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I first climbed into the\u00a0$604,363 Lamborghini Revuelto<\/a>\u00a0to drive it from my house in Hollywood 340 miles north to Carmel, California, a scenario that got me obsessed with the car\u2019s silent electric-only mode. That\u2019s the real value of the minimal electric miles in this hybrid monster: When you\u2019re leaving or arriving, you can slink around without the screams of the engine alerting everyone to your presence. It\u2019s\u00a0the default when\u00a0you turn on the car, if the battery is charged.\u00a0I crept out of the driveway without annoying any neighbors in a canyon that echoes even the quietest back-deck conversation. A win indeed.<\/p>\n It didn\u2019t end there. At every gas stop\u00a0(there were several\u2014this car loves petrol) along the sun-scorched route up through California farmland,\u00a0all the dudes at the other pumps posed\u00a0nonchalantly as they waited to hear the engine burst. When I pulled away in silence, they shifted uneasily, mystified. Byeee, boys!<\/p>\n Once I made it to Carmel, the knowledge that I could hit the\u00a0ignition button and roll\u00a0secretly\u00a0away into the cool morning fog motivated me to set my alarm earlier than normal. I did it each of the four days I drove the\u00a0matte black-on-black Revuelto while covering\u00a0Monterey Car Week<\/a>, the annual meetup near Big Sur every August where auto enthusiasts gather to\u00a0sell, show off and salivate<\/a>\u00a0over vehicles new and old.\u00a0<\/p>\n With a\u00a0body that looks like a cross between a fighter jet, a bat and a bad attitude, the Revuelto proves electric technology can enhance the driving experience\u2014not just detract from it. It\u2019s an apex predator, the flagship\u00a0of the line that most fully embodies the exciting potential of hybrid technology for the 61-year-old Italian brand.<\/p>\n Automobili Lamborghini SpA<\/a>,\u00a0of all companies, seems to have snuck its way to finding the right balance between electric and combustion engines for its customers, ahead of its much vaster competitors. It\u2019s rolled\u00a0out hybrids while\u00a0Porsche AG<\/a>,\u00a0Mercedes-Benz Group AG<\/a>,\u00a0Stellantis NV<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0others have suffered such disappointing electric vehicle sales they\u2019re recalibrating their plans. The car industry is not OK,\u00a0my colleague Craig Trudell\u00a0writes<\/a>.\u00a0Ford Motor Co.<\/a>\u00a0just\u00a0canceled a whole SUV<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lamborghini will hybridize every vehicle in its fleet but\u00a0resist making a fully electric one as long as it can<\/a>, says President and Chief Executive Officer Stephan Winkelmann.\u00a0The pinnacle of its new hybrids is the\u00a0Lamborghini Revuelto<\/a>,\u00a0unveiled in 2023 and delivering now.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Revuelto combines an 814-horsepower naturally aspirated V-12 engine with three electric motors for a total output of 1,001 horsepower. That\u2019s more than anything else Lamborghini makes; it beats the 986-horsepower\u00a0SF90 Stradale<\/a>\u00a0from arch-competitor Ferrari, too, for those keeping score.\u00a0<\/p>\n This is a hybrid you can plug in if you want, but you don\u2019t have to. It\u2019s easier to just flip the toggle switch on the steering wheel to automatically recharge\u00a0the batteries that power\u00a0electric-only mode as you drive. I did that in Citta mode as I cruised up Interstate 5\u00a0toward the cool of the Monterey Peninsula. The battery, which offers roughly 6 miles of electric-only driving, recharged itself in a matter of minutes. I watched in glee as the dashboard gauge showed its progress, knowing I\u2019d have enough juice to switch back into silent stealth mode whenever I wanted.\u00a0<\/p>\n With revs to 9,500 rpm, the car will erupt\u00a0into a tremendous roar whenever you engage\u00a0that engine. Its eight-speed double-clutch transmission works seamlessly through four drive modes that can combine hybrid power\u00a0with internal combustion, plus give all-wheel drive on demand.\u00a0Or it can move through Strada, Sport and Corsa modes, which unleash its gasoline-powered, maniacal full potential. Hybrid mode is good for up to 93 mph. Lamborghini says top speed is 217 mph, but I wouldn\u2019t know for sure, Officer. (I was going well under that speed when he pulled me over for a chat.)<\/p>\n Stealth mode alone isn\u2019t why one buys\u00a0a Lamborghini.\u00a0I fell in love with the Revuelto for two reasons: the ineffable way it drives and its misfit good looks.<\/p>\n First, the drive: A rear-wheel steering system and torque-vectoring kept it planted as I drove to breakfast one morning among the wild corners of\u00a0a hidden nature preserve<\/a>\u00a0in the foothills of the\u00a0Santa Lucia Range<\/a>, where Robert Louis Stevenson once convalesced. The Revuelto feels wider and longer around corners than I\u2019d choose if I drove canyons every day\u2014give me a tiny canyon-carver with a short gearbox for that\u2014but\u00a0on a weekend jaunt it felt like a grand display\u00a0of Italian attitude. The carbon ceramic brakes\u00a0with fixed monoblock calipers\u00a0bit the moment I touched them; the electronic power steering was so dialed in, so consistent, it felt like my mind was directly connected to the wheels\u00a0as I cruised through golden burnt grass and evergreens.<\/p>\n Still, the Revuelto is happiest in a straight line: preferably a flat, lonely, hot highway somewhere between Paso Robles and Carmel. I mean really, really happy. Everything about it feels geared toward speed. The quicker I drove, the better it felt. Trying to hold the car to 65 mph\u00a0felt like entering limp mode.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n While not dead silent like that of a Rolls-Royce, its cabin remained surprisingly quiet even at high speeds.\u00a0Its general aura just smoothed out at warp speeds, like that part in the opening credits of\u00a0Star Trek\u00a0<\/em>where the spaceship hangs for a moment\u00a0and then disappears into deep space.\u00a0I couldn\u2019t believe how easy it was to jump\u00a0from 75 mph to, er, faster.<\/p>\n As for\u00a0looks? It\u2019s basically a shank. This car is all daggers from the point of its nose to the tip of its\u00a0tail, with a gobstopping\u00a0eyeful of the engine right inside, thanks to the see-through panel in the back.\u00a0Its edges evoke\u00a0the splendidly angry Lamborghinis of its past, like the wedgy Countach and the big-hipped Diablo. Plenty of people would call it gaudy and outr\u00e9, an immature demand for attention or a tasteless attempt to secure superficial status. But I find its contrarian nature delightful\u2014at least it has\u00a0attitude. That\u2019s far better than a lozenge-shaped blob or some EV appliance designed to maximize drag coefficient without any thought to beauty, style or\u00a0feeling.\u00a0<\/p>\n No surprises here. Rear visibility is compromised because of the sloped angle of the roof and the oversize aero details on the sides of the car. (You should be looking down the road in front of you anyway, right?)\u00a0<\/p>\n Gas mileage is terrible. The electric motors aren\u2019t there to enhance\u00a0fuel efficiency: They\u2019re for offsetting emissions requirements and do-gooder\u00a0appearances\u2019 sake.\u00a0The car gets 23 miles per gallon equivalent in hybrid mode; it gets 12 mpg in combined city and highway driving without it.\u00a0<\/p>\n I filled up the gas tank twice on the way north, then at least twice more during the course of the week. The pain point wasn\u2019t so much the high price of gas. I doubt anyone spending more than half a million dollars on this car, plus the $4,500 gas-guzzler tax, will be concerned about budgetary constraints. It was the time spent at the pump that created the inconvenience.<\/p>\n Another nonsurprise: This low car is usable for practical purposes only thanks to\u00a0the automatic lift kit, which, with the touch of a tiny round button on the steering wheel, will raise the front a fraction of an inch\u2014enough\u00a0to get you out of sticky situations like, you know, just trying to pull up\u00a0to a restaurant.<\/p>\n But even that security blanket can\u2019t mitigate the veneer of anxiety one develops when maneuvering something this long, low and expensive in close quarters. Again, for an owner of such a machine, I expect it\u2019s not the cost of replacing one of the\u00a0rims ($5,500 for the four, which isn\u2019t expensive compared with many aftermarket rims for vintage Porsches) if you curb it\u2014it\u2019s the\u00a0time wasted while the vehicle is in the repair shop rather than being driven in all its glory.<\/p>\n Other\u00a0gripes that compiled\u00a0over the course of a week: Both\u00a0indicator buttons were smooshed together on the left side of the steering wheel, rather than placed one on each side, as in a Ferrari. It made for awkward, unintuitive\u00a0indicating with my thumbs. And the scissor doors should be lighter to push open and closed.<\/p>\n Lamborghini has never been heralded for its interiors. There\u2019s room to improve here, too, with the touchscreen in the center of the dashboard, which was tilted at such an angle that it almost always glared in the sun and attracted fingerprints like iron shavings to a magnet. The Bluetooth connected automatically only by the last day I had the car; I\u2019m still not even sure how that happened.\u00a0<\/p>\n Some cars are better than others, and the astounding Lamborghini Revuelto is just that. It\u2019s an effortlessly fast\u00a0spaceship\u00a0designed for special occasions and priced accordingly. If you buy one, get a radar detector while you\u2019re at it. It might just help you avoid a speeding ticket. I learned that the hard way.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nThe Essentials<\/h2>\n
The Good<\/h2>\n
The Bad<\/h2>\n
If You Remember One Thing<\/h2>\n