Gallardo First drive: Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 (Msn Cars)

[VroomVroom]

• What – Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4
• Where – Las Vegas
• Price – £147,330
• Available: June 2008
• Key rivals: Ferrari F430, Porsche 911 Turbo, Aston Martin DBS

Summary
Dubbed the 'baby Lambo' on its launch in 2003, there's never been anything childlike about the Gallardo. And, despite there being very little wrong with it, the LP560-4 seeks to iron out some of its niggling flaws but at a price.

• Likes: shattering performance, grip, supermodel looks, that noise
• Dislikes: price hike, interior bling, understeer tendencies

• GALLERY: Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4

First impressions

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It's difficult to talk about Lamborghini without resorting to clichéd nonsense, because there's never been anything remotely sensible about any of the company's vehicles. They're outrageous, expensive and, well, a bit mad - which, of course, is why we love them. And the Gallardo has always been the most lovable Lambo out there.
It takes the core attributes of the brand and makes them more accessible, more usable, more socially acceptable. You can see out of a Gallardo, reverse park one without sitting on the door sill.




Yet the spine-tingling racket it makes when you drop a couple of cogs and gun the throttle will never leave you. And you still can't help but check your reflection in those shop windows.
With this new LP560-4 variant, Lamborghini has sought to address some of the (admittedly tiny) flaws of the original and given the looks a bit of a refresh at the same time. And never a company to do things by halves, we're trying it out in one of the maddest places on earth: Las Vegas.




Faced with a dozen or so brand new Lamborghinis, it's difficult to home in on anything as trivial as design tweaks but you don't need to look too hard to spot them. A restyled nose section sharpens the front end and incorporates new LED headlights and the back end is now fuss-free, with echoes of the recent Miura concept and the limited edition 2007 Reventon.
New alloy wheel designs and some really quite fascinating matt paint finishes give the new Gallardo even greater individuality but the overall shape has, thank goodness, remained and what a stunning thing it is to behold from all angles.


Performance


The roads around Las Vegas are superb. Wide open vistas, stunning desert backdrops, plenty of arrow-straight sections and very little traffic. But there's a problem when you're driving a supercar: cops; lots and lots of speed cops.
Correctly assuming that we don't want to end up doing time in a Nevada state penitentiary with a tattooed cell mate called Bubba, Lamborghini has treated us to a few hours on track at the Las Vegas Speedway, normally home to NASCAR but today there's a distinctly Italian atmosphere. The idea is that we'll get the speed thing out of our system before hitting the open road.





There's a combination of banked, oval track at our disposal and a middle section with plenty of challenging bends, so there's ample opportunity for this Lambo to show what it's made of.
With a 0-62 sprint time of just 3.7 seconds and a top speed of 202mph, performance is obviously not an issue but it is how the Gallardo puts its 552 horses onto the road that's so remarkable. Lamborghini remains convinced that full time four-wheel drive is the best option for a supercar and on this evidence it's hard to disagree.




Power is fed mainly to the rear, with a 70/30 split in most situations. However, as soon as conditions dictate, that power is divvied up appropriately to get the driver out of trouble. It works extremely well, and I'm able to push beyond my own limits as a driver without getting anywhere near the Gallardo's limits as a car.
Acceleration is savage and, having that screaming V10 just inches behind your head, the effect is truly stunning. It is addictive, too, and I find myself eking out every last bit of performance from each gear, just to experience that almighty shove and that glorious cacophony. Fuel efficiency seems a bit irrelevant today.




The test cars are all fitted with Lamborghini's paddle shift transmission. It claims that shift times have been reduced by 40% and it's true, it's a much improved system but still lags behind Ferrari's version. It's less clunky and obstructive as the last one I tried and it's perfect for track use.
On the open road, however, I'm still unconvinced and desperately want a traditional manual. Entering hard corners, the Gallardo's natural tendency is toward understeer and this does dampen the fun factor on track somewhat, but it makes it a safer car for the less experienced.


Ride and handling


You'd be forgiven for thinking a car like this would be as comfortable as a bed of nails, but you'd be wrong. It's as focussed as anything out there yet it's also civilised and refined when you want it to be. The billiard table-smooth track surface wasn't hiding any rough edges because on the open road things the car rides just as well.
When the going gets tough, though, the Gallardo's near perfect weight distribution and its sophisticated four-wheel drive system allow it to thrill and cosset in equal measure.





LP is short for Longitudinale Posteriore - the engine's layout, 560 is the metric power output and the 4 reminds us it is four-wheel drive. It flatters the driver, correcting input errors in a fraction of a second, making him or her feel like an absolute hero.
The suspension has been heavily revised but you'd need to have the nerve receptors of Superman to be able to distinguish any difference between this model and its predecessor. It was great to begin with and the boffins at Sant' Agata haven't botched it up on any level.


Interior


Audi's influence can be clearly felt through every new Lamborghini and nowhere is this more apparent than the interior. The steering wheel, the dash layout, the switchgear, is all familiar stuff but it's nice familiar stuff, unlike Astons of old with their cheap Mondeo bits and pieces.
Everything's high quality and there's black leather everywhere. The seating position is fine, with plenty of adjustability and there are electric toys aplenty. To help with reversing there's a camera situated on the rear of the car, feeding live images to the screen in the middle of the dashboard.




It's easy to get in and out of, visibility is good, it's well screwed together and it's comfortable. 10 years ago I'd have been laughed at for writing this about a Lamborghini, which shows how far they've come under Audi's guardianship.
The only niggles for me relate to the fact that the interior isn't individual enough and there's some nasty chrome effect applied to the central switchgear which works fine in Vegas but I'd want less bling if it were mine.


Economy and safety


Let's get safety out of the way first. There's nothing like real life experience to show how safe a car really is and while waiting to get back on track, word starts to filter through that a Russian journalist has smashed up his Gallardo.
The track is closed while the carnage is swept up but over lunch the Russian appears fit and well. He'd failed to turn in at a 90-degree right-hander and simply ploughed on in a straight line for 100 yards or so across the gravel area. Then, without lifting off the throttle, he ploughed through some steel fencing and came to a forced stop.




Panic must have set in but the car saved his life and he was able to emerge unscathed. It's safe for pedestrians, too. Lamborghini proudly points out that this new model fulfils the European directives regarding 'passive security' that aren't yet being enforced.
Economy, while improved over the outgoing model, is still a bit irrelevant. A combined thirst of 15.9mpg means you'll never be friends with Al Gore if you run one of these but in the big scheme of things, these cars have little impact on the environment because they're not used every day and they tend to be kept for decades.


The MSN Cars verdict: 5/5


There's no escaping the fact that this is an emotional car. You buy one of these with your heart, not your head and that's a good job, too, because this new model is a massive £20,000 more expensive than the outgoing model.
And no, I can't justify that to you. Improvements are there, but they're subtle and while it's impossible to not love this car, I'd find the price hike a bit of an obstacle if it was my own money on the line.




The LP560-4 is a truly astonishing road and track weapon and I truly ache to own one myself. There's more drama here than you get with a Ferrari or a Porsche yet there's a Germanic build quality that inspires confidence in it starting when you twist the key.
In our times of political correctness, it's good to wave two fingers at the do-gooders now and then. Get behind the wheel of one, find yourself a long tunnel, lower the windows and floor it through second and third. Life will seldom have been as good.






Ratings out of five: Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4
Performance
*****
Ride & handling

*****​

Interior

****​

Safety

****​

Price

**​

Practicality

*​

Fuel economy

**​

MSN Cars verdict

*****​

Need to know
Petrol engine
5.2-litre, V10
Power (bhp)
552Torque (lb/ft)

398​

0-62 (secs)
3.7
Top speed (mph)

202​

Combined mpg
15.9CO2/tax
n/a
First drive: Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 (2008 onwards model) - First Drives | Reviews | MSN Cars UK