FOR ALL WHO LOVE SPORTS CARS, LUXURY AND EXPENSIVE CARS

Lamborghini Gallardo

MSRP: $175,000 - $193,370

Slipping the transmission into first, we tipped in the throttle. The crowd’s reaction was involuntary, everyone flinching and stepping back as the engine roared like a Formula One racer. Releasing the clutch, the Spider shot forward, nearing 60 before we reached the end of the parking lot.

As we learned over the next few days, the Gallardo Spider makes high-speed driving seem simple. Driving slow was the challenge. Slip into second, even with your foot off the throttle, and the two-seater will cruise along at close to 40. Better keep the number of a good traffic attorney close at hand. You’re likely to need it — often.

But we’re getting a bit ahead of the story.

2007 Lamborghini Murcielago

 

 

 

 

 

      

 Lamborghini Murcielago

That’s at least partly due to its strategy of rolling out at least one ultra-high-performance variant every year. The latest offering is the Reventon, which CEO Stefan Winkelmann declared “an even more extreme and beautiful” spinoff of Lambo’s top-line Murcielago. 

Modeled after the edgy F-22 Raptor advanced fighter jet, and named after a legendary fighting bull that in 1943 killed Mexico’s leading matador, Felix Guzmanthe, the Reventon features a 650-horsepower version of Lambo’s screaming 6.5-liter V-12. That power is driven through all four wheels, like a conventional Murcielago.

“The most expensive and exclusive (model) to ever leave our gates,” Winkelmann notes that only 20 Reventons will be built – and all of them have already been sold, at a price tag of one million Euros plus, if you need to ask, tax excluded.

2 Door Lamborghini Galladro

Lamborghini Galladro

The Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 gives auto writers from across the Web—and the editors of TheCarConnection.com—the chance to exercise some vocabulary to describe its fantastic, outrageous shape.

The “first model completely designed under the watchful and sensible eye of Audi,” Motor Authority reports, the newest version of the Gallardo is “more in to line with the Murcielago and recent Reventon concept. You can clearly see the family resemblance in the new model with giant air dams and new lights in the front.” It’s “more aggressive and more elegant than before,” Car and Driver says, with “a bit more of a chin,” “LED daytime running lights,” and “smoothed and filled” body surfaces that replace the “dozens of gills on the original Gallardo.” Motor Trend exclaims, “Behind the cosmetically reshaped nose, between the all new Y-styled, LED head and taillights, is a vehicle truly worthy of such an affected alphanumeric name.” It’s plainly “sexier than ever,” Popular Mechanics says succinctly.

Moving to the rear of the car, Edmunds observes that the Gallardo “displays a raging V10 engine under a hatch that's inset with glass.” The rear end’s been updated, Motor Authority reports, “with cooling vents, new rear lights and bumper plus a redesigned diffuser all contributing to its changed appearance.” They also note the Gallardo’s newfound resemblance to its corporate cousins: “In what may be a subconscious nod to its German cousin, the LP560-4’s rear looks a little like the Audi R8’s.”

The 2009 Gallardo’s cabin sports “a purposeful cabin that can be outfitted with leather, Alcantara or carbon-fiber accents,” Popular Mechanics says. “The familiar Audi-sourced nav system and A/C controls are easy to use, and the tach's 8500 rpm redline is one of the few clues to the outrageous side of this Lambo's personality.”

TheCarConnection.com spent a day at the racetrack in Las Vegas with the latest Lamborghini and got familiar with its sleek strakes, curves, and stunning proportions. The newest flavor of the Gallardo certainly looks more refined than the version that’s been plying streets and road courses the past few years, but it’s still supercar all the way, sporting a deep flying wedge updated with new details like those LED running lights. More than the latest generation of Ferraris, the latest Lambos look like outrageous performers—and the “entry-level” Gallardo LP560-4 is far more cutting edge than the bulbous Porsche 911 and the more reserved Aston Martin V8 Vantage.