The Lamborghini Huracán Sterrato is ludicrous, a millionaire’s gewgaw designed to deliver on a use case that seems barely feasible: off-road supercar.
But it’s also the most fun I’ve had in any new car of 2023, which is why it appears here.
Not, crucially, just on loose surfaces. I did get to experience the Sterrato in desert sand when I drove it for the first time in the US in June, but most of my time with it was spent on road.
Which is where you would expect it to be most heavily compromised, given that it sits 44mm taller than the standard Huracán and rides on what are basically bespoke off-road BF Goodrich tyres that look better suited to a pick-up truck.
But the Sterrato’s gentler character is its superpower, an implicit reminder that as top-end performance cars have grown grippier and quicker, so the opportunities to exploit them in the real world have diminished to near nothingness in most parts of the world.
The Sterrato has sufficient traction to avoid feeling wayward on Tarmac, but its limits are still low enough to be genuinely accessible, and incredibly progressive when they arrive.
This is a 602bhp supercar that is pretty much as friendly on the limit as a Mazda MX-5, a Toyota GR86 or – the car it really reminds me of – an Ariel Nomad.
Even in the unlikely environment of a proper racetrack, the Sterrato stays composed when pushed into lurid oversteer.