Lamborghini vs Porsche Off-Road Duel: Sterrato vs 911 Dakar!

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Two legendary brands. Two off-road-ready supercars. One epic showdown.  Join us as we dive into the wild and unexpected world of the Lamborghini Huracán Sterrato and the Porsche 911 Dakar—limited-run off-road machines that defy convention and bring rally-style madness to the supercar scene. From the Moroccan desert to California's Chuckwalla Raceway, we put both beasts through their paces—on pavement, dirt, and everything in between.  🔥 Hear the roar of the V10. 💨 Watch twin-turbo fury kick up sand. 😲 And discover which one truly delivers the most outrageous off-road thrills.  This is not your typical supercar review. This is a journey into the heart of fun, freedom, and four-wheel insanity. Buckle up!  📍 Locations: Morocco Desert, Chuckwalla Valley Raceway 🚗 Cars Tested: Lamborghini Huracán Sterrato, Porsche 911 Dakar 🛞 Terrain: Asphalt, Gravel, Dirt, and Dreams  #HitSubscribe #SupercarSafari #RallyRoyals

Transcript

00:00Our editors don't typically jockey for assignments, which are usually doled out fairly from on high

00:05based on availability, expertise, and existing workload. However, the friendly fighting to land

00:12the assignment to cover the launches for the 2023 Lamborghini Huracan Sterato and 2023 Porsche 911

00:19Dakar, two out-of-left-field, off-road-ready supercars, began almost the moment we heard

00:26their makers were putting them into production. Amplifying the stakes further were the events

00:31Lamborghini and Porsche had in store for the media during the Cars' First Drive programs,

00:36a week trekking through the Moroccan desert for the Porsche, and hybridized on dash-slash-off-road

00:43track sessions at Chukwala Valley Raceway in the Mojave Desert just east of Palm Springs, California,

00:49for the Huracan Sterato. Considering both the Lamborghini and Porsche were limited-run models

00:55that sold out quickly, we suspected those experiences might be the only times our editors

01:01would get to drive either car in anger. Feature's editor Scott Evans got the call for the Dakar

01:07for the 13-hour flight to Africa, while Feature's editor Christian Siba got the less glamorous

01:13three hours in traffic drive out to the SoCal desert for the Sterato. Both came back raving

01:19about their respective drives, and with both vehicles on hand for our recent 2024 Motor Trend

01:25Performance Vehicle of the Year evaluations, we forced our two relevant editors to swap seats

01:31and review the other car. You know, for science. Ed, I never thought I'd drive this car. Two years ago,

01:39I sat across the table from Lamborghini's then-new technical boss, Riven Moore, at a steakhouse in

01:45Colorado Springs, Colorado. Digging for dirt not on the Urus Performanti SUV prototype that had just

01:52set the Pike's Peak Production SUV record earlier that day, but on the Huracan Sterato. I knew it was

01:58coming, but when? Surely it was already sold out, so would they even let the press drive it? And if so,

02:05when and where? I wanted that golden ticket. I didn't get it. I knew the moment I was offered the

02:12Dakar launch, I'd probably never touch the Sterato, much less drive it fast off-road. My boss likes me,

02:19but not enough to incur the wrath of the entire staff by giving me both those drives. I drove an

02:25amazing car in an amazing location, and I let go of the Sterato dream. Now here I am strapping luggage

02:32to the roof rack of a Sterato in my driveway and setting course for Chuckwalla Raceway. The difference

02:38here is that Porsche had something to prove, and Lamborghini didn't. No one ever entered a count

02:44talk in the Dakar rally, nor are Diablo owners turning them into off-road Safari editions, as

02:51air-cooled 911 owners are. Lamborghini built the Sterato because it sounded like a stupid amount of

02:57fun, and the company figured some of its customers would want an on-it. Hence, no height-adjustable

03:03suspension and low-speed crawl mode for when the trail gets tough. The Sterato wasn't meant to go

03:08overlanding. It was meant to grace rally courses with the most beautiful engine note they'll ever

03:14encounter. With its accessory off-road lights pointed east, the Sterato immediately sprang its biggest

03:21surprise. You can't tell the difference on the road. A Lamborghini V10 is loud, so whatever additional

03:28noise the all-terrain tires, cargo rack, and roof scoop add to the din of a Huracan EVO is

03:33inconsequential. Equally, you don't really notice any change in driving position afforded by the 1.7

03:40inch greater ride height in a car that still stands barely 4 feet tall sands rack. No, the only real

03:47difference is you can worry a lot less about steep driveways, big speed bumps, and deep potholes.

03:53That peace of mind alone, especially in Los Angeles, is worth the cost of entry if you can

03:59already afford a Lamborghini. It's not that the ride quality is appreciably better on the endless

04:05miles of expansion joints and patch jobs that litter Southern California roadways. It's that I no longer

04:11care about them. I know I don't have to worry about hurting the car because it's designed for far worse.

04:17It's designed for where I'm headed. In a way, I'm bringing the Huracan Sterato home.

04:23The signage from the international press launch is still posted up at the entrance to Chukwala

04:29Valley Raceway, and the track staff has agreed to let us drive these cars both on the paved road

04:35course and the infield dirt track created specifically for the first press drives of this car. In a way,

04:41I'm getting both experiences, just like I always wanted. Hitting the road course first,

04:47the Sterato's one big compromise reveals itself. It's hardly surprising that all-terrain tires don't

04:54grip like an R-compound street tire, but understair just isn't something you expect in a Huracan.

05:00Luckily, it's easy enough to drive around the diminished front-end bite. Separate your actions.

05:06Where any other Lumbo will let you trail brake and carry all the speed into a corner,

05:10the Sterato requires separate braking and turning inputs. It feels like going back to performance

05:17driving 101, but it works. Get all your braking done in a straight line before you even think about

05:24turning the wheel. Get all the weight on the nose and it'll stick, and once it does, you can roll

05:29back into the power and blast out of the corner. Heck, you can even go hog wild and leave the corner

05:35sideways. You just can't ask as much from the front end as you normally would. It's a problem that only

05:42shows itself on the track, so if you plan to keep it to roads, paved and unpaved, you don't need to

05:48think about it. Looking for more details about the Sterato's performance? Read our first test story

05:54here. Familiarized with the new handling behavior, it's time to find out why this car exists.

06:00Leaving the track surface at speed in a Lamborghini is mildly terrifying, especially when you can't

06:07afford to fix it, but the Sterato treats it like a non-event. The tires and shocks do their thing,

06:13and suddenly the entire car makes sense. Sideways at freeway speeds with sand flying everywhere and

06:19the V, 10 howling through your helmet like it's not even there, you get it. The Lamborghini people were

06:25right. This is a stupid amount of fun. You might think, oh, I could do that in a side-by-side for

06:31way less money, but side-by-sides don't sound like this, and even the fastest ones aren't this fast.

06:38They also don't keep the sand out and the AC blowing while you play group B driver in comfort.

06:43Trust me, I've driven them. The only way you top this is with a trophy truck, which, incidentally,

06:50is cheaper. After a bunch of laps, though, the dirt track is getting torn up and the Sterato's limits

06:56make themselves known. Though it's built to take an off-road beating by Lamborghini sports car

07:02standards, those standards aren't particularly high. As the ruts get deeper, the impacts to both the

07:09suspension and the car's underbody protection get harder. The car absorbs it all admirably,

07:15while the driver's anxiety takes the real damage. If Lamborghini does another of this type of car in

07:22the future, hydraulic jounce absorbers integrated into the shocks would make an enormous difference.

07:29As it is, the dampers bottom out hard enough to make you pull over on the spot and look for

07:34career-ending damage. The Sterato, then, is not about desert racing or rock crawling or really any

07:41hardcore off-roading. It's far more specialized than that. Like Moore told me two years ago,

07:47it's about going fast on gravel roads in the summer and snowy roads in the winter. Roads that

07:53are maintained to some degree. Enjoying this car as it was meant to be driven is as much about knowing

07:58how to drive it as knowing where to drive it. In the appropriate habitat, it's the most fun you can

08:04have on for. Yes, yes, you had a great time in Morocco, but I don't want to drive the Porsche.

08:11I never really thought I'd ever say those words. Well, the Porsche bit, but I also never thought

08:17Lamborghini would build a 21st century homage to Group B rally cars, or that I'd fall in love with

08:23the Sterato after spending a day slinging it sideways around a makeshift rallycross course

08:29in the middle of the Mojave desert during the Sterato's launch. As Scott slipped into the

08:34Lamborghini, smartly outfitted with a luggage-filled roof basket and rally lights, fired that wonderful

08:41Italian V, 10 to life, and waved goodbye with a single-finger salute and a scrape of the Huracan's

08:47nose on his driveway. I was willing to consider being wrong. I've always believed the coolest Porsches

08:54are the most subtle ones. Think 911 GT3 Touring or a debatched 911 Turbo S. The sleeper factor almost

09:03always works in the 911's favor. This 911 Dakar I'd been left with, on the other hand, outfitted with

09:11the $28,470 rally design pack, looks like the kind of option-rich dorks in fleece vests select to

09:19maximize resale value. Ostensibly a tribute to the Rothmans tobacco livery sported by the 1984

09:26Paris Dakar rally-winning 911 SC slash RS, the gentian blue, white, red, and gold livery,

09:35complete with rough roads, graphics, reads a bit cosplay to me. So does the kid-out roof rack,

09:41complete with dual jerry cans, empty recovery boards, too small to be useful, and a waterproof

09:47recovery bag, filled with a collapsible shovel and a car cover? At least I might be able to

09:53discreetly bury Scott if he mentioned Morocco again. The white five-spoke wheels shod with

09:59Pirelli all-terrains, however, looked great. Seeing as I've yet to drive a bad 911, I figured it should

10:06be a strong performer, too. The GTS trim is the performance sweet spot in Porsche's 911 lineup,

10:12so it's a suitable jumping-off point for the 911 Dakar. Hanging back over the 911 Dakar's rear

10:19axle is Porsche's 3.0-liter twin-turbo flat-six fitted with turbo-esque cooling hardware for desert

10:26duty. Good in this tune for 473 horsepower and 420 lbft of torque. It's paired with an 8-speed dual-clutch

10:37automatic-feeding Porsche's torque vectoring all-wheel drive system, which, combined with the

10:42rear-steer system from the 911 GT3, ought to make for a pointy-feeling Porsche. The Dakar package is

10:50surprisingly extensive given what Lamborghini did to its Huracan Stair Auto. The 911 Dakar gets a

10:56height-adjustable hydraulic suspension with nearly 2 inches of additional ground clearance in its default

11:02ride height and 7.5 inches at max height, plus two new off-road modes to the Lembo's one. Off-road for

11:10the slow stuff and rally for the fast. Plus, you know, the decorations on the outside, like the flared

11:17wheel arches and new skid plates. I slipped into the high-riding Porsche for the first time, fired the

11:24turbocharged flat-six up into its low burble, and set out after Scott and the Stair Auto. The freeway is a

11:31I'd typically expect a 911 to coddle me. The Dakar, its uncomfortable fixed-angle seat backs not

11:38withstanding, is no exception. Like the others of its ilk, its rear and side-view mirrors are more than

11:45just ornamental, and the cabin is shockingly spacious for the class. Despite the all-terrains and gear on

11:51the roof, it's also somehow much quieter than I expected it to be. Check that, it's much nicer to

11:57drive than I expected it to be. Porsche 911s are famously easy to live with, but the Dakar somehow

12:04is more so. That extra ground clearance and those cushy tire sidewalls help smooth out rough expansion

12:11joints and help make it easier to spot gaps in traffic. Better still, like any 911, tapping the

12:19boost button on the steering wheel immediately summons the lowest possible gear ratio, making it easy to

12:25take advantage of those gaps, even if you don't reach them quite as quickly as you might in lighter

12:30or more powerful 911s. The Gox the 911 Dakar elicits are also new. You can't throw a rock in

12:39Southern California without hitting a Porsche of one kind or another, but the cell phones directed at

12:44the Dakar as I pulled into a remote desert gas station were the sort of reaction I only ever see in truly

12:51exotic cars. It even had me thinking maybe those fleece vest guys might just know a thing or two

12:57after all. That is until I got trapped in a conversation about why it says rough roads,

13:02how Porsche doesn't have the legal right to just use the Rothmans logo, and why it was probably

13:08unsavory for Porsche to pay for the right from the tobacco giant that owns the brand's rights.

13:14I think I'll stand safe by my belief that the best Porsche is a subtle Porsche, less talking,

13:19more driving that way. I could hear the StairAuto ripping around Chuckwalla's road course long before

13:25I saw it. It sounded even better from behind as I pulled the Dakar, recovery gear and all,

13:31out of pit lane and onto the track after it. Time to see what this Porsche is all about. Wow.

13:38Who knew the key to making a 911 better on track was to make it worse? For more details about the 911

13:45Dakar's raw performance, read our first test report here. Taller, heavier, and with way less grip than

13:52you're used to in these types of sports cars, the Dakar is 1984 remastered for 2024. Softer and

14:00squidgier than its contemporaries, the 911 Dakar captures the feel of its air-cooled ancestors.

14:07Its nose is sharp and turnin' is quick, yet if you come on the power early,

14:11or off at mid-corner, the Dakar's rear gets loose and starts to step out. Once you understand that

14:18the Porsche's modern all-wheel drive and stability control systems aren't ever going to let you snap

14:23over steer like you might in its predecessors, this characteristic can be used to quickly point

14:28the Dakar's nose toward the next straight. Or, just enjoy yourself as you swing the tail wide through

14:34tighter corners. If the dust clouds floating over Chuckwalla's back straight were any indication,

14:40more fun could be had on the very same sand and dirt course that had me falling in love on the

14:46Huracan Sterato's launch months back. It's almost immediately apparent just how over-engineered the

14:52911 Dakar is, considering the only off-roading most owners will do is in the grass lawn of a

14:58concours event. That's a shame. I quickly learned there's little in life more enjoyable than using

15:04the Dakar's rally start-launch control, listening to the roar of its flat-six over pebbles bouncing

15:11off its lightly armored belly, and watching rooster tails of sand and dirt spray out from its rear-view

15:17mirror. I must have done this dozens of times. It never got old. Despite the somewhat silly premise

15:23for its existence, the 911 Dakar is unquestionably a serious car, one in which you might truly entertain

15:31notions of entering a dirt or ice time trial event. With gobs of low-end power and an excess of grip,

15:39the Dakar somehow just sticks to the course, easily staying pointed to wherever your eyes

15:44and hands guide the car. It's composed and focused, decidedly Porsche-like. That's not to say there

15:51isn't fun to be had here, though. With all traction and stability controls sidelined,

15:56the Dakar's natural imbalance is easy to use to your advantage, Scandi flicking into corners,

16:02four-wheel drifting through, and blasting down the next straight like an actual rally car.

16:08It isn't one, though, of course. As our impromptu rally cross-course deteriorated,

16:14speeds naturally had to come down. Like the now clearly slower StairAuto, there's simply not enough

16:20travel in the Dakar's suspension, especially at max ride height, for it to handle the speeds the rest

16:27of the car wants to travel at. It's easy to look at that as a negative, but I prefer the glass half-full

16:33approach. It's just another excuse to rip the Dakar sideways through the sand. As I did, I couldn't help

16:40but think how wrong I'd been. I don't want to stop driving the 911 Dakar. Like the Lamborghini,

16:46it's pure unbridled joy on four wheels. It's unique. A laugh riot. Both cars deserve to be regular

16:54parts of their manufacturers' lineups. I might have missed out on Morocco, but at least the Porsche,

17:00Lamborghini, and I, OK, and Scott would always have Chukwalla.

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