?

Cue the Lamborghini Huracan LP580-2; most likely travelling sideways in a cloud of smoke.

This is a car that's been designed to answer that question, a rear-wheel drive version of the Huracan that serves as both the new entry point to Lambo ownership, but also as a rawer and more exciting car than its four-wheel driven sister, and one designed to flatter even the modestly talented.

The sweet talk comes courtesy of Sport mode of the 580-2's switchable ANIMA dynamic settings. In the 610-4 Sport is just an intermediate dynamic setting between the road-friendly Strada and the track-focused Corsa, but in the RWD car it's been repurposed to be, basically, drift mode. Once engaged it slackens the reign on the stability control system to allow pretty much anything short of what would cause an outright spin, tweaking the car's other systems to become as sideways-friendly as possible; from throttle response to softening the dampers to allow for drift-inducing weight transfer.

Like most magic tricks it's deeply impressive until you spot what's going on behind the scenes.

Lamborghini chose to introduce the 580-2 to us at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar, best known for hosting a round of the MotoGP bike championship, and featuring an abundance of long, drift-friendly corners and a fine coating of desert sand to make things even more interesting.

We're encouraged to use Sport mode to find out what it can do, but we're also ordered not to turn the stability control fully off.

The reason soon becomes clear, with the Huracan's still active electronic safeguards clearly supplying the bulk of the talent at holding a drift. Making it do its thing is simplicity itself: turn into a corner, accelerate through an initial push of understeer until, with the glorious mid-mounted V10 snarling, the back end snaps into oversteer with all the apparent drama of a duck entering a pond.

All you need to do is to keep the steering pointing in the right direction and a sufficiently generous dose of throttle applied and the car holds the sort of angle that would make Ken Block's Italian cousin proud for as long as you want.

It's a major ego trip. One that makes you feel like a driving deity the first time you experience it.

But although you can almost persuade yourself that this is merely confirmation of your natural talent, it's not hard to find the evidence that the car is doing most of the work for you. It's in the way the steering lightens and tightens mid-drift as the stability control sends course correcting brake inputs to the front end, and more tellingly, in the Huracan's casual tolerance for the sort of excessive throttle that should see it leaving the track backwards.

The good news is that, other than the reduction in traction, choosing the rear-driven 'Can doesn't bring any other notable disappointments.

As its name suggests the 580-2's 5.2-litre V10 has been fractionally downtuned when compared to the 610-4, with 427kW instead of 448. The point at which peak power is delivered and the rev limiter have both fallen by 250rpm, to 8000rpm and 8500rpm respectively. But there's no apparent loss of top-end sound and fury and the Huracan's throttle response remains noticeably sharper than its turbocharged rivals.

The savings on both sides of the -2's power-to-weight ratio means there's no apparent loss of performance. The loss of the electronically controlled clutch pack that takes the AWD's traction forwards and related hardware has saved a modest 33kg. But the upshot is a car that, beyond initial launch or trying to find traction out of a slower turn, feels every bit as rapid as its big sister.

Lambo's claimed 3.4sec 0-100km/h time is two tenths behind that of the 610, but the advantage seems to be entirely due to the extra launch grip. The deficit is an identical 0.2 seconds on the two cars' 0-200km/h numbers.

The 580's top speed is 320km/h, 5km/h slower than the 610 -- unlikely to be a deal breaker in itself.

Only having driven the 580-2 on track at Losail means there was limited opportunity to assess its real-world appeal, but this seems effectively identical to that of the 610-4.

Underneath, the same seven speed twin-clutch gearbox provides smooth and fast shifts in either manual or automatic modes and – with the optional switchable dampers fitted to the cars in Qatar – decent composure when asked to digest chunks of the circuit's kerbs.

The only real dynamic criticism is with the steering. Apparently the car's in Qatar weren't fitted with Lamborghini's sometimes controversial ratio-tweaking active steering system, but the electrical assistance still smothers almost all sensation regardless of which ANIMA mode the car is in. The steering is accurate and you get used to it quickly, it's just a shame it wasn't more involving considering how good the rest of the car is.

As before the 'Strada' mode seems far too conservative – definitely one for a timid lottery winner who has traded up straight from a ancient supermini – with lots of dialled-in understeer on track and, with the gearbox in auto mode, a determination to get into top gear as soon as possible.

The hardest-cored 'Corsa' mode was actually the most impressive, working to maximise grip over slip when compared to the digitally delivered tail happiness in Sport.

You'll go round a racetrack fractionally slower in a 580-2 than you would in a 610-4, but you'd wear a broader grin while doing so.

This is definitely an early look at the supercar of the future though -- one designed to fluff the ego of those who might have spent more effort on earning their fortunes than on learning to drive. It makes sense, and it's not as if the 580-2's drift-happy behaviour compromises it in other areas, or limits the excitement it can deliver.

On first impressions, it's the pick of the Huracan range for those who prefer thrills to ultimate performance.

2016 Lamborghini Huracan LP580-2 pricing and specifications:
Price: $378,900
Engine: 5.2-litre V10
Output: 426kW/540Nm
Transmission: Seven-speed twin clutch, rear wheel drive
Fuel: 11.9l/100km (EUDC)
CO2: 278g/km
Safety rating: Not tested