Lamborghini Huracan VS BMW M4

I could give you the short version of what it was like to drive the Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato at speed on a specially prepared dirt race track, which would be to say that I have never, ever had so much fun in a car, but that would be selling it short.

While the Sterrato is clearly built to do one insensible thing brilliantly, while somehow not imperilling the life of its driver, what is most incredible about it is how good it is at everything else, as well.

To create this Huracan, Lamborghini had to increase the ride height significantly, soften up the suspension and increase its amount of travel.

It also had to ask Bridgestone nicely to produce a tyre unlike anything the world has ever seen, an all-terrain tread capable of dealing with dirt and gravel and yet also grippy enough to be used on a sealed race track, or to carve up your favourite mountain pass. 

It also had to be capable of being speed rated to 260km/h, or about 100km/h faster than any all-terrain tyre Bridgestone has ever produced before. 

Looking at the unique Dueler All-Terrain AT002s, with their chunky tread, you would assume that the Sterrato is going to be noisy, slippery and possibly a little rough on public roads, but that’s not the case at all.

This Huracan rides more smoothly - largely thanks to those suspension tweaks - and more quietly than its forebears, and it’s actually more practical around town as well, thanks to the ride height. So, no more flinching at speed bumps.

The tyres also provide proper supercar levels of grip on public roads, even those dusted with a bit of desert sand.

There’s a bit of squirm at the rear and under hard braking, but overall the experience is typically Lamborghini Huracan wonderful, all playing out to a soundtrack that is beyond beautiful from that howling V10.

The first part of our track experience at the Chuckwallah Raceway was also familiarly fantastic, the Huracan ripping around the sealed track at astonishing speed; it certainly doesn’t feel detuned.

Lamborghini had gone to the trouble of mirroring the sealed circuit with a specially constructed dirt track in the infield, so that 50 per cent of our lap would be spent sideways in ankle deep, dust, sand and rocks, much of it through long, long bends, with the occasional chicane set up specially for Scando flicking action.

Now, I am not, by any means, an expert at drifting, nor an accomplished rally driver, so I was, to put it mildly, shit scared of getting this half-million-dollar, limited-edition, 449kW monster on to the dirt section.

I feared I would spin around, or flip upside down, or find some other way to embarrass myself, but what happened when I got there was beyond inexplicable, and beyond joy.

This car is so clever, so easy to drive, so beautifully balanced, that it can turn a total newb into Colin McRae. His name comes to me because the whole experience reminded me of driving a rallying video game, it felt unreal, and yet overpoweringly visceral at the same time.

I could start a drift with the slightest flex of the throttle, then balance the car as it pivoted around a bend before nailing the throttle and haring off to the next fantastic drifting opportunity.

When we got back on the sealed stuff, the car would shake like mad, at 200km/h, as the dust attempted to get its way out of the wheels, but that just added to the excitement. 

The secret wasn’t that I’d somehow become a better driver, it was what Lamborghini engineers call, accurately, “the hero maker”. 

It’s a software and hardware package called LDVI, or 'Lamborghini Dinamica Veicolo Integrata', which, when you put the Sterrato in 'Rally' mode, uses many sensors combined with torque vectoring and selective braking to keep you going where you want to go, with minimal intervention.

Or at least minimal intervention that you can feel, which makes you feel like a hero.

I kind of understand how it works, but I totally relate to how it makes you feel. Like a genius. And you’d pay $500K for that, surely?

Marvellously.

Earlier, we said that the previous M4 (and some earlier M3 generations) never hit the dizzy heights the best like the E46 managed.

The reason why is bandwidth. Not WiFi bandwidth, but rather the newfound breadth of capability that the G83 model has acquired.

Yes, while even the slowest examples of previous M3s and M4s remained thrilling, with blisteringly potent acceleration accompanied by a soaring exhaust soundtrack, the post-E46 models seemed to become almost too obsessed with the pursuit of performance. Thunderous V8s and twin-turbo V6s are all good and well, especially when they provide explosive responses, but there’s more to sports cars than sheer bloody-minded speed.

More specifically, though the handling and roadholding were outstanding, the previous M4’s steering didn’t feel as connected or one with the driver, instead seeming a little remote and detached. Conversely, even with adaptive dampers on offer, the suspension (on Australian roads) lacked sufficient isolation from bumps and thumps, and so was never settled or calm. It was all too nervous and edgy, like a drug-addled athlete who’s indulged in too much partying.

Thankfully, the curse is broken with the latest iteration, even in the heaviest and slowest version like our M4 Convertible as tested, pushing out boundaries to thrilling effect once more.

With the newly-simplified and logically presented M performance modes only a push of a button away, the driver now no-longer has to concentrate on what setting they’re in, and instead just immerse themselves in the experience of accelerating, steering, cornering, braking and controlling this incredible sports convertible.

Tremendously strong in regular Road mode, the M4’s performance certainly lives up to the legend, stepping up into the supercar realm when Sport or Track are chosen, hunkering down as it thrusts towards the horizon with relentless speed and determination, accompanied by the gorgeous twin-turbo six’s revs as they soar towards the red line. The ultra-alert eight-speed auto’s operation is equally seamless, displaying uncanny intuition in its selection of the right ratio at exactly the right time.

These are all incremental improvements over what has come before. But what’s really changed is how rock-solid the BMW feels as it belts along at speed, magnetised to the motorway regardless of weather, its new AWD engineering keeping everything steady and planted. No more tetchiness to unnerve the driver.

Which makes the feel and fluency of the chassis even more remarkable, given that now all four wheels are driven. The very opposite of leaden or inert, the superbly weighted steering is instead light and alive in your palms, as you carve through corners with pin-point precision. Some might find it a bit too eager to change direction at first, but we reckon BMW has judged the balance just right. Its sheer agility is as life-affirming for driving enthusiasts as it is immersive. Bravo, BMW.

With so much grip and control, this is not to say that the driver can’t hang the M4’s tail out every-which-way, since the chassis set-up allows for progressive oversteer, even in Road mode, along with as much drifting as your courage allows where safe. As with the best sports cars, the M4 is as steerable from the seat of your pants as it is using the throttle.

Finally, there’s the M Adaptive chassis tune, that at long last broadens the M4’s repertoire from motorway grand tourer and rural-road blaster to city slicker and urban warrior, thanks to the suspension’s ability to better-absorb a much wider array of terrible road surfaces. Comfort now lives up to its name, with the ride – though still firm – no longer hard or crashy around town, ushering in a new level of civility that won’t fatigue or aggravate you or your occupants. We're so happy to report this progress.

One area where BMW might want to keep improving, though, is the abundance of road noise intrusion over certain coarse chip bitumen. While easily muffled by the sweet sounds of the twin-turbo six, banging audio system or dropping the roof, it now seems more obvious that the rest of the car has smartened up so much.

A small fly in an otherwise hugely satisfying ointment.