The Goodwood Test: Lamborghini Huracan LP610‑4 Spyder – Open‑Topped Glory?

Heritage

Lamborghini has a history of naming its cars after Spanish famous fighting bulls. It began with the Muira, named after a family who owned a cattle ranch that Ferruccio Lamborghini visited in 1962 and continued from there. “Huracan” is Spanish for hurricane (go to top of the class for that tricky translation), but the name refers to a bull that fought in Alicante in 1879 (it’s also the name for the Mayan god of wind, storm and fire, but let’s not confuse things).

The Huracan coupe was launched as the replacement for the Gallardo in 2014, and the open-top version, the Spyder, replaces the Gallardo Spyder, which was the best-selling convertible Lambo of all time. Lamborghini fully expects the Huracan to exceed the Gallardo in every respect.

Design

This is a good-looking car in convertible form (the coupe is no ugly duckling, either). Festival of Speed spectators this year got a good dynamic view of it when Lord March took the car up the hill with the roof down. Close up, the proportions are compact; it’s a noticeably smaller car in every direction than its big-brother V12 Aventador. While the front is carved from sleek, unobtrusive lines with that famous Lamborghini wedge silouhette in evidence, at the back the usual nod to aviation takes the form, for the Spyder, of aggressive slats over the engine bay.

The fabric roof comes in three colours: black, brown and red, and the rear windscreen opens or closes regardless of whether the roof is up or down: when open, it amplifies the engine noise, and when closed acts as the rear windscreen. Two rear fins rising out of the bodywork house the roof mechanism and add drama to the car’s profile. Inside, the car is the same as the coupe, with recognisably Audi switchgear, the intuitive Audi satnav system displaying in the instrument binnacle and that famous fighter-jet red guard for the starter button.

Performance

Lamborghinis engineered by the VW Group are a million miles away from their sweaty-palmed Seventies brethren while retaining enough Lamborghini true blood for real driving pleasure. The engine is essentially that from the Audi R8 V10 Plus and thankfully remains naturally aspirated, but this car feels quite different from the R8. In Strada mode it’s docile enough, bar a quick exhaust bark on start up, but switch to Sport, which is addictive, and the noise and super-fast gear changes from the auto box are the works.

The 602bhp, 5.2-litre engine spins up the rev range, taking the car to 62mph in 3.4 seconds (an indiscernible 0.2 seconds slower than the coupe), utterly untroubled by the basic laws of velocity and aerodynamics. The carbon brakes grab the discs but are smoothly progressive and the ABS kicks in with minimal fuss when you slam your foot down.

Some have criticised the optional dynamic steering, which adapts its ratio to the road speed, and can feel light through a corner but tighten of its own accord if it feels the car washing wide. We didn’t mind the additional input, but this remains, in all-wheel-drive form, a heavy-handling car, although one expects that from Lambos and should you prefer just the rear wheels to be driven, a 2WD version will be appearing at a dealership near you very soon, to match the coupe. 

The Spyder is 40 per cent stiffer than the open-top Gallardo, and there’s very little scuttle shake to note. What is apparent is the extraordinary noise-cancelling quality of the doors and roof when everything is closed: the cabin is as quiet as the coupe’s.

Passion

Lamborghini has retained its Italian bonkers characteristics, despite being so closely aligned to a big German brand. The Huracan Spyder makes an incredible sound through its exhausts, uninterrupted by any turbo-related shenanigans. And those looks are just head and shoulders above the competition, in our subjective opinion. There are few better experiences than travelling an Italian road in an Italian droptop; call it a lifestyle option if you must, but it’s a lifestyle we rather fancy.

Price of our car £205,000