The Lamborghini Temerario: Our Fastest ICE Car Ever, by a Whisker
You’d think that in 2026, the fastest combustion-engine car we’d ever clocked would be some kind of hybrid monster with a 1,000-plus horsepower V12. But no. In our testing at the Thermal Club, the Lamborghini Temerario, their new entry-level supercar, officially earned the title of the quickest gas-powered vehicle MotorTrend has ever tested.
How quick? It blasted through the quarter-mile in 9.58 seconds at 148.5 mph, narrowly beating the 2021 Ferrari SF90 Stradale Assetto Fiorano by just three hundredths of a second.
Of course, there are electric vehicles that will leave the Temerario in the dust. The Tesla Model S Plaid, the Lucid Air Sapphire, and a few variants of the Porsche Taycan Turbo have all logged faster quarter-mile times in our tests. But none of them can match the drama and raw emotion of the Lamborghini.
The Temerario’s plug-in hybrid powertrain is a wild concoction: the instant torque of three electric motors combined with the sustained, screaming pull of a twin-turbo, flat-plane-crank 4.0-liter V-8. When you mash the throttle, it’s a full-on sensory assault.
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The Lamborghini Temerario: Our Fastest ICE Car Ever, by a Whisker
You’d think that in 2026, the fastest combustion-engine car we’d ever clocked would be some kind of hybrid monster with a 1,000-plus horsepower V12. But no. In our testing at the Thermal Club, the Lamborghini Temerario, their new entry-level supercar, officially earned the title of the quickest gas-powered vehicle MotorTrend has ever tested.
How quick? It blasted through the quarter-mile in 9.58 seconds at 148.5 mph, narrowly beating the 2021 Ferrari SF90 Stradale Assetto Fiorano by just three hundredths of a second.
Of course, there are electric vehicles that will leave the Temerario in the dust. The Tesla Model S Plaid, the Lucid Air Sapphire, and a few variants of the Porsche Taycan Turbo have all logged faster quarter-mile times in our tests. But none of them can match the drama and raw emotion of the Lamborghini.
The Temerario’s plug-in hybrid powertrain is a wild concoction: the instant torque of three electric motors combined with the sustained, screaming pull of a twin-turbo, flat-plane-crank 4.0-liter V-8. When you mash the throttle, it’s a full-on sensory assault.
Supercar Theatre in Action
Lamborghini is a master of showmanship, and they’ve perfected it on the Temerario. To get the fastest times, you click the steering-wheel-mounted knobs into Corsa handling mode and Performance powertrain mode. Then, you hit the little checkered-flag button to activate launch control.
You stand on both pedals, and the engine revs to 4,000 rpm before you rocket off with brutal fury. The Bridgestone Potenza Race tires howl off the line, the V-8 winds up to its 10,250 rpm redline, and the eight-speed dual-clutch transmission rips off a flawlessly executed upshift into second. The tires chirp, and the whole cycle repeats.
How Fast Is the Temerario’s 0-60 MPH Time?
You don’t reach the low-nines in the quarter-mile by being slow off the line. The Temerario bangs out 0-60 mph in just 2.2 seconds. As quick as that is, it doesn’t make it the fastest in the combustion-engine category. It actually lands in third place on our all-time list for a vehicle with an internal combustion engine, trailing the Ferrari SF90 Stradale Assetto Fiorano and the 2026 Porsche 911 Turbo S.
But don’t get too comfortable on the podium, boys. It only takes 4.6 seconds for the Temerario to hit 100 mph, by which point it has already blown past the Ferrari and the Porsche.
The Weight of the Hybrid System
When it comes time to scrub speed, the carbon-ceramic brakes are up to the task, bringing the Temerario to a stop from 60 mph in 96 feet. That’s respectable, but not as spectacular as its acceleration. The plug-in hybrid powertrain is almost certainly holding it back in this regard.
Even with the $84,100 Alleggerita package, which shaves 55 pounds off the total weight, our test car still tipped the scales at a portly 4,185 pounds. However, cranking up the velocity shows the Lambo in its best light. Stopping from 100 mph in 266 feet places it in a three-way tie for 12th place on our list of thousands of tested vehicles.
Navigating the Figure-Eight Course
Our 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, both objectively and subjectively.
Pushed to its limits, the Temerario grips the corners with 1.14 g of grip on its way to a 22.3-second lap time. This places it 0.7 seconds behind our current record holder, which happens to be a three-way tie between the 2026 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1, the 2025 Porsche 911 GT3 Touring, and the 2022 McLaren 765LT Spider.
But for a car this heavy, the performance is outstanding. The Temerario’s lap matches the times set by the 2015 Porsche 918 Spyder, the 2025 Lucid Air Sapphire, and two of its (much lighter) predecessors: the 2020 Huracán Evo AWD (3,645 pounds) and the 2021 Huracán STO (3,390 pounds).
Average G-Force: A Full Second on the Edge
We like to frame the figure-eight lap with a second number—the average g-force due to acceleration, braking, and cornering experienced over the entire lap. The Temerario’s 1.05 g means that for the entire lap, you are constantly either being pushed forward, pinned into your seatbelt, or pressed against the bolster harder than gravity is holding you to the ground.
The Verdict: Speed Meets Adrenaline
As impressive as the Temerario’s raw performance figures are, arguably the biggest takeaway from testing this car is that Lamborghini hasn’t sacrificed the exhilarating driving experience in the quest for numbers.
The Corsa mode keeps everything in line for focused, fast laps, but the Lambo lets loose in Sport with playful but easily controllable rotation. And if that’s not wild enough, the three-stage Drift mode sets you up for big, beautiful slides.
The Lamborghini Temerario is a cocktail of caffeine, adrenaline, and pure testosterone on four wheels. We’ll have more to say about this incredible machine in our full road test soon.
Ready to experience the raw power and thrilling sound of a new Lamborghini? Visit a dealership near you or contact our sales team today to schedule your test drive.