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2020 Lamborghini Aventador S Review | One last go in the ring

A sign at the Miura Ranch in Andalusia, Spain, warns any careless human, “Ganado Bravo – Prohibito Entrar.” Brave Cattle – Do Not Enter. The cattle at issue are specifically bulls, and Ferruccio LamborghiniÂ’s visit to the ranch in the 1960s – Lamborghini himself was a Taurus – would provide the thematic source for the names of his cars. Legend says Murcielago, a Navarra fighting bull, was sired into Don Antonio MiuraÂ’s breeding line in 1879 after surviving 24 stabs from the matadorÂ’s espada – the audience had clamored for the matador to spare the bullÂ’s life. The bull christened Aventador got no such reprieve, killed by Matador Emilio Munoz during a bullfight in 1993 in Zaragoza. Aventador did, though, fight fiercely enough to earn the accolade Trofeo de la Pena La Madronera, awarded to the bravest bull by ZaragosaÂ’s only female bullfighting club, La Madronera. Then someone cut off one of AventadorÂ’s ears and gave it to Munoz as a trophy. The Lamborghini Aventador, over a run of nine years and going, has fought just as bravely as its namesake and deserves the same trophy. It also – as much as it pains me to write this – deserves to be put to rest. The looks of the 2020 Lamborghini Aventador S Roadster donÂ’t disappoint. Despite the name changes since Marcelo GandiniÂ’s 1974 Countach, LamborghiniÂ’s flagship has largely been an acolyte of the Porsche 911 school of evolutionary design. Nevertheless, every one of the AventadorÂ’s angled, unsparing lines acts like an arrestor cable on passers-by. Long, low, wide in front, and swelling to a carrier-esque beam in the rear, the Aventador is the kind of ruthless transport weÂ’d expect from Cyberdyne Systems or the Weyland-Yutani Corporation – no trace of weakness in it, nor any compassion. Breathtaking instead of beautiful. The only respite from the malice of the test car was in its color, Blu Cephus Pearl. A vivacious neighbor, as soon as she saw the car, christened it Deja Blue. That took some edge off the menace. Almost everything in the cabin is tailored excellence. The look and feel of the stitched leather, the seats, the craftsmanship, all could have come from an Italian atelier – and essentially, for any whoÂ’ve seen the leather shop at SantÂ’Agata Bolognese, they did. The compact cabin provides room for 6-footers; the seats provide continent-crossing comfort.

2020 Lamborghini Urus Road Test | How many bags of steer manure can it haul?

The question posed in the headline probably got your attention, as a headline should. You might also be wondering how many wet, muddy golden retrievers the 2020 Lamborghini Urus can carry home from a swim. Or how many seat-kicking Girl Scouts will drop their ice cream cones as you fling them around in your Urus on their way to a field trip. Or how many board-feet you can load while on a Lamborghini lumber run to Home Depot. And the answer to all of the above is: Beats me. If you think I tried any of that in a car with a $200,000 base price — $270,000 as tested — then youÂ’d be almost as nuts as me if I had. Most of those activities were probably specifically forbidden in the fine print of the 18-page loan agreement anyway. Yes, the Lamborghini Urus is an SUV. (ItÂ’s pronounced “Ooh-rous,” by the way.) No, it is not that kind of SUV, the kind that has “utility” as its middle name. Nobody who buys this is going to get it anywhere close to fertilizer, mud, ice cream or splinters. Nobody is cross-shopping the Urus against a Highlander or Explorer. It is, instead, an extreme expression of the quest for more power, more luxury, and the craze for crossovers. Auto brands, as they are wont to do, are building the high-riding vehicles that people want, which happen to be vastly profitable. Ne plus ultra brands such as Rolls-Royce, Bentley and Lamborghini are not immune to that lure, and so they are now offering SUVs with arch luxury, uber performance and the most hoity brand cachet. Just wait until the Ferrari Purosangue hits the streets. And sure enough, the SUV formula works for the high rollers, too. Lamborghini sold more than 8,200 vehicles worldwide last year, an annual increase of 43%. And thatÂ’s because 5,000 of them were the Urus. The window sticker says 70% of the carÂ’s content is from Germany — put another way, itÂ’s mostly an Audi. But the 30% that is Lamborghini is what makes its base price nearly three times the $68,200 base price of the mechanically related Audi Q8.  When the opportunity arose to drive a Urus for a weekend, I puzzled over what exactly to do with it. With more lowly SUVs or trucks in the press fleet, auto writers typically load and haul their families and stuff to see how well the utility vehicle in question does its job in everyday life. But thatÂ’s not possible with the Urus. You canÂ’t in good conscience get the thing dirty, or risk a scuff or scratch.

Autoblog's top 50 car photos of 2016

This one shouldn't need much explanation. We like cars a whole lot, and that includes not just driving them but taking great pictures of them. We've collected our 50 favorite images from this year in the mega-gallery above. It's a mix of old and new, with a healthy dose of vintage and modern race cars mixed in, and not one single shot under the harsh lights of an auto show. So click through and enjoy. Featured Gallery Autoblog's Top 50 Photos of 2016 View 50 Photos Image Credit: Copyright 2016 Autoblog.com Audi BMW Chevrolet Dodge Ferrari Ford Lamborghini Mazda McLaren Mercedes-Benz Porsche Rolls-Royce Volvo Convertible Coupe Motorcycle Luxury Racing Vehicles Performance Supercars Classics