I didn’t grow up idolizing Steve McQueen, nor did I ever imagine myself sliding a Mustang through the streets of San Francisco in pursuit of that ominous Charger. I never dreamed of running from the cops in a Challenger like Barry Newman, and the only Italian Job I remember seeing was made in 2003.
My favorite movie car scene isn’t a classic. It’s from 2008, lasts no more than a few minutes, and ends in a crash. As Coleman Reese is moments from revealing Batman’s true identity on live television, the Joker calls the show, threatening to blow up a hospital, that is, unless someone kills Reese within 60 minutes. After watching the TV in his penthouse, Bruce Wayne is seen racing through Gotham traffic in a car that could only ever be Batman’s: his Grigio Telesto Lamborghini Murcielago LP 640.
The scene ends in a flash, comprised of only a handful of traffic-dicing shots underscored by the V12’s howl. It culminates as Wayne intentionally slots the LP 640 between the police SUV Reese is in and an incoming pickup truck, totaling it. However, this scene’s brevity doesn’t detract from its impact. For a generation of enthusiasts, myself included, the Murcielago will always be Batman’s car.
V12 Lambos have never just been about speed or power; these are deeply emotional machines. Bring up the Countach in a room of enthusiasts born in the 70s and 80s, and you won’t hear praise for its performance. You’ll be treated to stories, memories of the first time they saw one drive by, or the first glimpse of one in a movie, birthing an unflinching desire to own one.
I don’t envy the engineering and design teams tasked with deciding what the next V12 Raging Bull will be. Although we’re talking about just a car here, the big Lambos don’t just live in the physical world. They moonlight in people’s imaginations. And as I’m watching the 2024 Lamborghini Revuelto drive out of a transport truck, I’m not wondering whether it’ll be good to drive. What matters most is this: is the Revuelto a car worth dreaming about?
Like the Countach, you don’t have to drive the Reuvelto to get caught in its gravitational pull. It’s big. Taller and longer than an Aventador, although only marginally wider, it’s made up of sharp angles in a jet-fighter meets cyberpunk kind of way. The Lamborghini Revuelto is an event as a V12 Raging Bull should be. It’s a middle finger to normalcy and a rejection of the conventional. It creates tension wherever it goes, leaving enthusiasts and normies alike entranced.
The feeling falls somewhere between impressed and confused. Road cars just don’t look like this, and its magnetism isn’t a result of branding or a singular design motif; it’s driven almost entirely by shape and proportion. So, as you try to peer through its various intakes, look down into its unshielded engine bay, or take in its sheer scale, you can’t just absorb the impact of its design. You’re equally puzzled by the fact that attached to the rear of its extreme form is a license plate.
Like Bruce Wayne, I dice through evening traffic in a Grigio Telesto V12 Lambo, romanticizing an otherwise forgettable sprint toward the mountains. The jet-fighter vibes intensify once you pull down its scissor door, flip its red start button cover, and set off.
In an atypical twist amongst older Raging Bulls, the Lamborghini Revuelto actually cares about its occupants. Where a Countach says, “Deal with it” to anyone taller or heavier than a mouse, the Revuelto counters with more head and legroom than an Aventador. There’s even a tiny storage space behind its seats and underneath its floating center console. You could almost call it practical.
While factions of the old guard will forever feel that a proper V12 Lambo has to be uncompromising, the Revuelto’s focus on practicality aligns with tendencies popular amongst less pre-historic buyers who use their cars regularly. Still, this Raging Bull goes about its modernization with a sense of flash. While there’s now a central 8.4-inch touchscreen, a passenger display, and a vast digital gauge cluster, its steering wheel is littered with buttons and knobs.
As Top Gun as the whole thing is, the wheel’s layout is almost video-game-like in its density. I can’t help but feel for the dealer reps who’ll have to explain to customers that controls for the drive modes, hybrid system, front lift, and active aero sit within inches of each other and look almost indistinguishable at first glance. Not to mention the headlight, wiper, indicator, and driver assistance buttons also vying for space. Where the Aventador was uncluttered and albeit dated, the Revuelto overcorrects with sensory overload. It’s still classicly Lambo, then.
At the base of a mountain north of Los Angeles, where winding roads slice through a vast forest, I poke and twist until the Lamborghini Revuelto is at its most aggressive—1,015 horsepower. You’re rewarded with that figure only when you dial the right combination among 13 modes. Corsa serves up max power, with Sport stepping down to 895 hp and Strada to 874 hp. The number shrinks to a mere 177 hp in its fully electric mode, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
Its power, although immense, isn’t what makes the Revuelto the stuff of dreams. EVs have long since democratized speed to the point of bordering on unimpressive. Instead, in an age of engine downsizing, forced induction, and fake exhaust notes, Lamborghini counters with one of the most exciting internal combustion engines of all time. This isn’t hyperbole. The Revuelto’s brand-new 6.5-liter naturally-aspirated V12 revs to 9,500 rpm and produces one of the most intoxicating noises of any road car to date.
The fact that it can produce 814 hp on its own, 34 hp more than the Aventador Ultimae, is eclipsed only by its tach extending by a full 1,000 revs over its predecessor’s 8,500-rpm max. That is, higher than a Porsche 911 GT3 RS or a Ferrari 12Cilindri. You’d have to ring up Gordon Murray to surpass it.
Lamborghini doesn’t just supplement the Revuelto’s heart with pure cocaine. It ensures those revs turn into as much speed as possible by ditching the slow-but-characterful single-clutch automatic of old and replacing it with a much swifter dual-clutch unit. It’s facing the wrong way and in more ways than one, aligned transversely and positioned behind the engine. The V12 itself flips 180 degrees to accommodate a 3.8-kilowatt-hour battery pack in what would’ve been its transmission tunnel.
And I’ve yet to tell you about the no less than three electric motors onboard: one integrated into the transmission and two on the front axle. Like the Aventador, the Revuelto is all-wheel drive, with the pair of motors upfront routing power to each wheel individually. This allows for true torque vectoring, although the brakes will step in when necessary. However, the primary benefit is the option for silent starts in EV mode and the ability to cruise on electrons for around six miles.
The Lamborghini Revuelto is a technological powerhouse. I’m not convinced it’s best classified as a supercar; hyper seems more appropriate. And while its plug-in hybrid configuration will undoubtedly piss off the Luddites, its electrification exists almost purely in service of its V12.
As the revs climb past 3,000 rpm, the Revuelto’s engine finds its voice. It howls through its hexagonal exhaust tips, creating a shriek inside the cabin. It’s loud. It’s louder than any GT4 RS and enough to leave your ears ringing within minutes. Any attempt to listen to music is pointless at high revs. Nothing overshadows its V12. I pick up the pace and feel an instant response from the onboard electric motors, a quick shove followed by a kick once the internal combustion engine comes on cam.
I’ve experienced acceleration like this before, but I was driving a Bugatti Chiron Super Sport. It’s overwhelming in the best sense possible. It’s as loud as it is quick, with both performance and drama rising in step. Even as your vision blurs, you look down and realize you still have a few thousand revs to go.
The Lamborghini Revuelto asks you to trust it, both in the straights as it picks up speed like a hypercar and in the bends where the aforementioned tech wizardry goes to work tackling the bends. Its mechanical grip is staggering, aided by its 265/35 and 345/30 section Bridgestone Potenza Sport rubber.
However, it’s the seamless torque vectoring that impresses most. Something this large shouldn’t corner like it does and shouldn’t feel as nimble or as eager to change direction. Especially not one whose curb weight well surpasses 4,000 lb.
Yet the Revuelto does. To say that it’s a dynamic leap from the Aventador would be a major understatement. It’s in a separate league, but crucially, it is even more theatrical. If its steering provided some semblance of feedback, not feeling totally disconnected from the car below, I’d be tempted to bring out the P-word.
Perfection is at least the best way to describe its approach to electrification. Although emissions regulations mandate its hybridity, Lamborghini could’ve swapped its V12 for something smaller, likely aided by turbocharges. Instead, the folks in Sant’Agata Bolognese opted to look at this required shift as an opportunity. It is a chance to ensure that its V12 legacy carries on, and if a couple of batteries and electric motors are what it takes for these unbelievable high-revving engines to exist, so be it.
If there’s anything to lament, it’s that cars like the Lamborghini Revuelto, the final bastions of atmospheric aspiration, continue to skyrocket in price. The 2024 Lamborghini Revuelto I’ve been driving starts at $612,858, including destination and gas guzzler fees. The last V12 Lambo I drove, the Aventador Ultimae, asked for $507,353 before options. This Grigio Telesto car, with its countless carbon options, comes in at $744,958.
I won’t attempt to classify whether the Revuelto is worth what it costs, because it’s ultimately not something you consider buying. You’re either repulsed by its eccentricity or so profoundly entranced by its shape, sound, and performance that having one becomes a need. It’s a draw powerful enough to lose sleep over, to be forced to dream about.
Tracing a lineage to icons like the Countach is good marketing, even if the only resemblance is a wedge shape and 12 cylinders. Still, like that icon of the 70s and 80s, the Revuelto captures the essence of what a V12 Lambo should be: emotional, exciting, and crucially, not subtle. A persona Alfred Pennyworth perfectly encapsulates as Wayne heads for the elevator:
Alfred: Will you be wanting the Batpod, sir?
Bruce: In the middle of the day, Alfred? Not very subtle.
Alfred: The Lamborghini, then. Much more subtle.
