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Let’s kick off this review of the Lamborghini Huracan Evo Spyder - the latest open-topped version of Sant Agata’s recently refreshed baby supercar - by examining its flaws. Special though it undoubtedly is, live with one from day to day and some of its classic supercar quirks will prove to be a complete pain, quite literally in one particular case.
Settle into the sports seats - optionally electric and heated, in this case - for anything more than an hour, and your lower back will be screaming for relief. And unlike some car seats, which work better for some body types than others, these ones seemingly don’t discriminate. All but one member of the Auto Express team - all shapes and sizes - who had a go felt the same way about the Lambo’s seats and cabin ergonomics.
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It’s a cockpit which seems no less flamboyant than the rest of the car. Some might find it fussy and difficult to negotiate. Those over six foot in stature will find legroom in short supply. But the steeply raked centre console bank of toggle switches and carbon fibre-esque interior trim all adds a sense of occasion which the Audi R8 lacks.
But even before you’ve settled in, you’ll be looking at a key which seems to have been nicked from an old Audi before having a Lamborghini logo hastily glued to the end. It doesn’t really seem fitting for a £181,781 car.
Then, there’s the indicator switch. Big gearshift paddles mean that traditional stalks aren’t possible. This isn’t unusual in itself - Ferrari gets around this problem with steering-wheel-mounted thumb buttons - but Lamborghini’s solution, a tiny flick switch on the left of the steering wheel, is annoyingly fiddly. Much like the infotainment screen, which does without Android Auto, even when the £2,440 smartphone integration pack is included.
And that’s the tip of a pricey options list iceberg. A reversing camera costs an extra £1,440. A smoker’s package and a cup holder? £540. And then there’s the paint colour: yes, the ‘Arancio Xanto’ deep metallic orange looks absolutely glorious, but it costs almost ten grand. Throw in all of the other extras and it means the car you see in these pictures comes to £226,531 - £44,750 beyond the list price.
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But then you thumb possibly the coolest starter button on any car - hidden beneath a fighter jet-style flip lid - and all of that stuff suddenly becomes irrelevant. The mid-mounted 5.2-litre V10 bursts into life with a shocking bark. It’s loud enough in normal ‘Strada’ mode, but switch to Sport and you'll be heard from the other side of town. Corsa mode, complete with gunshot backfires from the twin exhaust pipes, sounds about as close to an unsilenced racing car as you’ll find on sale today.
Pull on the right-hand paddle shifter and move away, and the Huracan bobbles along the road. The low-speed ride is busy even in its most relaxed setting; the adaptive electromagnetic dampers jiggle from one bump to the next. Switch them into Sport or Corsa, and it’s so stiff that the Evo will practically skip across uneven roads. It makes the optional lifting system, which raises the front axle ride height by 40mm at the flick of a switch, an absolutely vital extra, albeit at £2,710.
But up the pace and there’s just so much composure to exploit. Body roll is non-existent, the four-wheel-drive system gives a great feeling of security, and direction changes - courtesy of both four-wheel steering and a torque vectoring system - happen near-instantaneously. If there’s one small gripe, it’s that the light steering lacks the ultimate detail you’d hope for in something so utterly focussed. But as intimidating as the Huracan Evo Spyder looks, it won’t bite your hand off without warning.
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Though we didn’t sample the new car on track, the Evo Spyder should open up an even greater gulf between itself and the previous roofless Huracan. Revisions to the bodywork mean that, according to Lamborghini, downforce levels are five times higher than before.
But it’s the engine that utterly dominates the experience. With 631bhp produced at a screaming 8,000rpm, any fleeting bursts of full-throttle acceleration are simply savage. Few things on the road are quite as astonishing to pilot near the red line than this. The soundtrack is border-line anti-social in Corsa mode, with booming, sonorous yelps bouncing off surrounding trees and buildings and straight back into the cabin.
In reality, the chances to do so on public roads are few and far between, but even on a cold, damp winter’s morning, exploiting everything the V10 has to offer little results in little more than a slight squirm from the fat Pirelli P Zero tyres. Any number of superlatives could be levelled at the noise, but in short, no matter how well-tuned Ferrari’s and McLaren’s latest turbocharged units sound, they don’t hold a candle to the drama of the Huracan’s V10.
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Of course, all of these positives and negatives apply to the Huracan Evo coupe, too. But dropping the Spyder’s fabric roof - a process which takes 17 seconds and can be operated at speeds up to 31mph - just makes the driving experience all the more intense. There’s very little buffeting with the roof down, and powerful heated seats mean that it’s possible to enjoy the open air even on a crisp February day.
And if the engine noise is too much to resist but the weather isn’t playing ball, it’s possible to lower the small glass rear screen separately, so you can get full access to that engine without getting you or the cabin damp.
- Model: Lamborghini Huracan Spyder Evo
- Price: £181,781
- Engine: 5.2-litre V10
- Power/torque: 631bhp/600Nm
- Transmission: Seven-speed automatic, four-wheel drive
- 0-62mph: 3.1 seconds
- Top speed: 202 mph
- Economy/CO2: 19.9mpg/338g/km
- On sale: Now
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