The Lamborghini Temerario Is the Quickest Gas Car We’ve Ever Tested

Move over, Ferrari. The Lamborghini Temerario is officially the quickest vehicle with an internal combustion engine that MotorTrend has ever tested. Lambo’s 907-hp “starter” supercar earned that title after laying down a scorching 9.58-second quarter-mile run with a 148.5-mph trap speed, beating the 2021 Ferrari SF90 Stradale Assetto Fiorano by just 0.03 second.

There are, of course, EVs that will beat the Temerario in a head-to-head race. The Tesla Model S Plaid, the Lucid Air Sapphire, and a few variants of the Porsche Taycan Turbo have all run faster in MotorTrend testing, but none of them can match the drama and emotion of the Lamborghini. The Temerario’s plug-in hybrid powertrain combines the instantaneous low-end torque of three electric motors with the sustained top-end pull of a twin-turbo, flat-plane-crank 4.0-liter V-8 for a wild thrill ride.

Lamborghini is a master of supercar theater. For the fastest runs, you click steering-wheel-mounted knobs into Corsa handling mode and Performance powertrain mode, then press the small checkered-flag button to activate launch control. Stand on both pedals, and the engine spins to 4,000 rpm before you rocket off with controlled fury. All four Bridgestone Potenza Race tires howl off the line, the V-8 winds up to 10,250 rpm, then the eight-speed dual-clutch transmission rips off a brutally efficient upshift into second. The tires chirp and the whole process repeats.

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How Fast Is the Lamborghini Temerario’s 0–60-MPH Time?

You don’t get to a 9.6-second quarter mile by waddling off the line. The Temerario bangs out 0–60 mph in just 2.2 seconds. As quick as that is, it’s not enough to be the best among gas-burning vehicles. The Lambo lands at third in our all-time records for a vehicle with a combustion engine, behind the Ferrari SF90 Stradale Assetto Fiorano and the 2026 Porsche 911 Turbo S. You don’t have to wait long to claim the lead, though. It takes just 4.6 seconds to hit 100 mph, by which point the Lamborghini is leading the Ferrari and Porsche.

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The Plug-In Hybrid Powertrain Weighs on Braking Distances

When it comes time to scrub speed, standard carbon-ceramic brakes haul the Temerario to a stop from 60 mph in 96 feet. That’s respectable but not nearly as spectacular as the acceleration. The plug-in hybrid powertrain is almost certainly hurting rather than helping Lamborghini in this regard. Our test car was equipped with the $84,100 Alleggerita package that shaves 55 pounds, yet it still weighed a portly 4,185 pounds. As with the acceleration times, cranking up the velocity puts the Lambo in the best light. Stopping from 100 mph in 266 feet, the Temerario lands in a three-way tie for 12th place on our list of thousands of vehicles.

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How Does This Bull Do in the Handling Arena?

MotorTrend’s figure-eight course is the ultimate test of a car’s performance. It combines cornering, braking, and acceleration into a single lap that reveals so much about a car’s dynamics in both objective and subjective terms. Pushed to its limits, the Temerario gnaws on corners with 1.14 g of grip on its way to a 22.3-second lap. That places it 0.7 second behind our record holder—which is actually three record holders locked in a tie, the 2026 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1, the 2025 Porsche 911 GT3 Touring, and the 2022 McLaren 765LT Spider. The starter Lambo’s lap matches times set by the 2015 Porsche 918 Spyder, the 2025 Lucid Air Sapphire, and a two of its (much lighter) predecessors, the 2020 Huracán Evo AWD (3,645 pounds) and the 2021 Huracán STO (3,390 pounds)

We like to frame the figure eight with a second number—the average g-force due to acceleration, braking, and cornering experienced over the full lap. The Temerario’s 1.05 g means that for the entire lap you’re either being pushed from behind, pressed into your seat belt, or pinned against the bolster harder than gravity is holding you on this planet.

As impressive as the Temerario’s performance is, arguably the biggest takeaway from running it through our testing wringer is that Lamborghini hasn’t sacrificed an exhilarating experience in the quest for numbers. Its Corsa mode keeps everything in line for focused fast laps, but the Lambo lets loose in Sport with playful but easily controlled rotation. And if that’s not wild enough, the three-stage Drift mode sets you up for big slides. The Lamborghini Temerario is a cocktail of caffeine, adrenaline, and testosterone on four wheels. We’ll have more to say about that soon in a full road test.