2023 Lamborghini Huracán Tecnica Review: Hitting the Sweet Spot

Age has not wearied it, nor the years condemned. The 5.2-liter V-10 that powers the 2023 Lamborghini Huracán Tecnica may trace its origins back to a time when the iPhone was an idea and Amazon a work in progress, but one full-throttle acceleration run, one hot lap of a racetrack, one flat-out blast along a challenging back road is enough to convince you: It's one of the all-time greats. An engine for the supercar gods.

It roars and bellows and shrieks and snarls, this engine, performing a heroic horsepower opera that's neither muffled by turbos nor synthesized by electric motors, and it punches harder than Tyson Fury in a bad mood. It's the reason the Tecnica will be wistfully remembered when we're all whooshing around in mega-horsepower EVs.

But it's not the sole reason.

The genius of the Huracán Tecnica is simple, though its execution is rather more nuanced. The Tecnica combines the 631-hp and 417-lb-ft version of the V-10 from the edgy, track-focused Huracán STO with a rear-drive, rear-steer chassis that's been tuned for all-around road work. The cabin can be trimmed with the most luxurious materials in the Lamborghini catalogue and offers all the connectivity and functionality expected in a modern car—from Apple's CarPlay to Amazon's Alexa—controlled via a redesigned user interface that will also call up arcane nuggets of performance data on demand.

All that is wrapped in bodywork massaged to give the Tecnica a longer, lower profile, a visually wider stance, and more sophistication to its menace. Think Tyson Fury in a Zegna suit.

There's a new front bumper with the black Y-shaped graphic derived from the wild Terzo Millennio concept. The revised greenhouse riffs on that of the limited-edition, track-only Essenza SCV12. At the rear is a reshaped bumper and diffuser, and the lower edges of the rear fenders have been pulled inward to expose more of the rear tires. Two massive hexagonal exhaust outlets hint at the bellicose ferocity lurking in the engine bay.

Both the front and rear hoods are carbon fiber, the latter with a clear section that exposes the top of the V-10, and both contributing to a 22-pound reduction in weight over the Huracán Evo RWD. A vertical rear window nestles between the flying buttresses that extend rearward over the air intakes.

There's improved function in the new form, too. The new front bumper design incorporates an air curtain and directs air through the front wheel wells to increase downforce and improve brake cooling. The fixed rear wing is a major contributor to the 35 percent increase in rear downforce compared with the Huracán Evo RWD, along with a 20 percent reduction in drag.

Compared with the manic STO, it only takes a mile or so behind the wheel to understand that the Tecnica is a kinder, gentler Huracán. The revised suspension means the ride won't shake the fillings from your teeth, and it's nowhere near as noisy at cruising speeds on the freeway, especially with the car in the softest of its three drive modes, Strada, and the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission left in Auto. But that's just the velvet glove over the iron fist.

Thumbing the little button at the base of the third spoke on the steering wheel into Sport mode gives the powertrain a triple shot of espresso. Throttle response is sharper and shift times shorter. And the electronics that control the car's adaptive shocks, rear steering, traction control, and torque vectoring get a revised set of orders from the Lamborghini Dinamica Viecolo Integrata (LDVI) system, with its accelerators and gyroscope sensors at the Tecnica's center of gravity monitoring lateral, longitudinal and vertical loads, as well as body roll, pitch, and yaw.

The result is a car that feels more urgent, more focused, yet more playful; it's willing to oversteer if you want to showboat on the track but still possessed of terrific traction and stability when you need it.

Corsa mode isn't quite the Spinal Tap experience it is in the Huracán STO, but the Tecnica with its race-face on is still a weapon on the track, especially when equipped, as our test cars were for the lapping sessions, with the optional Bridgestone Potenza Race tires, which are treaded and street-legal but, as Lamborghini engineers coyly put it, "are for dry roads."

In Corsa, the powertrain is calibrated to provide optimized track-oriented throttle response and the fastest gearshifts, and the omniscient LDVI instructs its electronic minions to deliver maximum lateral and longitudinal grip. Part of the Corsa protocol includes locking the rear-steer system. Shutting down what is pitched as a dynamic driving aid might seem slightly counterintuitive, but it delivers purer, more precise handling at the limit.

If you're good enough.

That's not to say the Huracán Tecnica will throw you under the bus if you get things wrong. It won't; this is as sweet a Lambo at the limit as has ever been built. But as in the Huracán GT3 race car, nailing a truly quick lap time means finding the balance between the vivid front-end response and the rush of power and torque to the rear wheels when you get on the gas.

Yes, the LDVI is there, working furiously in the background to support you, and it's nowhere near as fine a balancing act as in the race car. But this subtly analog element to taming the Tecnica; the sense that extracting the last little bit of the car's performance is down to you, is a big part of this Lambo's appeal.

You can use Corsa mode on the road, of course, but Sport is the best all-round setup for a blast through the twisties. There's a little more support from the traction and stability control—useful when you can't see that greasy patch around the next corner—and the rear-steer system delivers both agility and stability. The direct ratio steering, uncorrupted by a driven front axle, is a joy; precise and communicative, with just the right amount of weighting.

Priced at $239,000, the Tecnica is the sweet spot of the Huracán lineup. It gives you nearly all the thrills of the borderline silly STO in a mature, grown-up supercar you can realistically drive every day. This Huracán is a feel-good Lamborghini, one that makes you smile every time you hit the gas.

It's also a Lamborghini that feels like the end of an era.

An all-new Huracán replacement is scheduled to appear at the end of 2024. It's rumored to be powered by a mild-hybrid twin-turbo V-8. Oh, it will undoubtedly be better supercar than the Tecnica by any objective measure; quicker, with even more confidence-inspiring handling. But we'll miss the 5.2-liter V-10's sound and fury. Especially the sound.