“Automotive Nostalgia” sounds like a community college class taught by a gray-goateed professor in a fraying suede sport coat, flame-rimmed tube socks, and Birkenstocks. He’d reminisce through endless slideshows of hot rods, coach-built customs, and early muscle cars, pausing every now and then to describe the “cutting-edge” technologies these vehicles employed: fuel injection, anti-lock brakes, and overhead camshafts.
But thanks to the accelerated rate of performance vehicle progress, automotive nostalgia doesn’t just belong to geriatric professors – it’s as real for enthusiasts who’ve followed the car world for a decade or more. Experiencing a naturally aspirated engine, manual transmission, or rear-wheel drive – staples of automotive excitement until just recently – can now trigger a personal slideshow of sunsetting vehicle dynamics.
Let’s just hope you aren’t meandering memory lane while piloting the 2020 Lamborghini Huracan EVO RWD at Willow Springs Raceway. In such a setting, the 602-horsepower, rear-drive supercar demands every ounce of mental clarity as you usher it through corners and brush 160 mph on the straights. If you dare to dance with the unbridled bull, Corsa mode will slacken traction control and put each shift at your discretion. A finely tuned chassis, communicative steering, and advanced aerodynamics rein in the fear factor while prodding this beast, but a toe out the line still leads to maximum pucker.
For most, a safer, more at ease experience is unlocked with Sport mode. Here, Lamborghini’s intelligent traction management system allows up to 30 percent oversteer for photo-fresh power slides while never quite letting you swim in the deep end. On track, where sliding means slower lap times, Sport mode corrects bad behavior with a noticeable cut of throttle or ounce of braking while remaining unobtrusive to clean laps. In either mode, the lighter Huracan EVO RWD’s dynamics thrill with yaw and a sense of control that eludes all-wheel drive alternatives.
From within the cabin, this “entry-level” Huracan is indiscernible from the more potent, costlier, all-wheel drive EVO save for new, optional sport seats with an ejector-style slide handle (that you will want to play with even if the seating position is just fine). A host of toggles, an 8.4-inch touchscreen infotainment, and a flat bottom steering wheel bring a sense of occasion to each drive – whether on road or track – and solidify the Huracan’s station among supercar specials.
One day, the Lamborghini Huracan EVO RWD might find its way into the course curriculum for “Automotive Nostalgia,” but not until the sophisticated technology used to supervise the car’s more analog elements becomes obsolete. We wouldn’t hold our breath.
