eCoty 2019: best of the rest - supercar
Our six stand-out evo Car of the Year competitors were not the only new cars of 2019 to impress; these are the driver’s cars that shone in each of their respective classes
Supercar
The Huracán Evo Spyder missed the final eCoty cut by the slimmest of margins, predominantly because, like its coupe cousin, it still has some fundamental flaws. But it’s difficult, very difficult indeed, not to at least crack a smile when an Arancio Xanto supercar pitches up at a photo shoot, roof down, with pressure waves from its Audi-derived V10 pulsing off buildings and trees all around you.
These pick-me-up qualities were hugely appreciated when we first became familiar with the Evo Spyder (evo 267). An apocalyptic skyline and autumnal chill looked unlikely to grant dep ed Adam Towler ideal conditions in which to test an open-topped Lambo. But stranger things have happened at sea, and as you’ll have read back then, Adam’s praise was almost as glowing as the handiwork of Sant’Agata’s paint shop. The Spyder wasn’t eCoty material necessarily, as the four-star rating would suggest, but as he noted, while it’s not necessarily one of the automotive greats, it’s certainly a great Lamborghini.
Why? Well, the Huracán Evo already looked spectacular, and in £218,137 Spyder form it is all the more so for its roofectomy. The front is pure Lamborghini wedge, the rear brutish, the slice in between sharp and toned in a way Lamborghini tried and failed to replicate on its Urus cash cow. The hole in the top also allows you to gaze down on the Huracán’s cabin in its entirety, and it is suitably bonkers – if you ever held the opinion that Audi’s involvement in Lamborghini would lead to duller supercars, you can rest easy knowing the Italian firm has retained almost nothing of the relentlessly logical R8 inside. The bomb-switch starter is gleefully silly, and you can spend whole minutes searching for the electric window toggles, which feels entirely appropriate in a car such as this.
Next, there’s the engine. The Evo’s Performante-spec 5.2-litre V10 is good for 631bhp, and we mean really good for it. Similarly motivated R8s have always felt rampant in a straight line, and 416bhp per ton will always feel startlingly quick. That it’s accompanied by such a violent bombardment of sound, and the requirement to click a skeletal paddle to deafen you anew every couple of seconds, is something no sub-three-second electric SUV will ever replicate for sheer drama. Put simply, Lamborghini’s pure disregard for human eardrums and the Spyder’s lack of insulating rooflining make charging up the road as terrifying and exhilarating as being chased by the creature on the company’s crest.
The Evo Spyder is also more than competent in the corners – the structure stiff, the steering faithful, the reserves of grip high. It’s here that having the might of Audi behind the Huracán makes sense. It is actually a useable, almost friendly car most of the time.
What seals the Huracán Evo Spyder’s inclusion here, though, is that it’s difficult to imagine such a car being around for much longer. It was rumoured recently that Mercedes-AMG chief exec Tobias Moers stormed out of a meeting where he was informed that future AMG models would be four-cylinder hybrids, rather than the thundering V8s through which the department has made its name. It’s easy to imagine every single employee at Sant’Agata walking out the door if a similar decision is ever made to replace V10s and V12s at Lamborghini.
For all the Huracán’s faults, and despite the reputation of some of its current clientele, the automotive landscape will be a less interesting place when loud, ridiculous wedges like this are legislated out of existence.
