Lamborghini Aventador 2013 Overview
Noise hurts. The exhaust note hits my eardrums, and the shockwaves turn my chest into timpani in the hands of some musical maniac.
All I have to do to make this noise - this vibration in the air - disappear is to switch the console switch from "sport" to "strada" (street). This modifies the engine settings by diverting exhaust gases from additional performance-tuned extractors.
But I can not. It's addictive not only for me, but also for the passengers in the cars next to me at traffic lights, for the cyclist I've just passed a mile or two back down the road, and for the mildly shaken shoppers roaming the narrow streets of the city. At the very least, I'm assuming they're as much in awe of the music as they are of the hexagonal pointed wedge heel that is Lamborghini's Aventador Roadster.
This is a car that impresses not only with its sound, sharp lines that defy the organic lines of modern transportation, and disproportionate dimensions that exaggerate its width of 2.3 m with a tiny height of 1.1 m.
PRICE
And if all that doesn't sit well with you, then the entry-level price of $795,000 - by the way, including about $300,000 in state taxes (so who says wealth is obscene) - is a test in practice, and the road test cost is 929,000 XNUMX dollars. the car is just an impossible Monopoly number.
Few cars - at least those that can be licensed in Australia - will make your driveway look so pretty. Remarkably, this will make the driver look fantastic and does wonders for the person in the passenger seat.
If you are an introvert, drive pulsar. If you're here to be noticed, it's the Lamborghini and, of course, the Aventador roadster. there is also a convertible Gallardo - that without a roof you will become a tanned star.
If you have, brag! Ferruccio Lamborghini (1916-1993), who founded the company, reputedly once said of the high price of his cars, "The engine costs $150,000 - you get the rest for free."
Design
The hexagons that make up much of the roadster's body design - and, by the way, are absent from the Aventador coupe - are the tip of the Lamborghini hat in relation to the element of carbon. You see, carbon fiber makes up the bulk of a car's body. The rest is torn euphoria.
The test car gets 20-inch front and 21-inch rear wheels ($10,350 option), glass-paneled engine cover ($14,985, $4995), carbon fiber fillet in the center of the engine V-section ($4875), and metallic paint ($XNUMX). ). Some of the switchgears show signs of parent company Audi - not bad, actually.
TECHNOLOGY
Too much for the space, but the engine can shut off six cylinders when coasting, and the Aventador has a capacitor stop-start system - just like the Mazda6! The AWD system directs power from the front of the engine to the transmission between the seats, then uses one driveshaft to the rear wheels (along with the right side of the engine) and another forward through a Haldex differential to the front wheels. . Complexity is on par with the power delivery of a Nissan GT-R.
SECURITY
It does not have an Australian accident rating. If you have $929,000 buy one of these and give it to the ANCAP and they will break it down for you. Let me know how you're doing.
DRIVING
Someone once described this acceleration as horizontal bungee jumping. I can't argue. Nothing beats the instantaneousness of the Aventador slingshot with a claimed 2.9 second flash from rest to 100 km/h.
First lesson: Be very prepared when you play with the accelerator pedal. From the very beginning, there is a click of the right stalk into first gear, and then pressing the accelerator pedal. Then another compression, and so on, until I believe that the transmission did not turn on. Indeed, there are still a few hundred revolutions left around the dominant multi-colored tachometer scale before the electronic clutch engages.
Then 515 kW rushed forward. Leave it in "strada" mode for normal street use, and the exhaust sound is manual, and the automatic mode of the robotic seven-speed manual is almost domesticated - of course, far from the early "e-gear" box in the first Gallardo it looked like. to trying to calm a grumpy Collingwood fan after losing a game.
Depending on the pressure on the accelerator pedal, the box will either hold the gears back and throw them up at about 3000 rpm, or quickly turn the gears. The steering is firm, almost heavy, and while the front view is clear, rear view is little more than a letterbox slot, and on the sides - well, forget it.
The car is not difficult to drive. I am shackled by the fear of failure. I drive haunted by thoughts of one tiny miscalculation in a turn that will lead to death in a financial vacuum, but at the same time the sheer thrill of pedaling a surprisingly simple, impossibly fast, hand-built Italian car.
Change the button on the console to "sport" and that exhaust note bursts forth. There is an urgency that doesn't sit well with the lazy mid-week traffic on the coastal route. The corsa button keeps the barking and howling of the exhaust, but disables the electronic babysitter, a move made bold or foolish. It also firms up the steering, and shifts from snappy to snappy.
Traffic lights disappear, and the road sweeps and flows, and traffic decreases, so the car can be moved with fewer restrictions. Here, on open pavement, the Aventador begins to shine. Of course, he's frustrated by the bumpy bitumen, which makes the suspension shake and the chassis bounce and the bodywork makes a little creak from time to time.
But his hunger is insatiable. He eats the road, and the faster - academically, to speeds even unbearable in northern Italy - he goes, the more he hugs the bitumen and becomes locomotive solid. The roof is up, the car is taut and quiet with the wind—but not the noise of the road or the engine—but when the two targa panels are removed and the bevelled window glass is down, the wind whirls through the carpet, skin, and my skin. remaining hair.
These two targa panels, made from composite so they are very light (6kg each), are numbered accordingly so that hobbyists like me can find how they fit into position under the spade shaped hood. Be aware that there is no place for luggage on site. None. The seats — optional here in the Roadster-exclusive Elegante package ($4440) with Lamborghini branding (add $2070) — look tiny but supportive and easy to access.
The scissor doors are made of carbon fiber and perfectly balanced, so they open and close like a two-finger exercise, a far cry from the heavy hand required for the Murcielago.
VERDICT
The best Lamborghini to date.
Lamborghini Aventador Roadster
Cost: from $795,000 ($929,000 when tested on the road)
Guarantee: 3 years/unlimited mileage, 3 years roadside assistance
Limited Service: No
Service Interval: 12 mo/12,000 km
Resale: 54%
Safety: 8 airbags, ABS, ESC, EBD, TC
Accident Rating: Not tested
Engine: 6.5-liter V12 petrol engine; 515 kW/690 Nm
Transmission: 7-speed automated manual; four-wheel drive
Thirst: 17.2 l/100 km; 98 RON; 398 g/km CO2
Dimensions: 4.8 m (L), 2.0 m (W), 1.1 m (H)
The weight: 1690kg
Spare: all
