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2016 Lamborghini Huracan LP580-2 Goes RWD, Puts On Grumpy Cat Face

Before you start a riot due to the latest Lamborghini Huracan specialty being 30 hp down on the Audi R8 V10 Plus, you should know there’s a good reason for that. The Huracan has gone rear-wheel-drive.
Lamborghini Huracan LP580-2 3 photos
Photo: Lamborghini
2016 Lamborghini Huracan LP580-2 Goes RWD2016 Lamborghini Huracan LP580-2 Goes RWD
Despite looking a bit like Grumpy Cat thanks to the restyled front apron (the back has been redone too), this predator doesn’t use all its paws. Following the Gallardo LP550-2, the Huracan LP580-2 only sends its power to the rear wheels.

The bad news is that, once again, the V10 has been detuned to keep the RWD from outperforming the standard, all-wheel-drive Huracan in a drag race. That would’ve easily happened, thanks to a 66 lb (30 kg) weight saving brought by losing front wheel pulling abilities.

The naturally aspirated 5.2-liter V10 has gone down from 610 ps (602 hp) and 413 lb-ft of twist to 580 ps (571 hp) and 398 lb-ft of torque.

Despite this RWD incarnation of the Huracan being marketed as a driver’s guilty pleasure, Lamborghini stuck to the dual-clutch tranny, leaving the manual jobless once again. Calculations handled over in Sant’Agata Bolognese have shown that an extremely limited part of the clientele would have opted for a clutch in the Huracan.

Another downgrade comes in the stopping department, where the standard carbon ceramic brakes of the 610 were replaced with steel rotors - does the 3.062 lb dry weight seem that small?

The 19-inch wheels are new, being wrapped in Pirelli PZero rubber.

On paper, Lamborghini brags about a 0 to 62 mph (100 km/h) time of 3.4 seconds, which puts the RWD Huracan 0.2 seconds behind its AWD unidentical twin. A bit of ground is also lost in terms of maximum velocity, with the new model’s 199 mph (km/h) falling 3 mph (km/h) behind the top speed of the LP610-4 Huracan.

Then again, this Bull is supposed to rage through the corners, when its spirit should keep the driver’s knuckles white.

Back in the Gallardo’s day, we found the RWD as lacking the fun factor, since it showed more understeer compared to the neutral-playful character of the standard AWD model. Here’s to hoping the engineers got the please-change-ASAP message.

Lamborghini must’ve had time to learn from its mistakes while developing the now-active Huracan LP 620-2 Super Trofeo racecar.

P.S.: Did we say "Grumpy Cat"? We meant something more like Cat Woman.
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About the author: Andrei Tutu
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In his quest to bring you the most impressive automotive creations, Andrei relies on learning as a superpower. There's quite a bit of room in the garage that is this aficionado's heart, so factory-condition classics and widebody contraptions with turbos poking through the hood can peacefully coexist.
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