Car News, Specs and Reviews
What it is: The lightening-and-quickening makeover that Lambo uses to lift the appeal of its models as they approach middle age. The Superleggera name will not return, but the superlight philosophy to which it refers certainly will, meaning the ultimate Huracán will be around 90 pounds lighter, as well as sharper and faster than the regular car.
Sant’Agata’s super sports car receives four-wheel steering and a power hike. Do they finally enable it to realise its full potential?
If this new Lamborghini Aventador S has a job to do – over and above the usual one of providing the most attention-seeking and dramatic way of getting from A to B – it is to prove to the world that Sant’Agata’s ‘super sports car’ can be as much about substance as it is style.
Whether you’re a Lambo fanboy til death or feel the need to troll their latest aerodynamic effort, it is a fact that the 2017 Centenario Roadster serves the purpose of every Lamborghini in existence – to turn heads like a rocketship firing missile tsunamis.
Continue reading “Fast Review of 2017 Lamborghini Centenario Roadster”
Lamborghini has been busy launching two new versions of its ‘entry-level’ supercar, the Huracán.
The LP 640-2 coupé ditches four-wheel drive in favour of rear-drive, while the new LP 610-4 Spyder is 4WD but chops the roof. On paper they deliver similar performance, but they are very different. So which is the best Huracán for your budget?
Lamborghini will make just 20 examples of its new Centenario Roadster, unveiled during Monterey Car Week.
The Italian brand whipped the covers off its latest car during an event at The Quail, one of Car Week’s blue ribbon collector car events.
Based on the Centenario coupe unveiled at the Geneva motor show in March, the Roadster is the second model to celebrate 100 years since the birth of the company’s founder, Ferruccio Lamborghini.
It’s powered by a naturally- aspirated V12, developing 566kW and only reaching its rev cut-out at 8600rpm. Deploying power to all four wheels, the Centenario Roadster can reach lOOkm/h from rest in 2.9 seconds and won’t stop accelerating until it tops 350km/h.
Part of this accelerative performance can be leveled at the Centenario’s relatively light weight. With both monocoque and bodywork formed entirely from carbonfibre, it tips the scales at 1570kg.
Components finished in gloss carbonfibre denote functional aerodynamic elements, while a large rear diffuser and extendable rear wing also work to enhance the car’s aerodynamic profile.
The Centenario Roadster sits on 20-inch wheels at the front and 21- inch rims astern, wrapped in Pirelli PZero tyres. The rear pair have been developed specifically for the car’s rear-wheel steering system.
Like most rear-steer systems, it turns the rear wheels in the opposite direction to the front wheels by a few degrees at lower speeds to improve turning agility, and turns them in the same direction at higher speeds to virtually increase the wheelbase, improving stability.
Depending on the driving mode selected – Strada, Sport or Corsa – the system’s settings are slightly altered. Lamborghini Dynamic Steering and magnetorheological dampers are also fitted (also varying according to the driving mode).
When in Geneva we first saw the Centenario, half of our office has not been positively impressed, perhaps also because of the amount of other proposals admired at the Swiss fair. But at “The Quail”, during the Monterey Car Week, Lamborghini has exploded like a bolt from the blue, presenting the roadster version of the much-discussed Centenario.
What changes is the fact that does not have the rigid roof, but a canvas soft top fully removable by hand, which makes the design of this crazy Lambo with a great desire to celebrate the centenary of its legendary founder, far more convincing. The apotheosis of straight lines and edges remains intact and still able to prick your stomach if you get to close to it, but above all the 770hp VI2, combined with the all-wheel drive and four-wheel steering wheels, let the Centenario Roadster to boast performances worthy of “hat down and ready for a standing ovation” – 2.9 seconds for the 0-100 kph and a top speed of 349 per hour.
It will be produced in only 20 units and all baptized in this special color “Argento Centenario” (Centenary Silver), even more convincing than the bare carbon fiber with yellow highlights seen on the coupe, with prices that will set at around 2 million and a half Euros. Very special, definitely bad and mad at the right point to be accepted in the Lamborghini almanac and exclusive enough to justify such a high price.
The Countach was first unveiled at the 1971 Geneva Motor Show as the Miura’s replacement, engineered by Giampaolo Dallara and breathtakingly styled by Marcello Gandini of Bertone fame. For a complicated, hand-built car, the Countach delivered all the reliable high performance that its swooping looks promised. In 1982, a 4.75-liter 375 bhp V12 was shoe-horned in to give the upcoming Ferrari Testarossa something to reckon with.
The launch of the Lamborghini Miura at the 1966 Geneva Motor Show was the decade’s automotive sensation. Staggeringly beautiful, technically preeminent, and unbelievably quick, it was created by a triumvirate of engineering wizards all in their twenties. For the greater part of its production life the Miura was reckoned to be the most desirable car money could buy, combining drop-dead looks, awesome performance, and unerring stability, as well as an emotive top speed of 175 mph (282 km/h).
Everyone blinked twice and looked again and — yes — it really was a Lamborghini. But of course this racy four-door sports saloon concept car was indeed most unlike any previous Lambo.
Lambo’s `Junior Murcielago’ — the Gallardo coupe — was as sporty as mid-engined, mid-sized supercars come. Named after a renowned breed of fighting bull, the Gallardo (Spanish for `gallant’) first appeared as a rival to the Ferrari 360 in 2003 and went on to become Lamborghini’s all-time bestseller.
It’s much rarer than one in a million — just 20 Lamborghini Reventons were scheduled following the sensational revelation of Lambo’s most expensive road car to date at Frankfurt in 2007. Owners of this million-euro machine drive a car named after the fast fighting bull that killed ill-fated young torero Felix Guzman in the 1940s.
Menacing and meticulous, raucous and refined, brutish and brilliant — the Lambo Murcielago has dominated the supercar decade in the minds of dedicated enthusiasts, for all that dozens of contenders have been clamouring for top honours.
Despite being a devil in disguise (well, in Spanish then) it wasn’t necessary to sell one’s soul to get a Lambo Diablo — just greeting the model launch in 1990 with a briefcase containing around $250,000 would do the trick. This wide, low-slung wedge with its characteristic grooved skirt and rounded air scoops in front of the back wheels was Lamborghini’s long-awaited replacement for the Countach. Continue reading “Lamborghini Diablo – 1990”
The words ‘instant’ and ‘legend’ can but rarely be combined when it comes to describing a new car’s impact, but are truly justified in the case of the Lambo Countach’s arrival in the world of exotic automobiles. Perhaps the reason was a persistent rumour that this was the fastest production car ever, or maybe it was the fact that this was the ultimate example of stylish Italian supercar design (and to hell with the practicalities). Continue reading “Lamborghini Countach – 1974”
Rare as hen’s teeth? Sure is! If you find one of these in a Palladian shed at the bottom of someone’s country estate, it will increase the number of Lamborghini Silhouettes known to exist from 31 to 32 (out of an original production run of just 54 cars). These two-door, two-seater coupes had a removable targa lid for those who liked the wind in their hair, making this the first Lambo open-top. It was a refined development of the not-very-good Lamborghini Urraco 2+2 coupe designed by Bertone to compete with Ferrari’s Dino and the Porsche 911, produced throughout the 1970s. Continue reading “Lamborghini Silhouette – 1976”
Long, wide and low are three words that spring to mind when describing the Lambo Espada S1 sports coupe that lit up the latter part of the 1960s, before the S2 and S3 versions carried the Espada through most of the 1970s. This typically Latin Grand Tourer was based on Lamborghini’s Marzal concept car, designed by Bertone and shown at the 1967 Geneva Motor Show.
If Ferrari hadn’t already received a wakeup call, the arrival of Lamborghini Miura must have rattled Maranello’s rafters. When it first appeared in 1965 at the Turin Motor Show the Miura was just a bare chassis — but that didn’t stop wealthy aficionados putting down deposits without knowing precisely (or even vaguely) what form their purchase would eventually take.
Could it be true? Rumour has it that self-made Italian industrialist Ferruccio Lamborghini had trouble with his Ferrari, complained to old Enzo personally and was brusquely rebuffed by Il Commendatore. Suitably insulted, he decided to try and geld the Prancing Horse by creating a sharp new breed of performance cars.