Lamborghini Temerario First Drive: 920hp Hybrid Successor To The Huracan Roars Onto The Track

Two years ago, Lamborghini pulled the wraps off its new Temerario at the super posh Monterrey Car Week in California, USA. The week, dedicated to wheels and luxury, attracts the who’s who of this planet and is the perfect ground for a brand like Lamborghini to showcase something new. Something, somewhat out of the usual Italian box. In this case, a hybrid.

The Temerario is Lambo’s successor to a distinguished line of “entry-level” Lamborghinis. A mantle it takes from the very mad V10 powered Huracan, which took it over from the just as crazy Gallardo in 2013. Both the Gallardo and the Huracan had a 10-year shelf life each and one can therefore assume that the Temerario is going to be around for some length of time. The other thing that’s almost certain is that the Temerario has some really big shoes to fill because the Huracan had a serious fan following worldwide. As did the Gallardo before it.

Lamborghini Temerario: Design And Styling

A Lamborghini needs to look angry and aggressive. The screaming, shouting Twitter (or X) personality to your delicate and artsy Instagram act. And the Temerario excels at that angry young thing look. Nose to the ground low stance, muscled haunches, angle-y bonnet blending into the steeply raked windscreen and that fat overpowering derriere. Subtle isn’t part of this Lambo’s character. Not even in a sedate white. This looks like a stomping, bellowing, raging bull, dying to break free and make a run for it. Exactly like the golden one trapped in that iconic black shield with the gold edging that forms the legendary Lambo logo.

Then you step inside. Or drop inside perhaps. This is a really low car and you’ll need to be reasonably fit to get in. But once you’re in, it’s quite comfortable; at least as much as a supercar of this sort can be. The seats are sport bucket seats and hug you tight without much squirm room. Not very comfortable on a day-to-day kind of perspective but out here on a race track they hold you like a mother’s hug. Reassuring.

The cabin also screams sporty with its generous yardage of Alcantara, a flat-bottomed steering wheel with multiple buttons and dials to help you alter settings on the go – including unleashing a Drift Mode and the aluminium pedals. Screens there are only two to speak of. The vertical one in the centre is for all connectivity, climate control and vehicle settings, but it’s the horizontal one in front of the passenger that really says something about the real reason behind the existence of this Lambo. That one offers infotainment controls of course, but far more important, presents live vehicle data and performance stats.

Powertrain & Chassis

The Temerario uses a cutting-edge multi-tech spaceframe made of aluminium as its chassis. Thanks to this new way of making a chassis, the spaceframe is 25 per cent more rigid when it comes to torsional stiffness. There are fewer welds to be made, which means a less complex manufacturing process and it uses half the structural components in its chassis compared to the Huracan it replaces. And believe it or not, in spite of its snug cabin, there is more headroom and legroom than you’d expect. At 6 feet tall, I had no issues fitting in. Even with the track mandated helmet.

The Temerario puts out more than 900 horsepower from its 4-litre twin turbocharged V8 working in collaboration with three electric motors. The petrol engine is a masterpiece of engineering, capable of revving all the way up to a mind-blowing 10,000 revolutions of its flat plane crank and produces 800HP and 730Nm of torque. Together with the e-motors there is 920 horses to be tamed, if you’re that good a cowboy. Transmission from the engine is via an 8-speed dual clutch gearbox to the rear wheels. Two of the three electric motors sit on the front axle while the third augments the engine’s output at the rear axle. So, you do get all-wheel-drive but with a heavy output bias towards the rear wheels.

The Drive Experience

Four laps of the 5.14-kilometre long Buddh International Circuit seemed too little as we drove out in convoy. India’s only F1 track, this was designed by the great Herman Tilke and combines technical turns, superfast straights, a sweeping and tricky parabola with varying elevations to offer one of the most engaging driving experiences you can have within our borders. I can never have enough of this place.

Sighting lap done, down went the hammer and out came that raging stomping angry bull character. The engine howls its way through your head as you tear down the main straight and past the pitwall on the right. “Monkeys. Watch out for monkeys!” The instructor’s bark sounds like restrained mild panic. At the pair of yellow cones, it’s hard on the brakes and a 90-degree right before the 90-degree left that climbs towards the hairpin that is Turn 3. “Remember, the wheels must be straight when you get on the throttle,” he tells me. I unwind the steering wheel and as I cross the cone that marks the exit with the wheels straight, I bury my right foot.

What happens next is a sensory overload of noise, vibrations and speed. Everything around me is reduced to a blur and I dare not look at the speedo. The 1.006km long back straight – the longest straight of the circuit, feels like its has been shortened to about a quarter of that length. A tap on the brakes before the bump to settle the car and then hard on the brakes after to be able to make the next set of turns, which test the best of drivers. All too soon we’re into the dramatic looking parabola, a slight lift of to line it up for the last section before heading back to the main straight. One more lap and then it’s cool down and back to the pits.

Entering the pits I realise I have not had the time to actually assess this thing on the go. It takes all your focus and no, it’s not happy with some. It wants all your attention. Your undivided attention. Steering response is razor sharp and as quick as you can think, and you better think fast. Time between corners is reduced to a minimal, even if you don’t stay in gear all the way to that insane 10,000rpm redline. This is a rocket and the official data proves it. The Temerario will do 0-100kmph in a blistering 2.7 seconds and then 200 in 7.1 before tearing through the wind to its top speed of 343kmph. The acceleration feels incredible, despite the safety net of electronics that you’ll inevitably need to make sure those 920 horses stay in the corral and in your control. And then there are the brakes. Carbon ceramic discs, 410mm at the front and 390 at the back with 10-piston callipers. If you want to feel the expression ‘Stopping on a dime,’ try these out. From 100kmph to a complete standstill it will do in just 32 metres. That’s deceleration strong enough for your heart to want to explore beyond the ribcage.

The Verdict

This isn’t a car that you conclude with a verdict because you don’t buy a Lamborghini because you need it. You buy it because you want it. So, the question that the Temerario really has to answer is, is it desirable enough to make you want it? Like, really want it. Twenty-four hours after I got out of that car, I’m still thinking about it. Now that should tell you, if I found it desirable.