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Lamborghini Urus S Road Test: The less-than-raging bull

It’s no secret that the Lamborghini Urus is its brandÂ’s most successful model ever if weÂ’re going by sheer sales volume. The SUVÂ’s been finding homes at a rate unlike any Lamborghini before it, which is something anyone couldÂ’ve seen coming when it launched here about seven-odd years ago – thanks for kickstarting the trend, Porsche. Now, the launch of the Urus S and Urus Performante (the latter weÂ’ve already reviewed) are finally giving original Urus owners an option to upgrade to. Its “S” nomenclature might sound like itÂ’s a new trim level, but youÂ’re better off thinking of it as representing the mid-cycle refresh of the Urus, as there is no simple “Urus” anymore. Your options are now either the S or the Performante. The SE plug-in hybrid will join the party eventually, but thatÂ’s not until the 2025 model year. The list of “whatÂ’s new” is a short one, but the changes are some your neighbors might notice. For example, the S gets a new front end thatÂ’s less busy and simpler in nature with horizontal slats across the bumper/grille being the dominating pattern. ItÂ’s arguably a touch less obnoxious looking, though itÂ’s the opposite around back. The new rear diffuser has more strakes, features a honeycomb garnish, and the rear bumper has some extra-spicy-looking vents that are integrated into the rear wheel surrounds. ItÂ’s an aggressive look and serves to visually widen the carÂ’s stance. Nothing much changes along its sides, but a subtle “S” logo makes its way to the rocker panels to designate this Urus as the updated one. Designers didnÂ’t take any chances, though would-be buyers can with a massively expanded selection of colors, wheels, style packages and material customization options. This extended level of choices carries into the interior, where Lamborghini touts a similar degree of individualization expansion. Beyond the aesthetics, the Urus S enjoys the PerformanteÂ’s revised 4.0-liter twin-turbo . Output stands at 657 horsepower and 627 pound-feet of torque, amounting to a 16-pony increase over the previous Urus and a one-tenth reduction in the 0-62 mph time that now stands at 3.5 seconds. Its eight-speed automatic transmission carries over, so yes, this powertrain is still the same as seen in various Porsche/Audi/Bentleys. Of course, that doesnÂ’t mean that it didnÂ’t go to Lamborghini finishing school.

Lamborghini Huracan to get What3Words navigation

The Lamborghini Huracan will soon launch a novel navigation system that can take you to any point on the globe with incredible specificity. It relies on a geocoding system called What3Words that, as the name implies, uses a combination of just three words — rather than building numbers and street names — to describe locations. Here's how it works. The creators of What3Words divided the entire planet into 10 by 10 foot squares and randomly assigned three words to each one. There are 57 trillion squares in all, each with three words pulled from a pool of 40,000 in the English language. For example, the Washington Monument has a pretty confusing street address: 2 15th St NW, Washington, DC 20024. What3Words identifies that location as "congratulations, fingernails, desk". The idea is that those three words are much less prone to misinterpretation, especially by a computer or voice recognition system. Its level of granularity also has advantages if, say, you're trying to tell a friend where you're waiting at large concert venue. It can also get very precise in areas where there are no roads or buildings at all. In fact, the app helped rescuers locate a group of lost hikers in the U.K. To be fair, the system isn't exclusive to Lamborghini; the Huracan is just the first to roll out this technology in conjunction with Alexa's voice activated navigation, according to the New York Times. The Huracan will receive this functionality this year. For the record, the 2018 Mercedes A-Class was the first car to use What3Words for navigation. Of course, the system isn't perfect. Unless someone gives you a What3Words address, you still have to translate a regular street address to the What3Words address in order to use the system. Also, its random nature doesn't really provide an intuitive relationship between one location or another. With street addresses, you understand that 100 Main Street and 102 Main Street are near each other, while 900 Main Street might be far away. And you can see whether you're getting closer or farther by looking at the numbers. The square directly north of "congratulations, fingernails, desk" is "dome, next, senses". So there might still be a while before What3Words is adopted for widespread use. We could see this being useful in an off-road vehicle meant to venture into the wilderness. Still, the more options the better, and if What3Words does become commonplace, the Lamborghini Huracan will be ready.

Listen to the Lamborghini Hurac'an fire up

Lamborghini just revealed all the juicy details about its 2015 Huracán this morning, but apparently Autobild was on hand for a photo shoot of the car, and shot this quick video of the new Lambo starting up. It's not a rev-happy video, but we're still happy a camera was on hand to capture the raucous exhaust note as the 610-horsepower V10 roared to life.
The note emanating from the Huracán's quad exhaust outlets doesn't sound quite as high-strung as an Aventador or Reventón, but it's definitely a throatier, more menacing sound than the Gallardo it was designed to replace. While the video posted below is a good tease of what the car sounds like in real life, we can't wait to hear this engine hitting its peak horsepower at 8,250 rpm.