Lamborghini Huracan LP 580-2

– Carmel, California

You meet the most fantastic people in Northern California during Monterey Car Week – and I’m not just talking about the super rich owners. Coming out of a corner on Laureles Grade Road just outside of Carmel, California, a roughly 60-year-old woman is standing in one of the dirt turnouts, camped out watching all the great cars drive by. She’s got a lawn chair and a cooler, and she’s holding a poster board with huge colorful streamers and glitter. It isn’t until I speed by her in the 2016 Lamborghini Huracán LP 580-2 that she starts to smile and jump up and down, waving the poster board around with “YEA!” boldly printed on the front. You’ve got great taste, lady.

But that’s the kind of effect a Huracán has on people. Everyone loves a Lambo, and there’s big reason to love this new 580-2 variant. Eccentric old ladies don’t care that it has less horsepower than its all-wheel-drive, 610-4 sibling – it just looks cool. And you shouldn’t care about that lack of power, either. A number of key changes work together to make this the better-driving Huracán. Did I mention it’s less expensive, too?

The change to rear-wheel drive pays dividends in the Huracán’s weight and balance, and therefore handling.

The Huracán’s 5.2-liter naturally aspirated V10 loses 30 horsepower and 15 pound-feet of torque in its transition to 580-2 duty, but all 572 hp and 398 lb-ft are sent exclusively to the rear wheels. Lamborghini remapped the power and torque delivery characteristi...