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[ovidiolanteri]

The Lamborghini Urus S: 666 hp, Air Suspension, and a Surprisingly Rational Super SUV

By Ovidio Lanteri - Dubai-based automotive expert with a motorsport background. I rent and test cars through DCR and write about what they are actually like on Dubai roads.

There are two ways to approach a Lamborghini SUV in Dubai.

One is to choose the loudest, stiffest, most aggressively calibrated version available and announce your arrival three intersections in advance.

The other is to choose the one that understands where it actually lives.

If you take Lamborghini Urus S - you’re not choosing the softer option. You’re choosing the more intelligent one.

The 666 hp Question

The Urus S is powered by a 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V8 producing 666 hp and 850 Nm of torque. Yes, 666. Lamborghini does enjoy a little theatre.

Officially:

0–100 km/h in 3.5 seconds

Top speed of 305 km/h

8-speed automatic

All-wheel drive

In reality, what matters in Dubai is not the 0–100 sprint. It’s the 80–160 km/h band on Sheikh Zayed Road, where traffic briefly opens and you discover whether the engine feels strained or composed.

The Urus S feels composed.

Torque arrives thick and early. There is no dramatic crescendo. No operatic build. Just a dense, continuous surge that pushes 2.2 tonnes forward with unsettling ease. In 40-degree heat, stuck between glass towers radiating warmth back at you, the cooling system doesn’t flinch. The engine doesn’t feel stressed. It feels prepared.

And that distinction matters.

Technical Overview

Power (hp) 666

Power (kW) 490

Torque (Nm) 850

0–100 km/h (s) 3.5

Top speed (km/h) 305

Engine (L) 4.0

Drive AWD

Seats 5

Wheels (in) 23

Trunk (L) 616

The Suspension – Where It Becomes Interesting

Here’s where the Urus S quietly separates itself from the Performante.

The S keeps air suspension. The Performante does not.

On paper, steel springs sound heroic. On Dubai expansion joints at 110 km/h, they sound less heroic. The Urus S, by contrast, absorbs imperfections with a firmness that feels expensive rather than punishing.

On 23-inch wheels, it is not soft. Let’s be clear. But it is resolved.

Switch into Strada and the car settles. In Sport, it tightens without becoming irritable. In Corsa, it sharpens its responses while still remembering that it’s an SUV designed to survive valet ramps and underground parking entrances.

There’s a moment — and this transition is slightly inelegant — when you realize you’re driving something deeply fast that doesn’t need to shout about it. That’s the S in one sentence.

Urus S vs Urus Performante

The Performante is louder, lower, and more single-minded. It trades air suspension for steel springs, sits lower, and feels closer to a track tool that accidentally developed rear doors.

The Urus S is different.

It’s still violently quick. It still has the presence of a car that costs more than most apartments in Business Bay. But it allows you to drive from DIFC to Abu Dhabi without emerging mildly irritated by your own suspension setup.

If your weekend includes:

A hotel entrance

A highway blast

A business meeting

And perhaps dinner somewhere that requires a calm arrival

The Urus S simply makes more sense.

If you want the sharpest interpretation of the platform, the Performante exists (and is available through DCR as well). But for Dubai reality, the S feels better judged.

Interior – Supercar Energy, Daily Logic

Inside, the Urus S blends Lamborghini theatre with Audi-level usability. Dual screens. Crisp digital cluster. Haptic feedback that actually responds cleanly.

Leather, Alcantara, carbon fibre. Proper sport bolstering. Ventilated seats that become extremely relevant in August.

The 360° camera system is not a gimmick here. In tight Marina parking structures, it becomes essential. The 616-liter boot will comfortably handle weekend luggage. Five adults fit without negotiation.

And yes, it still feels like you’re sitting inside a 300,000-dollar SUV. Because you are.

For context, the Urus lineage sits within the broader Lamborghini history, which you can explore here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamborghini

The Verdict

The Lamborghini Urus S is not the wildest SUV in the lineup.

It is the smartest.

It gives you 666 hp, 850 Nm, and the ability to cross Dubai at improbable speeds — yet still glide into a valet lane without drama.

Fast. Controlled. Intentionally balanced.

And in this city, that balance is everything.

[ovidiolanteri]

The Porsche 911 GT3 RS Makes No Sense. Until It Does

A naturally aspirated 9,000 rpm track machine tested against Dubai heat, highways, and real-world performance conditions.

I did not expect this car to make sense here.

Dubai has no shortage of fast machinery. Twin-turbo engines dominate the skyline of traffic, and huge power numbers are almost expected here. Straight roads help. So does the appetite for spectacle. The GT3 RS is different. It feels almost stubborn.

The first thing that struck me was not the acceleration. It was the way it breathes.

The numbers are easy to list. A 4.0-liter naturally aspirated flat-six. 525 horsepower. Nine thousand rpm at the top of the dial.

But those numbers alone don't explain the car.

You press the throttle and nothing explodes. It just builds. Cleanly. Mechanically. The revs rise like tension instead of like a punch.

On Sheikh Zayed Road late at night, when the traffic finally thins out and the air is still warm but no longer brutal, you hold second gear longer than necessary. Not because you need the speed. Because the engine feels honest.

Most modern performance cars overwhelm you with torque. The GT3 RS does something different. It expects the driver to work with it rather than simply ride the acceleration.

And that alters the experience more than the numbers suggest. Then there is the heat.

People outside the region underestimate what 40 plus degrees actually does to a performance car. It is not just discomfort. It is mechanical stress.

The GT3 RS sacrifices the front trunk for one huge central radiator. Forward leaning. Aggressive vents cutting through the hood. Air management that looks excessive until you sit in midday traffic and realize it is not.

Hot air is pushed out deliberately. Intake air stays cleaner. Porsche mentions that a 10 degree difference in intake temperature can mean roughly 15 horsepower. In Germany that sounds theoretical. In Dubai it is practical.

The car feels consistent. That is the word that kept coming back to me.

It does not feel like it is slowly softening under temperature. It does not feel fatigued. It feels prepared.

I respect that. And yes, the wing.

From the rear, it looks borderline absurd. Higher than the roof. Mounted in that swan‑neck configuration. Moving under DRS (Drag Reduction System). Adjusting angle depending on what you are doing.

People talk about 860 kilograms of downforce at high speed.

Numbers are easy to repeat. Harder to feel.

Take one of those long, fast highway ramps outside Downtown. Enter quicker than you normally would. The car does not get light. It settles. The faster you go, the more planted it becomes.

It is an unusual sensation on a public road. Most cars start to feel vague when speed rises. This one sharpens.

Dubai’s wide interchanges and smooth asphalt actually let you sense that difference.

For once, aerodynamics are not theoretical.

Is it comfortable? Not really.

Is it unbearable? Also no.

With the suspension backed off slightly, it deals with highway imperfections without drama. It is firm, but controlled. It never feels loose. Never floaty.

Rear wheel steering helps more than you would expect when navigating tighter parking structures. The car looks extreme, but it is not unusable.

It simply demands attention.

What I like most is that it does not try too hard.

It is not the loudest car on the road. Not the most luxurious. Not the most powerful.

It feels engineered around a philosophy rather than a marketing brief.

If your goal is to arrive at a hotel entrance and dominate the visual field, there are easier choices. Turbocharged supercars will feel louder, more theatrical, more explosive in short bursts. If your goal is to feel what happens at 200 km per hour when a chassis is loaded correctly, this is different.

Dubai offers rare moments where you can explore that safely. Early mornings. Winter evenings. Long desert stretches when traffic disappears.

In those moments, the GT3 RS feels exactly where it should be.

For most people, owning something this focused makes little practical sense. It is a specialist tool.

Experiencing it for a few days does make sense.

For visitors or enthusiasts who want to experience the car without ownership, specialist rental fleets in Dubai occasionally make the GT3 RS accessible.

One example is DCR, a Dubai-based performance rental operator that maintains a rotating selection of Porsche models including the 911 GT3 RS.

It is also not a car handed casually to inexperienced drivers. A minimum age and driving experience requirement apply, and that feels appropriate. This is not a toy. It is a very serious machine.

That flexibility changes the equation.

You do not need to build your life around this car. You just need the right stretch of road.

Dubai is often described as excessive.

The GT3 RS is not excessive in the way people expect.

It is precise. Focused. Slightly obsessive in its engineering.

And maybe that is what makes it interesting here. In a place built on scale and spectacle, a car built around control feels almost out of place — in a good way.

Not louder. Just sharper.