Lamborghini Huracan vs Mercedes-Benz C-Class

What's the difference?

Not just a spectacularly stupid idea made real, the Lamborghini Sterrato is by far the best, or at least most hilarious, of the many Huracan variants the company has produced. 

It makes you feel like a hero, even when you’re going sideways on dirt like a nutter. It could just be my new favourite supercar. 

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with travel, accommodation and meals provided.

The Mercedes-Benz C-Class C200 is such a stylish sedan and I would totally have one. The driving performance, luxurious features and practical size made it a winning combo for my family. The price point is definitely up there but you do get a high-end build for the cash. I've seen bigger boots in other sedans and not being able to fit a third child seat will limit some families, but this still easily earns an 8.5/10 from me.

My son really loved this one. The ambient lighting was the highlight for him and he thought it looked like a "space car" inside. He gave it a 9/10.

Oh yes, it’s pretty interesting, all right, because it breaks new dusty ground for Lamborghini, and its Huracan in particular.

To cope with its intended use, the Sterrato has been raised 44mm higher than the ground-hugging normal version and it’s also had giant, bolt-on style guards attached to make it look a bit wilder.

Also quite noticeable is the huge roof scoop - which renders rear vision from the driver’s seat a complete zero, they may as well throw the mirror away - which has to be there to help the V10 engine breathe.

The side air intakes through which air usually gets to the mid-mounted power plant have been blocked up, because they would have sucked in too much dirt and gravel. 

I’m happy to report the silly looking rally style headlights stuck to the Huracan’s shark nose are optional, although again, no doubt every buyer has gone for them, because they stand out in a crowd.

The Huracan Sterrato has no problem doing that on its own, of course, because it already looks extremely aggressive, and its knobbly, all-terrain tyres finish off that style flourish.

The C200 is a sleek and elegant steed.

Initially, you may think this is just a standard Merc showcase. There's the nice big badge on the pronounced nose. Beautiful sleek lines in the body... but it's the attention to detail that make this feel special.

There's a repeated badge motif in the grille and a cute cursive Mercedes logo tucked into the corner of the windscreen. The puddle lights on the doors project the badge at night time and you can often spot a badge etched into the LED lights.

However, it's the interior that's the highlight for me and I feel like it's a big step up from previous models I've been in.

Our model has the grey 'Artico' synthetic leather trim (says grey but it's really white) and a lovely mix of piano black and shiny chrome inserts that are set against soft touchpoints throughout.

The quality of the build oozes through every stitch and join. Don't even get me started on the cool customisable ambient lighting system inside, which makes this feel like you're on the set of Tron and really elevates the interior.

It's quite fun to build one of these in Mercedes' online configurator. You can customise your trims to make it feel like your own and their blue paintwork options are great (I do love a blue car).

Next question, please. You don’t get cupholders, there’s not really anywhere to put your phone and the cabin generally feels as roomy as a phone box that’s been through the wash and shrunk quite badly.

There’s a frunk that can barely hold two small backpacks and that’s about it. If you want practical space, buy an Urus. The Huracan Sterrato is not a practical car, but that’s not part of its design brief.

I'm not going to lie – there are sedans out there that have an almost limo-like space inside but the C200 isn't one of them.

It's not small by any means and all occupants enjoy the comforts of decent legroom and headroom but it's not cavernous considering the specs (1437mm high/1820mm wide/4751mm long).

The optional panoramic sunroof does cut into the headroom for back seat passengers, which is something to consider if your family is very tall.

The storage is maybe a tad leaner-than-average for a car of this size. The glove box and middle console aren't massive but will suffice.

The cupholders up front can be removed if you need extra storage space for larger items and back seat passengers enjoy retractable cupholders in the armrest.

The way the front doors curve out creates a larger than normal storage bin and drink bottle holder – which help make up the difference. There is a dedicated phone pocket, to tuck it out of the way.

The boot space is 455 litres (VDA), which isn't as large as some others on the market but it was plenty big enough for my family's needs.

There's a handy under-floor storage pocket for smaller items, like the puncture repair kit, because you don't get a spare tyre in this.

When it comes to ease of use, my six-year-old loved not needing my help to get into his seat and he still enjoyed a decent view out of the wide back window.

The amenities in each row are good but not class-defining. Still, creature comforts have be well-thought through.

Front occupants enjoy heated seats and fantastic lumbar and under thigh support. Dual-zone climate control sorts out the temp, and the cool circular air vents that make loud audible 'clicks' when manoeuvred give the interior a jet cockpit vibe.

While I've never had an issue opening or closing a sedan boot, the powered lid was a nice feature to have this week.

The tech throughout is great and intuitive to use. The massive 11.9-inch touchscreen multimedia system is cool and is easy to use once you become acclimatised to Mercedes system.

The customisable digital instrument panel makes the driving experiences feel individualised.

The interior is a chilled out space with gentle scrolling touchpads taking the place of most 'push' buttons and dials.

Think of each surface as being a bit like a touchscreen tablet in how you operate it. I was a little worried the touchpads would be laggy but they're very responsive.

There's only one USB port in the whole car, which limits charging for other passengers but I did enjoy the easy connectivity of the wireless Apple CarPlay.

The electric heated front seats are a nice touch but I was amused by the 'kinetic' function on both. It's what you might call a 'massage' function on another car but here they don't really work. It's best to think of them as a way to do some (very) gentle stretching on a long trip.

The 360-degree camera view is super clear and crisp but the dynamic guidelines (which tilt the camera angle) are a bit too dynamic for my liking and I relied mostly on the bird's eye view to park.

As I've mentioned, the ambient lighting system creates a stellar atmosphere inside. I've often wondered why other car manufacturers haven't jumped on that bandwagon because it's a relatively cheap way of creating wow factor. And it generates massive wow factor in here.

Herein lies the rub. There are four models for the C-Class sedan and ours is at the bottom of the pack.

But don't let its position fool you in thinking it'll be cheap because this model starts at $78,900... and that's before you start adding the option packs. 

Our model is fitted with the 'Vision Package' which adds a host of features – like a panoramic sunroof, head-up display and heated front seats, to name just a few. This adds about $3000 to the price tag.

This also has the optional 'Sport Package' which adds 19-inch AMG alloy wheels and rear privacy glass, among other things, for an extra $1300.

Unfortunately, even without all of those options, this is still one of the most expensive 'entry-level' sedans in the luxury class!

The Sterrato is powered by a Lamborghini engine that’s on its way into the history books, a 5.2-litre V10 that will die with this, the last variant of the Huracan.

Its replacement will be powered by a V8 hybrid, which will no doubt be more powerful but simply will not sound as amazing.

The version in the Sterrato has been detuned slightly, partly because of the breathing issues - you just can’t get as much air into an engine when it’s driving through its own self-propelled dust storm - and because of its all-terrain tyres, the first ever to be speed rated to 260km/h.

It still makes an impressive, and very loud, 449kW (602hp) and 560Nm, however. I’d describe it as “more than enough”.

That monster engine is matched with a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic and a very, very clever all-wheel drive system.

The C200 has a 1.5-litre, four-cylinder, turbo-petrol engine with an integrated starter-generator. 

What's that, you ask? So, glad you did. It's basically an electric battery that also acts as your starter... or alternator.

It smooths out vibrations from the engine and generates some power from braking. Making this a very mild hybrid. Note the 'mild'.

Is it powerful? Surprisingly, yeah. It has a maximum output of 165kW and 300Nm of torque. Combine that with the starter-generator and we have a powerful little engine that can push the C200 from 0-100km in 7.3 seconds, while still feeling like there's power in reserve.

The nine-speed auto transmission is damn smooth and there's no clunky gear changing at any speed. It's got great pick-up, too, for when you need to overtake or zip across traffic.

So, Lamborghini claims the Huracan Sterrato will deliver a fuel "economy" figure of 14.9 litres per 100km, which seems like a lot, until you consider it probably won't get anywhere near that, if you drive it the way you're supposed to, particularly foot flat and wheels spinning on dirt.

Again, fuel economy is not a core value for this car, nor its buyers.

An 80-litre tank means a theoretical range of around 480km.

The official combined cycle fuel figure is 6.9L/100km. Real world testing saw my figure at 7.2L, which was awesome for the heavy driving I did this week on a combo of urban and open-roads.

The light regen braking probably helps this coast comfortably into being a very efficient sedan for its size.

Minimum fuel requirement is 95 RON premium unleaded and you'll need 66 litres of it to fill the tank.

Driving range using the official consumption figure is around 950km, and 915km using our real-world number.

I could give you the short version of what it was like to drive the Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato at speed on a specially prepared dirt race track, which would be to say that I have never, ever had so much fun in a car, but that would be selling it short.

While the Sterrato is clearly built to do one insensible thing brilliantly, while somehow not imperilling the life of its driver, what is most incredible about it is how good it is at everything else, as well.

To create this Huracan, Lamborghini had to increase the ride height significantly, soften up the suspension and increase its amount of travel.

It also had to ask Bridgestone nicely to produce a tyre unlike anything the world has ever seen, an all-terrain tread capable of dealing with dirt and gravel and yet also grippy enough to be used on a sealed race track, or to carve up your favourite mountain pass. 

It also had to be capable of being speed rated to 260km/h, or about 100km/h faster than any all-terrain tyre Bridgestone has ever produced before. 

Looking at the unique Dueler All-Terrain AT002s, with their chunky tread, you would assume that the Sterrato is going to be noisy, slippery and possibly a little rough on public roads, but that’s not the case at all.

This Huracan rides more smoothly - largely thanks to those suspension tweaks - and more quietly than its forebears, and it’s actually more practical around town as well, thanks to the ride height. So, no more flinching at speed bumps.

The tyres also provide proper supercar levels of grip on public roads, even those dusted with a bit of desert sand.

There’s a bit of squirm at the rear and under hard braking, but overall the experience is typically Lamborghini Huracan wonderful, all playing out to a soundtrack that is beyond beautiful from that howling V10.

The first part of our track experience at the Chuckwallah Raceway was also familiarly fantastic, the Huracan ripping around the sealed track at astonishing speed; it certainly doesn’t feel detuned.

Lamborghini had gone to the trouble of mirroring the sealed circuit with a specially constructed dirt track in the infield, so that 50 per cent of our lap would be spent sideways in ankle deep, dust, sand and rocks, much of it through long, long bends, with the occasional chicane set up specially for Scando flicking action.

Now, I am not, by any means, an expert at drifting, nor an accomplished rally driver, so I was, to put it mildly, shit scared of getting this half-million-dollar, limited-edition, 449kW monster on to the dirt section.

I feared I would spin around, or flip upside down, or find some other way to embarrass myself, but what happened when I got there was beyond inexplicable, and beyond joy.

This car is so clever, so easy to drive, so beautifully balanced, that it can turn a total newb into Colin McRae. His name comes to me because the whole experience reminded me of driving a rallying video game, it felt unreal, and yet overpoweringly visceral at the same time.

I could start a drift with the slightest flex of the throttle, then balance the car as it pivoted around a bend before nailing the throttle and haring off to the next fantastic drifting opportunity.

When we got back on the sealed stuff, the car would shake like mad, at 200km/h, as the dust attempted to get its way out of the wheels, but that just added to the excitement. 

The secret wasn’t that I’d somehow become a better driver, it was what Lamborghini engineers call, accurately, “the hero maker”. 

It’s a software and hardware package called LDVI, or 'Lamborghini Dinamica Veicolo Integrata', which, when you put the Sterrato in 'Rally' mode, uses many sensors combined with torque vectoring and selective braking to keep you going where you want to go, with minimal intervention.

Or at least minimal intervention that you can feel, which makes you feel like a hero.

I kind of understand how it works, but I totally relate to how it makes you feel. Like a genius. And you’d pay $500K for that, surely?

The steering feels solid and concise. The tyres seem like they're glued to the road, making winding roads downright fun to tackle. Oh, and the sharp 11 metre turning circle is wonderful.

The handling makes this your best friend in a car park. The lower ground clearance did elicit some unladylike grunts when I parked on a hill, but otherwise the wide door apertures makes it easy to get in and out of.

The only thing I would note is the low-profile ground clearance. Just be aware of your speed and angle when you handle car park ramps or road bumps in this. They are not your friends.

The safety sheet is well-stocked and has the usual suspects you want in a family car, like: AEB with car, pedestrian, cyclist and junction turning assist (effective speed 7.0-90km/h); forward and back-over collision warning, lane keeping assist, lane departure warning and emergency lane keeping assist, as well as, blind-spot monitoring.

I quite like the 'Active Distance Assist' which helps to automatically slow your vehicle speed to keep a set distance to the car in front in stop-start traffic.

Perfect for those busy city commutes. And if you're not confident on parking, this also has a 'Park Assist' feature.

It's nice to see that this has nine airbags, which include a driver's knee airbag and the newer front centre airbag.

This has a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating which is nice and new from testing done in 2022.

There are ISOFIX child seat mounts on the outboard rear seats and three top tether anchor points but because of the narrower rear seat, you'll only comfortably fit two side-by-side.

It was super easy to fit my seats and there's a good amount of room for front passengers when a 0-4 rearward facing child seat is installed.

The Huracan Sterrato comes with a Lamborghini warranty good for three years with unlimited kilometres.

It also comes with 24/7 roadside assist for an unspecified amount of time. It is also offered with pre-paid scheduled maintenance service for three or five years.

The C200 comes with a five-year/unlimited km warranty, which is standard for the market.

There are multiple servicing options and on the five-year plan, the services average $1090 annually, which is quite expensive.

Servicing intervals are pretty good at every 12 months or a longer than usual 25,000km, whichever comes first.