Evelyn Reynolds

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From the December 2020 issue of Car and Driver.
The Ferrari Roma’s start button isn’t a button. It’s an iPad-like touch-sensitive switch at the bottom of the steering wheel. And it’s but one of many functions crammed onto the helm. Even after spending 30 hours with the car, we were still uncovering new ones. Ferrari isn’t relying on its heritage here. This is only the second V-8-powered front-engine GT coupe in the brand’s history—the first being the 2018 GTC4Lusso T, which was the refreshed FF with four fewer cylinders. No, with the Roma, Ferrari focused on making a 21st-century grand-touring car with an almost all-digital interface and without a goofy retractable roof.
Sure, the hardtop convertible Portofino is still around, and there’s a lot of Portofino in the Roma, but the Roma is some 200 pounds lighter and 20 horses more powerful, with a 612-hp version of Ferrari’s twin-turbo 3.9-liter V-8. The upcoming Portofino M will match that output, but it won’t rectify the weight discrepancy. And while all three of these Ferraris have an engine that roars like artillery, the Roma is prettiest.

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Ferrari

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How C/D Editors Would Spec the 2020 Ferrari Roma

It has the face of a shark. The fenders flare like a Sophia Loren sigh, and the bodywork is free of holes, vents, and gouges. The razor-edge taillights look nothing like the usual round Ferrari fare. The Roma and Portofino share a 105.1-inch wheelbase and their basic suspension design, but the Roma is 0.7 inch lower, 1.4 inches wider, and at 183.3 inches long, 2.7 inches longer overall.
The 561-lb-ft torque peak comes up at 3000 rpm and stays there until 5750 rpm, with plenty beyond that to the 7500-rpm redline. Pop the hood and the Ferrari V-8 looks as good as the body. There’s no plastic sound-insulation cover here.
Pull the right carbon-fiber paddle shifter and the rear-mounted, Magna-made eight-speed dual-clutch transaxle loads first gear. The Roma is the first of Ferrari’s GTs to include a Race setting for the stability and traction-control system. Turn the manettino selector on the steering wheel to Race and the car growls and gets down to the business of ground flying.

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Ferrari

Shifted with the paddles, the eight-speed reacts instantly. Downshift into a corner and the car squats flatly, takes a set at the apex, and bolts confidently. The system allows a bit of tail slide, but on public roads, it’s hard to get to the cornering velocity where the 285/35ZR-20 Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires will break free. What’s available even in Comfort mode is perfectly calibrated steering and the thrill of feeling the 245/35ZR-20 Michelins up front bite into the surface.
We expect this Ferrari to eclipse 60 mph in 3.1 seconds when launch mode is activated, but the exhaust drama and pull of the engine make it seem even quicker than that. And the Roma is beguiling at triple-digit speeds. It also has a hilarious rear seat and a reasonably sized 10-cubic-foot trunk.
Roma prices start at $222,420. The version driven here carried an option load that put it at $316,240. Skip the $11,812 carbon-fiber rear diffuser, the $5906 front spoiler you’re bound to scratch, the $4725 carbon-fiber dashboard inserts, and a few other bits, and a Roma could be a great quarter-million-dollar Ferrari. In the prancing-horse world, that’s a bargain.

Specifications

Specifications
2021 Ferrari Roma
VEHICLE TYPE front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 2+2-passenger, 2-door coupe
BASE PRICE $222,420
ENGINE TYPE twin-turbocharged and intercooled DOHC 32-valve V-8, aluminum block and heads, direct fuel injectionDisplacement 235 in3, 3855 cm3Power 612 hp @ 7500 rpmTorque 561 lb-ft @ 3000 rpm
TRANSMISSION 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
DIMENSIONS Wheelbase: 105.1 inLength: 183.3 inWidth: 77.7 inHeight: 51.2 inCurb weight (C/D est): 3600 lb
PERFORMANCE (C/D EST) 60 mph: 3.1 sec100 mph: 6.8 sec1/4 mile: 11.0 secTop speed: 199 mph
EPA FUEL ECONOMY Combined/city/highway: 19/17/22 mpg

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From the Archive: The look of Lambo, the breeding of Rambo. More

Supercar makers are always sparing with their special sauce, reserving the fastest and most extreme iterations of a given model until late in their product cycle. This form of delayed gratification is ultimately a function of product planning rather than technological progress, but it does tend to give us the definitive version of a given model. Examples of the genre include the Ferrari 458 Speciale and 488 Pista, McLaren’s LT variants, and—we supposed until very recently—the 2018 Lamborghini Huracán Performante, which previously sat atop the model hierarchy.
Although the Performante was truly special—its potency proved by both a Nürburgring Nordschliefe production lap record and a 2.2-second sprint to 60 mph—it clearly wasn’t quite special enough for Lamborghini. Now the company has created an even more extreme and track-focused variant to round off the Huracán’s long and successful life. This is the Huracán Super Trofeo Omologata (STO)—as in homologated—intended to be the closest thing possible to a street-legal version of the Super Trofeo race car. It will arrive in the spring, starting at $334,133.

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Lamborghini

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While it will have license plates and be fully capable at the all-important business of low-speed posing, the STO is designed for intensive circuit work. That point was proven when we got to drive a late prototype version on the demanding 3.8-mile handling circuit at the Porsche-owned Nardó technical center in southern Italy. This itinerary didn’t provide much insight into how the STO will cope with the challenges of the real world—we’re certainly not expecting limo-like refinement—but our drive did prove it feels truly mighty on a closed course.
Not that the STO is the quickest Huracán on paper. Its 5.2-liter V-10 makes 631 horsepower, equaling the output of the Performante and Evo variants, but torque has fallen slightly, to 417 pound-feet. Such as its motorsport counterparts, the STO is rear-wheel drive. This saves weight compared to the all-wheel-drive Performante but also hampers off-the-line acceleration, with Lamborghini’s claimed 3.0-second zero-to-62-mph time being a tenth shy of the corresponding figure for the earlier car. STO-specific gearing also brings the top speed down to 193 mph, while the Performante hits 202 mph.

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Lamborghini

None of this matters at all. On a track, the STO will be the quickest streetable Huracán by a considerable margin. Lamborghini says the new car can lap the Daytona International Speedway road course in 1:48.9—nearly three seconds quicker than the Performante and just two-and-a-half shy of the GT3 Evo race car.
Besides ditching the front half of the drivetrain, other weight-saving measures include magnesium alloy wheels, a titanium roll cage (developed with Akrapovič), and a single-piece carbon-fiber clamshell front end inspired by the similar “cofango” of the Miura. Inside, the STO loses carpets and gains carbon-bodied sports seats, and the windshield is thinner and 20 percent lighter. The STO weighs 95 pounds less than the Performante, according to Lamborghini.
The V-10 remains the starring feature. The peak horsepower might be unchanged, but the STO gets a more aggressive throttle map and a sharpened top-end soundtrack that reserves its most savage noises for the vicinity of the 8500-rpm rev cut. The accelerator response is instantaneous in a way that even the keenest turbocharged engines can’t match, and although low-down urge is lacking—peak torque arrives at a screaming 6500 rpm—the STO’s lungs are deep enough that it never feels anything less than outrageously fast.

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Lamborghini

The STO’s suspension is fortified for track work with new bushings and anti-roll bars, as well as recalibrated MagneRide active dampers. Dynamic settings are still regulated by the ANIMA controller, but the modes have been renamed. STO is intended for road use, Trofeo for dry track, and Pioggia for wet. Selecting Trofeo raises the traction and stability-control systems’ intervention thresholds to what is effectively a sport mode, and these are also fully defeatable.
One trait the prototype STO shared with other Huracáns was its low-effort steering, which exhibited a marked lack of resistance around the straight-ahead position. The STO uses a fixed-ratio steering rack instead of the variable-ratio setup offered with lesser versions. That makes for less frenetic reactions, but steering inputs at high speed are still judged based on acquired faith rather than the reassurance of fulsome feedback. Like the Huracán Evo, the STO gets a rear-steering system, capable of adding up to three degrees of lock, which helps the car change direction but doesn’t add to the sense of dynamic connection.

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Lamborghini

But this proved to be a small complaint. Once in a corner and loaded up, the STO’s chassis instills near-total confidence, with huge grip from the track-ready Bridgestone Potenza tires coexisting with a remarkable degree adjustability. The mighty engine has more than enough urge to overwhelm the rear tires and send the STO into lurid oversteer. But the delicacy of the balance between adhesion levels is more impressive, with the Huracán’s sensitivity to weight transfer and the surgical accelerator making it easy to alter its line with small inputs. The experience often felt like driving a 600-hp Porsche Cayman.
Significant downforce enhances both high-speed grip and the driver’s confidence level in faster turns. The STO doesn’t have active aerodynamic elements, but the vast rear wing can be manually adjusted between three positions to deliver different amounts of assistance. The most aggressive of these creates a huge 992 pounds at 174 mph—the Performante makes a peak of 771 pounds of downforce at 193 mph—with a substantial amount of that figure available at lower and more track-typical speeds. The steering doesn’t weight up noticeably as aero loads build, but it only takes a few committed corners to start believing in its precision. The track-focused Huracán’s high-speed stability was demonstrated at Nardó’s first turn, a hugely fast left-hander that the STO proved capable of taking at an indicated 171 mph.

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Lamborghini

The STO has also been treated to upgraded brakes, Lamborghini fitting it with CCM-R discs that are claimed to offer 25 percent more stopping power than regular carbon-ceramics, and with a 400-percent improvement in thermal conductivity. Those brakes were resilient under even the hardest use, allowing the Huracán to venture far beyond what initially felt like brave braking points. There is also a new dashboard display to report rotor and brake fluid temperatures. Only the biggest stops turned these briefly from green to yellow.
The STO feels like a fitting finale to the Huracán story. The Aventador’s rowdy younger sibling is still Lamborghini’s most successful model of all time (although the Urus is closing fast) and deserves to go out on a high. Much of the STO’s clientele will doubtless consist of moneyed extroverts drawn by its range-topping status and ability to draw crowds. But based on our experience of the prototype, this is car that was designed to thrive under the hardest track use. Hopefully more than a few of them will actually get driven that way.

Specifications

Specifications
2021 Lamborghini Huracán STO
VEHICLE TYPE mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 2-passenger, 2-door coupe
BASE PRICE $334,133
ENGINE TYPE DOHC 40-valve V-10, aluminum block and heads, port and direct fuel injectionDisplacement 318 in3, 5204 cm3Power 631 hp @ 8000 rpmTorque 417 lb-ft @ 6500 rpm
TRANSMISSION 7-speed dual-clutch automatic
DIMENSIONS Wheelbase: 103.1 inLength: 179.1 inWidth: 76.6 inHeight: 48.0 inPassenger volume: 46 ft3Trunk volume: 1 ft3Curb weight (C/D est): 3350 lb
PERFORMANCE (C/D EST) 60 mph: 2.6 sec100 mph: 6.0 sec1/4 mile: 10.4 secTop speed: 193 mph
EPA FUEL ECONOMY (C/D EST) Combined/city/highway: 15/13/18 mpg

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Hyundai says its N performance division is named for its Namyang proving ground in Korea and Germany’s Nürburgring, but the team involved probably would tell you it stands for No Sleep. Since the Veloster N was introduced in 2018, Hyundai engineers have been a busy bunch of bees developing six more products, including the new 2021 Elantra N Line, the more powerful Elantra N, which will go on sale late in 2021, and three SUVs that are coming soon.
The team insomnia-suffering speed merchants have also created Hyundai’s most powerful sedan ever, the 2021 Hyundai Sonata N Line. On sale now, it’s the first performance version of the brand’s popular mid-size sedan, and it’s looking to steal some practicality-minded enthusiasts from the Honda Accord 2.0T, Mazda 6, and Toyota Camry TRD. An afternoon spent driving it around Southern California, tells us it’s good enough to do just that.

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Behind its big blacked-out grille is a new turbocharged 2.5-liter inline-four shared with the Genesis G80 and GV80. The turbo four is also shared with the Sonata’s platform mate, the Kia K5 GT. In the Sonata, it pumps out a beastly 290 horsepower at 5800 rpm and a burly 311 pound-feet of torque at just 1650 rpm. That’s 99 more horsepower and 130 pound-feet of torque more than the Sonata’s naturally aspirated 2.5-liter and 110 more horsepower and 116 pound-feet over the Sonata’s available 1.6-liter turbo four.

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Hyundai

To get there, engineers fortified the naturally aspirated 2.5-liter’s block, integrated its exhaust manifold into the cylinder head, lowered the compression ratio from 13.0:1 to 10.5:1, and bolted on a turbocharger to swell the intake with boost.
Hyundai also fits its new eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, a gearbox that also pulls duty in the Veloster N, the Kia K5 GT, and in the upcoming Elantra N. Developed in-house, the transmission has a wet clutch pack, is properly responsive, shifts quickly and smoothly, but it doesn’t feel quite as immediate and snappy as it does in the Elantra N. The first four gears are tightly spaced and well matched to the engine’s torque curve, which is high and flat to 4000 rpm. There’s some serious midrange power here, and the big four-cylinder pulls well to 6250 rpm.
To reduce the time to 60 mph, Hyundai developed a launch-control program that makes drag racing this front-wheel-drive sedan easy. Those close ratios mean that second gear is done by about 50 mph. The N Line feels quicker than the Toyota Camry TRD, which hit 60 mph in 5.6 seconds in our testing. If it turns out to be quicker than the Accord 2.0T automatic’s 5.4-second time, it could be the quickest front-wheel-drive mid-size family sedan out there, but we won’t know until we get it to our test track.

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Hyundai

Unfortunately, there’s a downside to all that power. It’s been a while since we’ve complained about torque steer, but heavy applications of throttle are felt through the Hyundai’s steering. It doesn’t turn the clock back 20 years, changing lanes on its own at the hit like a supercharged Pontiac Bonneville SSEi—not even close—but you’ll know you bought a front-wheel-drive car every time you put your foot down.
All that power churning through the front wheels is apparent on a tight mountain road. Despite those meaty Continental Premium Contact 6 summer tires sized 245/40R-19 (Pirelli P Zero all seasons are standard), the Hyundai has considerably more oomph than forward bite. Engage Sport mode, which disables the Sonata’s traction control, and it’ll spin its front tires out of tight second-gear corners, generating graceful whiffs of white tire smoke that travel up and over the windshield. It isn’t as fun as it sounds as the tires scream and squeal for life. Don’t listen to their pleas to slow down. Keep pressing, and the Continentals prove they have more grip to give.

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Hyundai

The N engineers also retuned the chassis with significantly stiffer powertrain mounts, firmer dampers, and thicker anti-roll bars. The ride quality is sporty but comfortable, and there’s more than respectable lateral grip and steering feel. The Sonata N Line is capable of real pace in the hills, understeering only mildly when you overcook a tight corner, but it’s happiest in faster open sections, where it can stretch its legs and put its power down.
Larger 13.6-inch front and 12.8-inch rear brake rotors are also part of the deal. The pedal is reassuringly firm around town, and they feel good in the hills right up to the point when they overheat. The N Line weighs more than 3500 pounds, and it pulls like a freight train down the straights. The brakes get a workout. If you’re really on it, they’re cooked in just a few miles.

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Hyundai

Tweaks to the sedan’s interior and exterior are mild but meaningful. Unlike TRD, which has dressed the Camry fast and furiously, Hyundai has taken a more conservative path while still following the sports-sedan dress code. There are a few small N Line badges scattered about and a new front fascia with three large air intakes. Its rump is redressed with four exhaust pipes, a black lower bumper, and, of course, a diffuser. The wheels have a complex 20-spoke design.
Inside we expected the three-spoke steering wheel from the Elantra N, but the Sonata sticks with the Sonata’s four-spoke unit. The push-button shifter also carries over from the regular Sonata. The N Line bits are limited to a nice set of sports seats wrapped in leather and suede. Standard features include a digital gauge cluster that displays simple round dials, a big 10.3-inch infotainment touchscreen, a Bose premium audio system, a panoramic sunroof, and Hyundai’s digital key, which can turn your phone into the car’s key.
At $34,195, it isn’t the cheapest option in the class, but the engine and chassis make it a strong value. The problem is that the same money gets you a rear-drive 255-hp Kia Stinger. We’d pick the Stinger over the Sonata N Line, and we don’t even have to lose much sleep on that choice.

Specifications

Specifications
2021 Hyundai Sonata N-Line
VEHICLE TYPE front-engine, front-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door sedan
BASE PRICE $34,195
ENGINE TYPE turbocharged and intercooled DOHC 16-valve inline-4, aluminum block and head, port and direct fuel injectionDisplacement 152 in3, 2497 cm3Power 290 hp @ 5800 rpmTorque 311 lb-ft @ 1650 rpm
TRANSMISSION 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
DIMENSIONS Wheelbase: 111.8 inLength: 192.9 inWidth: 73.2 inHeight: 56.9 inPassenger volume: 105 ft3Trunk volume: 16 ft3Curb weight (C/D est): 3550 lb
PERFORMANCE (C/D EST) 60 mph: 5.4 sec100 mph: 18.0 sec1/4 mile: 13.7 secTop speed: 150 mph
EPA FUEL ECONOMY Combined/city/highway: 27/23/33 mpg

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