What Car Shoppers Need to Know
- Exotic, rare and guaranteed to turn heads everywhere it goes, the Lamborghini Revuelto is a formidable performance machine — with a formidable price to match.
- The Revuelto plug-in hybrid has a Jekyll-and-Hyde personality: It’s docile, comfortable and civil around town, then transforms into a raucous V-12-powered beast with the twist of a knob.
- With an as-tested price of nearly $750,000, your chances of seeing one on the street are slim — and of driving one sadly almost nil.
Let’s be honest here: You’re probably not on Cars.com shopping for a new Lamborghini Revuelto — you might very well, however, be here looking for a used one. New hypercars are generally pretty rare; unless you live somewhere that is itself a little wild (like Southern California or South Florida), you may go your whole life without ever laying eyes on this exotic Italian road rocket. They’re certainly not common in my hometown of Ann Arbor, Mich., and outside of an auto show, the one I spent a week with for this review is the first one I’d ever seen in the flesh despite it having been introduced to the world in 2023 as a replacement for the top-dog Aventador in Lambo’s lineup. Suffice it to say, this latest Lamborghini is the pinnacle of the brand’s technology and achievements — and it has the distinction of being the first-ever fully plug-in hybrid model performance car from the brand (the 2025 Urus SUV was available with either a gas-only or plug-in hybrid powertrain).
Yep, even the Lambos have gone hybrid these days. But does having a plug and a partially electric powertrain ruin the exotic experience of driving a super-rare vehicle like this? Not in the slightest; it might even make it better. (Note: This review is of a 2025 Revuelto, but there have been no changes for 2026 other than the arrival of a Special Edition variant.)
Related: 2025 Lamborghini Urus SE: A 789-HP Plug-In Hybrid SUV
What Makes a Revuelto?
In case you’ve been out of the Lamborghini loop, this new Revuelto is a carbon-fiber road rocket of which the company will likely only make a few thousand in its lifetime. It’s long, low, wide and, in the Cepheus Blue metallic paint of my test vehicle, turns heads like few things I’ve ever piloted. Sure, the overall shape might seem reminiscent of the latest Chevrolet Corvette (or maybe vice versa), but that illusion shatters when you see them parked next to each other. The Revuelto commands attention in ways the Corvette can only dream of. Plus, you don’t see Revueltos coming and going on major highways during rush-hour traffic.
The Revuelto’s styling details are fantastic. A Y-shaped lighting motif starts up front with super-bright LED daytime running lights, and it finishes out back with red LEDs in the same theme. The windshield is raked to what feels like an impossible angle; the doors swing up scissor-style, just as top Lamborghinis have since the 1974 Countach. The haunches are fat and angular, and behind the cabin is a completely exposed engine bay that houses the V-12. The whole car is so low, it barely comes up to my waist, but its length and width give it incredible presence. It commands attention without doing anything but sitting still and looking fabulous. It’s not a pretty car — Lamborghinis haven’t really been “pretty” since the 1966 Miura — but with its razor-edge styling and striking stance, it is absolutely stunning to behold.
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Ungodly Power in Two Ways
Nestled between the rear wheels and behind the occupant compartment is a naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V-12 engine. It’s one of the few V-12s left in production; most have been phased out due to emissions and environmental regulations around the world. It sits completely exposed to the elements with no cover over the engine to protect it. It’s a little unnerving to look at, maybe, but it’s not as if you’ll frequently drive your Revuelto in poor weather, and you’re certainly never taking it through an automatic car wash. Unseen are the three electric motors (one for each front wheel and one for the rear axle) that, along with a small lithium-ion battery pack, comprise the Revuelto’s plug-in hybrid system — a Lamborghini first. The electric system is the car’s default mode; it starts in Citta (for “city) mode every time you start it. That means that when you get in, flip up the fighter-jet-style button cover and punch the Start button, nothing happens. No V-12 roar, just dings and bleeps as the electric system comes to life. It’s brilliant if you’re starting your car early in the morning and don’t want to wake the neighbors; they may hate you for buying the car, but at least they won’t hate you for driving it to Cars & Coffee early on a Sunday morning.
Once you switch the Revuelto out of Citta mode and into Strada (“street”) mode, the V-12 barks to life with an incredible roar and clatter, just like God’s own Formula One car. The digital dashboard display warns you to not really push the car for the next few minutes as the engine is still warming up. But once that V-12 is ready, a few stabs at the go-pedal bring that F1 analogy into clearer focus; this is a screaming monster of an engine, and you should indeed fear its wrath. The three electric motors and one gas engine produce a combined 1,001 horsepower and 783 pounds-feet of torque. It’s routed through an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, and it comes with all-wheel drive and four-wheel steering for increased agility. The powertrain is seamless when allowed to do its own thing, with an impressive level of gas-electric integration in most situations.
What’s It Like to Drive?
Popping the scissor door and sliding carefully into the Revuelto’s thin available carbon-fiber-shell sport seats is actually easier than you might expect thanks to the Revuelto’s cabin being slightly larger than the outgoing Aventador’s (the roof is a little higher, the opening a little larger). You do still have to do the “supercar sit ’n’ spin” maneuver, in which you enter the car butt-first, then swing your legs over the door sill, but to my surprise, it was not a contortionist act in the slightest. Once inside, the Revuelto is surprisingly comfortable, with plenty of width and legroom. Headroom is even acceptable; my 6-foot, well-padded frame didn’t leave my buzz cut touching the headliner (though it was close).
My test car’s interior had an endless dark sea of black suede and carbon-fiber trim, which was a rather dour combination in spite of the pops of bright blue stitching here and there. Thankfully, Lamborghini offers a nearly endless combination of fabrics, styles and trims to suit your whims — far more than you’ll find on most production cars. (Go play with the online Lamborghini configurator if you want to lose a couple of hours.) After switching the car on, the screens come to life: There’s a small vertically oriented touchscreen in the center console that controls most vehicle systems, including climate control and entertainment, plus a digital driver display for gauges and a small ancillary passenger display that mirrors the gauge cluster for certain readouts.
But you’re not yet ready to go anywhere yet because now you need to decipher what all of the controls in front of you do. There’s no “D” on the center console’s shifter; to engage the transmission, you’ll have to pull back on the right-side paddle shifter to put it in Drive, or you could push the “M” button on the console to engage the paddle shifters for manual-shifting duty. But hang on, it’s not time to drive yet. Before you go anywhere, it’s best to familiarize yourself with the Revuelto’s steering wheel — which is a lot more than just a round thing that’s there to change the car’s direction.
There are no fewer than four knobs and 27 buttons on the front and back of the steering wheel (and if you wanted a true racecar ownership experience, this aspect might just be the most accurate). The top left knob controls the car’s launch control and most of its drive modes, allowing you to cycle through Citta, Strada, Corsa (Race) and a couple of even more extreme modes. The lower left knob controls the suspension firmness settings and the front-end hydraulic lift system, which is there to get you over speed bumps and curbs without ripping off your front spoiler. At the top right is the hybrid control mode, which allows you to switch between electric, performance and charging drive modes. The bottom right knob controls the car’s active aerodynamics.
There are also buttons on the steering wheel for headlights, high beams, turn signals and changing the gauge cluster screen. There are also two five-way controllers on the back of the steering wheel that control the audio system and infotainment screen, which you’ll have to use by intuition and feel alone. There are no stalks on the steering column; everything needed to drive the car is controlled by the wheel controls or the center console transmission selector. Despite the abject strangeness of turn signals and high beams on the steering wheel, I found that I got used to all the quirkiness rather quickly. Using them became second nature in no time.
Once you figure out how to work everything, it’s time to explore what this machine can do — and the variety of that list is kind of astonishing. Because it always starts in the fully electric Citta mode, what you’ll hear when driving around town is only the necessary low-speed electric car noises required by law, plus little stones tinkling up in your wheel wells due to the super-sticky tires. But with a twist of that shiny red knob, you can announce your presence to the world in V-12 glory, which goes from a sultry roar to a banshee wail with a quick jab of the accelerator.
That’s when the Revuelto leaps, the world blurs and colorful epithets escape your and your passenger’s lips. The immediate, violent, gut-punching speed is breathtaking. You can go from 0-62 mph in 2.5 seconds, according to Lamborghini, with a top speed — should you be brave enough to attempt it — of 217 mph, a number you should never achieve on an American highway anywhere. The brakes haul you down from extra-legal speeds with equal force; they’re big carbon-ceramic units that are admirably squeal-free in low-speed driving, though they do engage with an on-off binary feel instead of the smoother modulation you feel in most road-going cars.
The Revuelto’s handling behavior is equally impressive, with fantastic steering feel, exceptional communication feedback and a steady on-center feel that has no jittery action whatsoever. Its four-wheel steering helps make parking lot maneuvers easier, shortening the turning circle of this fairly long-wheelbase car. Dancing the Revuelto down my favorite back roads, it was fascinating to see just how forgiving and steady this beast is; it helps make you a better driver, masking any minor missteps you might make. But perhaps most amazing is just how docile and comfortable it can be while doing this.
Ride quality is exceptionally well damped thanks to the Revuelto’s adaptive suspension. Sure, it can be firm, and major surface imperfections will jolt the occupant compartment with a pretty big shock, but it’s much rarer than you’d expect. Over most broken, potholed southeast Michigan pavement, the Revuelto was composed and calm. Everyone riding in it remarked at how easy it seemed to drive, how unchallenging and undemanding, and they were right. The Revuelto is as easy to drive around town as any family sedan. Then, when your mood calls for it, it transforms into a monster capable of launching you down the road in the style of an aircraft carrier’s steam catapult. That Jekyll-and-Hyde personality was completely unexpected in the Lamborghini Revuelto, and I’m not sure if I should be mightily impressed or slightly disappointed. I think I’ll go with the former.
Expert Rating: 7/10
- Powertrain: 10/10
- Ride quality: 8/10
- Handling: 9/10
- Steering feel: 8/10
- Driver comfort: 6/10
- Interior quality: 7/10
- User interface: 6/10
- Value: 3/10
- Overall appeal: 10/10
- Fuel economy: 3/10
It Ain’t Perfect Even at These Prices
You’d think that the things the ultrarich spend their money on would be damn near perfect in every way, but you’d be wrong. As glorious as the Revuelto is — and it is indeed a glorious thing — it is not without flaws. Rear visibility is as awful as you’d imagine. The view out the front isn’t bad, with the sloping hood and big side windows, but the tiny rear window compromises your view, and things get even worse when the automatic rear spoiler deploys at speed. Why there isn’t a rearview camera mirror available — something you can get on your average $35,000 Chevrolet Equinox that would vastly improve the view out the back — is a mystery to me. The Revuelto is also a PHEV, but nobody is ever going to plug one in, mostly because the plug is in the frunk. Yep, you have to pop the front trunk, open it up, leave it cracked, and plug it in to an outlet … all for just 6 miles of electric driving range. Instead, you can simply turn the V-12 into a generator and it’ll charge up the relatively small battery pack in minutes.
Just like every other hyper-expensive hypercar I’ve tested, the Revuelto came with plenty of electrical gremlins to frustrate owners. The front-end electric suspension lifter failed in the “up” position in the first three minutes of me sitting in the car (it corrected itself after a couple of hours and a key cycle). The speakers once randomly stopped playing any sounds whatsoever. The backup cameras sometimes worked and sometimes didn’t (depending on their mood, I guess). The check-engine warning light came on once and stayed on all day, then turned off the next. When I canvas the few friends I have who have owned such fine exotic machines, they all confirm that, yes, this is entirely normal and expected with these vehicles. This boggles my mind when considering what the Revuelto costs.
Everything is more expensive these days, but this car’s price is truly eye-popping: As tested, the Revuelto I drove stickered at $748,858, including destination fee and a gas-guzzler tax penalty. (I earned about 9 mpg in my week with it, so that tracks, but nobody’s buying a Lamborghini for its fuel economy.) The options on the car were stunning — nearly $50,000 just for carbon-fiber trim packages.
The Revuelto is not an aspirational car for most people. It’s not something you save up for, it’s a car you either can or can’t afford. If you can, absolutely good for you. It’s a fantastic piece of engineering and a stunning piece of mobile artwork, and it must be judged on such merits. For the rest of us, well, it won’t be much more than a poster on our kid’s bedroom wall — just like the one we had of the Countach growing up.
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