If this review were a fairy tale, it would begin something like this: once upon a time, the Lamborghini Urus was the maddest of all the sports SUVs. With an exterior that was pointier than a gundog, and a bark to match from its tailpipes, you couldn’t help but notice the Urus everywhere it went – and it mesmerised and thrilled all those who encountered it.
But then, one day, Lamborghini did something even crazier than building such a madcap SUV in the first place – it turned the Urus into an eco-friendly, plug-in hybrid (PHEV). The end.
Except, it’s not the end. It is true that Lamborghini canned all the non-hybrid versions – the S and Performante – but the PHEV model, which is called the Urus SE, still has the same 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 at its heart. The difference now is the V8 is joined by an electric motor and, together, they produce nearly 800bhp. So rather than going all soft and cuddly, the SE hybrid is the most powerful Urus ever.
Lamborghini Urus video review
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That’s still not the end of the tale, though, because it does some eco-warrior stuff, too. It’ll travel up to 37 miles on battery power alone, and its exhaust emissions are ‘just’ 140g/km. Okay, that’s not going to pique the interest of Toyota Prius drivers, but it does make the most-powerful Urus ever the most efficient one as well.
The styling is basically the same as it always was, but, coinciding with the arrival of the SE, there were a few subtle changes: a restyled nose and bonnet, a lightly reworked rear end and, inside, a bigger, 12.3in infotainment screen.
Question: if you want the most extreme sports SUV money can buy, will you and the Urus live happily ever after, or has the shift to hybrid dulled the hedonism? Would you be better off with one of its rivals, which include the Audi RS Q8, Bentley Bentayga, or Porsche Cayenne? But all of those rivals share the same basic underpinnings with the Urus, so perhaps you’d be better off with something completely different, like the Aston Martin DBX or Range Rover Sport SV?
What’s new?
May 2024: Urus SE plug-in hybrid on sale combining a 4.0-litre V8 engine, electric motor and 22kWh battery for a total 789bhp
April 2024: Urus SE plug-in hybrid unveiled at Beijing Motor Show
September 2022: Standard model is now Urus S with 657bhp
August 2022: Urus Performante has 657bhp, 47kg lighter, recalibrated driving modes, revised aerodynamics
Lamborghini Urus image
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April 2018: First UK deliveries take place. All cars have carbon ceramic brakes, adaptive air suspension, four-wheel drive, four-wheel steering, six driving modes
December 2017: Production car debuts and orders open. Urus has a 641bhp twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 engine, can do 0-62mph in 3.6 seconds, 189mph top speed
April 2012: Urus concept shown at Beijing Motor Show
Overview
If it were solely down to how it drives, the Lamborghini Urus would be on five stars, end of. It handles astonishingly well, it’s ridiculously quick and, arguably, it’s the most fun and capable sports SUV you can buy. It’s definitely the car for those who favour exhilaration and theatre over a pillowy ride and quiet cruising manners – although in electric mode, it is eerily quiet. It drops to four stars because the Aston Martin DBX is almost as good to drive but does the luxury side a bit better (the interior feels more befitting the price), while the Porsche Cayenne offers 90% of the Urus’s talents for considerably less. But if you ignored those two and plumped for a Urus instead, we’d totally understand why.
Searing straight-line pace
Relatively agile and fun to drive
Thundering V8 noise
The range is only 37 miles, which isn’t far
Interior finish doesn’t match its price rivals
Seriously expensive to buy
Performance & driveWhat it’s like to drive, and how quiet it is
Strengths
Searingly quick
Great V8 noise or silent electric running
Delightfully judged ride and handling balance
Weaknesses
Some regenerative braking corruption
Slightly delayed response in hybrid mode
How fast is it and which engine is best?
Ever since Lamborghini canned the Urus S and Performante, the SE is the only powertrain on sale. And we use the term ‘powertrain’ advisedly, because the SE isn’t just furnished with a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8. It’s a PHEV, which means there’s an electric motor and a 22kWh (usable capacity) battery as well. The V8 actually produces slightly less power than it used to in the Performante (612bhp vs 666bhp), but add in the electric motor and the whole shebang adds up to 789bhp and 701lb ft of shove. That’s…quite a lot.
It makes the SE the most powerful Urus ever but, oddly, not the quickest. That’s because of weight: the SE, with the addition of the hybrid battery and electric motor, is also the heaviest Urus ever. So in the end the extra power and weight more or less cancel each other out – 0-62mph takes 3.4sec in the SE, while the less powerful but lighter Performante took 3.3sec.
If that’s a bit disappointing, maybe it’s time for some perspective. On paper, the Urus SE is still a smidge quicker than similar high-end sports SUVs, including the quickest Porsche Cayenne (the Turbo E-Hybrid GT Package), the Aston Martin DBX S, Audi RS Q8 and Bentley Bentayga Speed.
On the road it feels breakneck quick. In the raciest drive modes, which maximise performance rather than efficiency, the electric motor gives you an instant kick when you hit the accelerator; then the V8 adds its barrel-chested, unrelenting surge – right up to 194mph if you have a runway long enough. There’s also an overtake button on the steering wheel that gives you a quick burst of heightened performance, and a launch control function to give you the perfect drag-race getaway.
The eight-speed automatic gearbox is quickfire through the gears in the sportier drive modes – way more so than the Aston Martin DBX’s auto ‘box – but it does take slightly longer to kickdown if the car’s in hybrid mode, running solely on the electric motor.
In full electric mode, the Urus SE will do up to 84mph and feels more than brisk enough for mooching about urban environments. The official electric range is 37 miles, which isn’t great for a plug-in but, again, the hybrid system is more about performance than ultimate efficiency. Still, the Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid manages nearly 45 miles (WLTP) using the same 22kWh battery.
You can charge the battery up using the engine, which is pointless because it just burns more petrol. It’s more sensible to charge it from a home wall box, and a full charge takes around 3.5hrs.
Is it agile and is the ride comfortable?
Agility is the Urus’s USP, which is amazing considering it weighs around 2.5 tonnes. You’d never know that from behind the wheel, though, because there’s a host of tech designed to overcome the basic physics of getting its sheer bulk to change direction and corner quickly.
First off, the Urus is four-wheel drive, with a centre differential distributing the shove between its front and rear wheels; a subsidiary electronically limited-slip rear differential then meters out the grunt between each rear wheel. With all that in place, the Urus musters immense traction (the grip when you accelerate), but it can also feel rear-driven – and fun, like a sports car – by sending up to 100% of the shove to just the rear wheels.
It’s more likely to do that in Sport mode because that’s the Urus’s playful setting. Sport deliberately makes the rear wheels more prone to sliding (oversteering) as you accelerate out of turns. Corsa mode (corsa is Italian for race) is the most focused mode. It’s the one you’d pick if you fancied taking to the track, for instance, because it keeps the handling as neat and tidy as possible to deliver the quickest lap times.
The Urus also comes with adjustable air suspension and active anti-roll bars, which allow you to tune the ride for comfort or cornering. Strada mode (that’s street in Italian) is the most relaxed and comfortable setting for longer motorway jaunts. But, if you find yourself on a great B road, the ever-stiffer
