Ferrari Roma vs Lamborghini Huracan

What's the difference?

There aren’t as many Ferraris on the road in Italy as you might think. There’s the purchase price, per-kW taxes and poisonously expensive fuel. So, usually, they’re a rare sight, except around Maranello in the northern province of Modena.

Because that’s Ferrari’s home and in getting to grips with the subject of this review - the twin-turbo V8 Roma - I enjoyed a smile-inducing moment with a local milk truck driver.

On a narrow section, part way into a road test drive through local villages and twisting B-roads to the west of Maranello, the tanker pulled over to let me through. 

Gave a thank you double blink of the hazard lights on passing and received a quick headlight flash in return. They almost certainly thought I was putting kays on a test mule in the same way camouflaged prototypes so often do on the same stretch of road.

Maybe I’d inadvertently sipped some Prancing Horse Kool-Aid, but it felt special. Ferrari is so close to Italian hearts and the Roma is such a sleek and engaging example of its current output.

But is this ‘iron fist in a velvet glove’ 2+2 capable of tearing you away from its well-credentialled high-end competitors? Stick with us to find out.

Lamborghini is a brand built on madness, excess and eye-searing design. Its cars don’t have to make sense, and indeed its owners probably prefer it if they don’t - they have other vehicles to use for the real world.

So, the existence of the new Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato, the world’s first 'All-terrain Supercar', a V10-engined mad machine built to drive sideways at high speed on dirt, should not come as a surprise.

And yet it really does, because there’s never been anything like it before (yes, Porsche has built the 911 Dakar, but it’s more of a sand-dune-climbing, desert-crossing motorsport tribute), for the very good reason that no one ever considered it would be a good idea. 

It also sounds just a touch intimidating, the kind of driving experience that would require pro rally driver skills to survive, so it was with some trepidation that we headed to Palm Springs, USA, to test out the new Huracan Sterrato.