Top Gun: Maverick made nearly $1.5 billion in the summer of 2022. Say what you will about that movie as a piece of storytelling, its alleged status as highkey U.S. military propaganda, Tom Cruise’s personal life, or the media chicanery recently carried out by the studio that bankrolled it, but as a piece of pure entertainment, it was and remains a force to be reckoned with. Possibly the savior of moviegoing as we knew it post-lockdown, its cinematic appeal arguably lies in the fact that much of what you saw on screen was for real. While other blockbusters routinely pit their green-screen heroes against villains rendered entirely with computers, Cruise and Co. decided to strap real IMAX cameras onto real F-18s, all in the name of entertainment.
Not only did this pay off financially, but it also shows in the final product. The way g-forces are reacted to by the actors’ faces, the way sunlight dances off of scratched-up aircraft canopies, or perhaps just simply knowing that what you are seeing was largely not faked, gives TG:M a rare, tangible quality that raises the stakes. I couldn’t help but think of this when driving the 2025 Lamborghini Revuelto.
Not just because of the red flip-up cover that hides the engine start button, or the fact that it calls its own launch control program “Thrust Mode” with a straight face. Nor is it even down to this particular example’s shade of Lockheed Martin gray. But because, unlike the digitized Porsches and Xiaomis that dominate the top of today’s speed charts, Lambo did this for real—with 12 glorious pistons worth of exploding gasoline—and that’s arguably its main draw.
Just like the movie, the Revuelto is a throwback. Lamborghini has been making V12 flagship supercars for 60 years now, dating back to the Miura. If the aesthetic goal of any Lambo is lunacy over all else, then the Revuelto nails that mission.
The exposed radiators, the flying buttresses, the tank-wide rear tires, the exhaust tips that have been positioned to be about as high as a child’s face, the enormous engine that sits completely open to the elements—it is arguably the most batshit-looking vehicle in its entire lineage. And if you take the nostalgia goggles off and the Countach poster off your bedroom wall for a minute, you’ll realize that the Revuelto is visually the most Lambo of all the series production V12 Lambos that came before it, making even the Aventador look pedestrian in comparison.
That ridiculous costume actually houses a relatively friendly interior, as far as usability is concerned. Audi Group build quality and switchgear mean actual thought has been put into how you interact with this car. And after a day or so, I even got used to the button-based turn signals and right-paddle-for-drive gear selection, the two things that will likely be the most confounding to those new to Lamborghinis.
Concealable cupholders ripped straight out of a 997 Porsche 911 allow for admirable coffee run duty and sit underneath a skinny passenger screen displaying speed, gear, and powertrain temps, letting your co-pilot follow along as you set personal high scores.
With the car set in Corsa and the aforementioned thrust mode armed and “possible,” you will likely want somebody else keeping an eye on the metrics. Because you’ll be too busy picking your jaw up off the floor at the rate at which the Revuelto aggressively pushes your organs into submission, and the road rushes past underneath.
A screaming 6.5-liter V12 works in tandem with three electric motors to make a headline 1,001 horsepower and 783 lb-ft of torque—yes, this car is a hybrid; revuelto is Spanish for “mixed.” Each front wheel gets its own e-motor, and a third is integrated into the eight-speed dual-clutch transmission. These mostly exist to enhance the V12, which very much does the heavy lifting. Zero to 60 mph happens in 2.5 seconds, and Lambo quotes a top speed of over 217.
With your foot pinned to the floor, the Revuelto is relentless. You feel it in your neck, you feel it in your stomach, and you feel it in your eardrums, and unlike similar stunts in, say, a top-shelf electric car, which may deliver similar physical thrust off the line, the Lambo does not let up past 100 mph. It keeps pushing, the power feels bottomless, and the drama is on another level.
If launching a Porsche Taycan Turbo S is like getting fired out of an MLB-grade pitching machine on max velocity, launching a Revuelto is like getting hurled down the line by the lovechild of Shohei Ohtani and a dragon. On paper, the g-forces and trap speeds may be similar, but holy hell does the latter make for a better story.
Supercars like this, Lambos included, have been easier to drive around town than their looks may let on for many years now, so let’s not act surprised at the Revuelto’s accessibly light steering and decidedly reasonable ride. The nose can lift at the press of a button to make driveways less anxiety-inducing, and you can even see out of the back of it.
The seats are appropriately stiff but ergonomically sound. Your left foot is uncomfortably pushed toward the center of the footwell, but overall, this is a notably more livable and comfortable car than the Huracán STO I drove a few years ago. Revuelto starts in Città mode, gliding on electricity as much as the battery allows (a small 3.8-kWh unit yields just 6.2 miles on the WLTP cycle), and the ability to sneak in and out of residential areas without waking anyone is appreciated. Electric driving is accompanied by a loud, slightly unrefined, “windy” whirr.
Flick the bright red knob on the steering wheel back into Strada or Sport, and the 6.5-liter V12 howls into play. The volume, intensity, and theatrical delay with which this happens qualify as a jumpscare if you’re not accustomed. Pull the big carbon paddle on the left of the steering wheel, and the eight-speed dual-clutch shifts down promptly. Dig into the gas pedal even a little bit, and the big Lambo takes off.
An unleashed Revuelto is about as dramatic as cars come from the factory when it comes to noise and swiftness. But in terms of actual controllability, it somehow remains just dramatic enough never to be that scary to throw around a corner.
Electric AWD, double wishbones all around with MagneRide, and bespoke Bridgestone Potenza Sports measuring 345 mm in the back make you feel like a superhero on a winding road. Steering doesn’t feel quite as analog or pin-sharp as that of a McLaren Artura or even that STO Huracán, but it’s not that far off. A carbon fiber “monofuselage” chassis inspired by aeronautics is 25% stiffer and 10% lighter than the Aventador’s frame, and combines with a steering rack that’s 10% quicker than that of the last-gen Ultimae to deliver immaculate reflexes.
The Revuelto is a physically vast vehicle (it’s as long as a Volvo XC90 and as wide as a BMW X7), but it feels no bigger than an M4 once you’re in the zone with it on a good piece of tarmac. The wild-looking shift paddles are column-mounted but somehow not annoyingly so, and they feel great to pull. These are really quite quick, although still a half-notch slower than Porsche’s PDK.
Canyon carving confidence is enhanced by carbon ceramic brakes with fixed 10-piston front, four-piston rear calipers that rein the big Lambo in with a pedal that’s button-short in travel but very intuitive to modulate with pressure. Stepping on a regular car’s brake pedal after getting out of this feels like stepping on a wet sponge.
As a car, the Revuelto is rowdy and showy and ballistically rapid. Looking in the rearview mirror, seeing the engine’s heat create a mirage as the active rear spoiler moves around doing its thing is an indescribably cool sensation. The transmission clinks and clunks, the electric motors whoosh, and the V12 burbles as you let off the gas.
In an era when a zero-to-60 sprint in the 2s is table stakes for high-performance electric cars costing a fraction of the price, the Revuelto earns its $600,000-plus price tag and deserves celebration for sticking with a naturally aspirated 12-pot that screams to 9,500 rpm mere inches behind your head. This engine is Sant’Agata’s own engine, too, not some off-the-shelf German stunt double.
Using the same fundamental principles that propelled the Ford Model T, Lambo is jumping out of an actual airplane, turning gasoline into breathtaking, adrenaline-producing, borderline terrifying forward motion—it did this the hard way.
It did this for real.
New school electricity meets a dinosaur of an engine to deliver speed and spectacle in equal, gloriously unhinged measure.
Chris Tsui is The Drive‘s former Reviews Editor and current freelance automotive journalist. He’s based in Toronto.
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