Most cars have the at least quasi-noble job of functioning as reliable day-to-day transportation. They have to get people to work, school and the grocery store with as little drama as possible. They’re hardworking appliances, and we should salute that. The Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato is not one of those vehicles, and it’s the most fun I’ve ever had on four wheels.
As its name implies, the Sterrato is based on the now-sold-out Huracan. That means it has an angry wedge shape and yowling naturally aspirated 640-hp V10 engine, along with the many, many incremental improvements that Sant’Agata made to the Huracan over its nine-year lifespan. Only the Sterrato doesn’t stop there. This one’s also meant to play in the dirt. Idiotic? You bet. But that also makes it one of the best Lamborghinis ever.
The Sterrato’s suspension has a 1.5-inch lift over a standard Huracan, which, along with tall-sidewall (and bespoke) 19-inch Bridgestone Dueler All-Terrain AT002 tires, makes the Sterrato surprisingly willing to get rowdy off-road. Clearly, you’re not going to take it rock crawling, but you can get the Sterrato very sideways in fairly deep and rutted dirt and sand. The tires are notable because it’s the first time anyone has done a W-rated run-flat all-terrain tire, which means this rubber is rated for speeds up to 168 mph, and you don’t need to carry a spare, which is good, because where the hell would you put it anyway?
Full Disclosure: Lamborghini wanted me to drive the 2024 Sterrato so badly that it made me beg them for a year for the opportunity then had me drive to Palm Springs where it put me up in a very nice hotel with an excellent breakfast. It was lemon pancakes at the Parker. Would recommend.
On the road, the Sterrato is the most comfortable Huracan by far, which is unsurprising. Though I couldn’t push the car hard on the road, I suspect it might be even more fun than the purely roadgoing car just because its limits are lower. A vehicle that moves around when driven hard is almost universally more fun unless you’re chasing times at a track (see: BRZ, GR86, Miata). Given the tires’ tall sidewalls and chunky tread pattern, the Sterrato’s steering isn’t as accurate or sharp as in a normal Huracan, but you’d be hard-pressed to notice or care in most situations.
One thing that I find interesting is that the Sterrato comes equipped with carbon-ceramic brakes. Carbon brakes are fragile, so the possibility of getting sand stuck between the pad and rotor, or a rock making it past the wheel spokes to crack or chip the rotor, seems fairly high. Lamborghini’s engineers didn’t seem bothered by this when asked, and it wasn’t an issue on a sandy test track, so I’m likely just being paranoid.
My track driving portion of the Sterrato combines the normal course at Chuckwalla Raceway and the loose, sandy dirt infield. The track surface at Chuckwalla is really smooth, and while the coupe’s overall grip is noticeably less than what you get in the pavement-focused Huracan Tecnica, the Sterrato is still plenty aggressive.
Off-piste things are even better. The Sterrato is incredibly playful, and the all-wheel drive system, combined with the special Bridgestones, makes turning in off-throttle, then nailing the gas and power sliding through corners, a breeze. The car feels friendly and approachable, which isn’t what I expected going into this drive, especially with this much power on tap. The Sterrato is a creature of pure joy.
As wild as the Sterrato’s exterior looks compared to a Huracan Evo or Tecnica, the interior is pretty much identical. My test car is European-spec, which means it has an awesome interior roll cage behind the carbon sport seats, which we won’t get in the US. But other than that and a Rally mode on the steering wheel replacing Corsa, the Sterrato is all standard Huracan, which is both good and bad. You still get the Huracan’s lashings of Alcantara and carbon fiber, the same steering wheel with the world’s greatest turn signal switch and the center stack has no changes aside from some switchgear reassignments.
The Huracan’s interior room is not amazing for a very tall guy like me (I’m 6 feet, 4 inches with lots of torso height), but it’s liveable, and given the off-road suspension’s more relaxed ride, it’s actually a lot more forgiving to drive. That suspension also makes getting in and out of the Sterrato much easier. Storage space in the passenger area is acceptable for this type of car, but the Sterrato’s front differential limits the frunk space. It’s just about perfect for a carry-on-sized Pelican case, but don’t expect to take home a big grocery haul.
The infotainment system is, again, basically identical to other Huracans. While it’s not stellar or especially feature-rich, it’s better than what you’d get in other exotic cars like Aston Martin or Ferrari. One addition for the Sterrato is the inclusion of What Three Words navigation, which, as its name suggests, uses three-word phrases to describe individual 100-square-foot points all over the globe. This makes it useful for off-road navigation, so it makes sense in the Sterrato.
Given a base Huracan Evo starts just above $206,000 and the Tecnica comes in at $239,000, I don’t think people will be surprised to learn the Sterrato costs $271,000. (A 911 Dakar is almost GT3 RS-level expensive, remember.) Given how niche and special it is, the Sterrato seems worth every penny. Not that it matters, since all 1,499 examples Lamborghini plans to build are spoken for.
Lamborghini’s wild off-roading Huracan Sterrato isn’t a car that was designed or put into production for any logical reasons. It’s a car that started as a passion project for a small team of engineers, and it was tested alongside Lamborghini’s other cars . As in, the engineers just brought a Sterrato test mule with them whenever they went to test cars somewhere, and they’re still doing that today.
The Sterrato a car that makes everyone who designed, engineered and built it smile. It’s a tangible expression of these folks’ love for the Lamborghini brand, and more importantly, their love of cars. It’s even become the first car with a charging bull on the hood that I’d actually want to own, not because it’s objectively the best Lamborghini, but because it’s so damn usable and special and we may never see anything like it again.
