Revuelto is a big leap for Lamborghini

The Revuelto is the ultimate achievement for Lamborghini fans. For years, enthusiasts worried that the car would lose its V-12 because of emissions. But thanks to hybrid power, the powerful V-12 will stick around until at least 2030. That pushes the car to a whole new level of performance.

Compared to Lamborghini’s previous flagship, the Aventador, the Revuelto is a major leap forward in handling, ride, and speed. After a few hours behind the wheel, whizzing through the beautiful back roads of upstate New York, it’s clear that this is one of the best performance cars on sale today.

The Revuelto isn’t just a re-wrapped Aventador with a couple of electric motors attached to the drivetrain. It’s an entirely new car. The carbon monocoque has been reshaped to provide more passenger space. Previously, anyone over 6ft 2in would have touched the roof. Now, there’s more headroom and legroom. The front impact structure, previously made of aluminium, is now made of carbon.

The transmission system received a more revolutionary change. Since the Countach, Lamborghini had placed the transmission for its flagship cars in front of the engine, in the center tunnel between the seats in a strange configuration not used anywhere else. That arrangement was ditched for the Revuelto. Instead, the transmission was moved to the rear of the engine for a more traditional mid-engine layout.

The gearbox, however, is anything but traditional. It’s an eight-speed dual-clutch (a first for Lamborghini’s flagship V-12) designed to be positioned transversely behind the bike and perpendicular to the rear wheels. That helps refine the package and combines the hybrid power of the Revuelto’s three electric motors in a completely new way.

Typically, cars with this configuration have two electric motors up front (one for each wheel) and a third motor sandwiched between the engine and transmission. Think of cars like the Acura NSX or Ferrari SF90 Stradale. The Revuelto’s two front motors do the same thing here, but the rear motor isn’t mounted between the V-12 and the gearbox. Instead, it sits atop the transmission case, completely separate from the engine. It even has its own shaft inside the ‘box,’ complete with forks and synchronizers, to engage and disengage independently of the V-12.

Pros: Exotic Looks & Sounds, Excellent Handling, Face Launch Speed

This means the electric motor can spin the transmission (and therefore the rear wheels) without having to spin the engine as well. So you can still have all-wheel drive, even when the engine is not running. It's a piece of engineering genius.

As we leave the staging area, Lamborghini asks us to stay in Città mode. Italian for City, this is the Revuelto’s all-electric setup. Hit the right pedal to get the car moving, and a distinct thrumming sound can be heard from the rear, indicating that the electric motor is engaged with the transmission.

Silently, I drove down the road and revved my vehicle, none of the 12 cylinders firing.

A small 3.8-kilowatt-hour battery pack gets the Revuelto moving slowly on the road. It’s housed in the monocoque’s center tunnel, similar to what you’d find in a Corvette E-Ray. It’s enough power to get the Revuelto up and running on the highway—but not for long. Lamborghini says the car can travel about six miles on pure electric power. That’s enough to get you out of the gated community and onto a major highway.

The real fun begins when you start playing with the four rotary knobs on the steering wheel. The most important one, highlighted in cherry red, is the drive mode selector. The car is always running in Città. From there, you can turn the knob once to shift into Strata, or Street mode. This fires up the naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V-12, but instead of immediately throwing it into gear, the Revuelto is smart enough to let the car run on the electric motor, allowing the engine to properly warm up before putting it into gear. There’s even a message on the dashboard that tells the driver that the engine is only being used to charge the battery before it comes up to temperature. After a minute or two of warm-up, you can actually hear the gearbox shifting through the gears until it selects the right one for your current speed, before finally connecting the engine to the rear wheels.

From there, you can switch to Sport mode, which will raise the dial a little higher. After that, there’s everyone’s favorite mode, Corsa, where you get the most out of the drivetrain to set the fastest laps possible. Activating all the driver aids is as easy as holding the button until you get to the last mode, Corsa with ESC off.

The knob on the upper left of the steering wheel is even more fun to play with. It controls what the Revuelto’s hybrid system does, no matter what mode you’re in. Drivers can choose between recharging the battery with the V-12 engine, using the hybrid battery as a regular supplement to the engine, or, in Sport or Corsa modes, setting it to “Performance” to maximize the electric motor and keep the battery charged.

Cons: More Expensive Than Most Homes, Many Mode Combinations Can Be Confusing

The other two knobs are less important but equally fun to mix and match. The bottom left knob controls the stiffness of the suspension (there are only two options, Soft and Hard), while the bottom right knob operates the angle of attack of the rear wing. Changing each mode and setting gives you almost 100 different possible combinations. It’s a lot of fun, and the closest I’ve ever felt to being an F1 driver in a road car.

The endless combination of driving modes is just part of what makes the Revuelto so appealing. It’s the best car I’ve driven all year, and not just because it feels like a 20-year leap forward from the Aventador. The new carbon tub is 10 percent lighter yet 25 percent stiffer than before, while downforce is up 70 percent. Combined with the rear-mounted transmission layout, it drives far more like a Huracan Tecnica than any Aventador.

Except it’s better than the Huracan. If it’s going to hit bigger bumps, the Revuelto’s suspension is much better suited to imperfect road surfaces and actual roads. But it doesn’t compromise on performance. The hybrid motor means it can’t match the Tecnica’s incredibly pointy front end, but it comes pretty darn close. And for what you get in return—seemingly endless grip that makes you feel like the greatest driver on the planet—I think it’s worth the trade-off.

The hybrid system is well integrated into the driving experience, delivering plenty of torque whenever you want it. But it’s still not the star of the show. The 6.5-liter 12-cylinder engine is largely new for the Revuelto, with a new block, new pistons, new valvetrain, and a few other new or updated items. Overall, it’s 37 pounds lighter than the Aventador’s. It makes 813 horsepower on its own, and its redline is a spectacular 9,500 rpm.

The V-12 engine is a work of art, with a garbage truck of power and a truly mesmerizing sound. The dual-clutch makes it feel incredibly light and eager to rev to redline, despite its very long gearing (second gear tops out at about 90 mph). I did most of my riding on public roads, so I didn’t really get to stretch the Revuelto’s legs very far. That said, I tried to stay in the last 2,000 rpm of that powerband as often as possible. It’s addictive.

The transmission is far more comfortable than the old Aventador’s ISR single-clutch automatic, especially when you’re cruising along at normal speeds. There’s no longer any awkward pauses or unpleasant jolting between gear changes. I was worried that the Revuelto would lose some of its raw character with its hard shifts, but a few shifts in Corsa mode eased those concerns. The automaker has tuned the dual-clutch to produce very aggressive shifts in its sportiest mode, reminding you that yes, this is a big Lamborghini. The car walks a delicate line between the thoroughly modern and the original, without ever seeming sterile.

The Revuelto is the ideal modern sports car. It incorporates some interesting and practical new technologies to make the exotic experience fresher and more approachable, but it doesn’t take away from what makes exotics truly special (a big, naturally aspirated V-12). And it does it all in a cohesive way, with smooth, unobtrusive performance that complements its wild design. With a starting price of more than $600,000, it’s hard to expect anything less.