We review the Lamborghini Aventador from price to economy and all its features
LIKE a horizontal bright orange firework, the Lamborghini Aventador rips across the Tarmac towards the 200mph mark.
This is the car named after a courageous bull. But I’m running out of the balls to keep it flat out.
First drive ... the Lamborghini Aventador takes your breath away
The Aventador remains relentless. The V12 is screaming but not strained in sixth — and I still have another gear to go.
Every piece of gravel I hit feels like someone hitting my tailbone with a spade and my backside gives a twitch with every gear I switch.
I’m on a secret proving ground in Farnborough — appropriately the town which saw the UK’s first official airflight in 1908.
And this Lambo flagship feels like it’s permanently ready for blast off.
It follows perfectly in the exotic tyretracks of the original 1960s Miura, then the Countach, Diablo and Murcielago — all an erotic mix of brutal meets beautiful.
We pictured it with a Harrier Jet at Farnborough’s Air Sciences Trust Museum and it simply looks closer to aviation than automotive.
But this Italian firm believe the Aventador is a giant leap for Lambkind — a jump of two generations for design and technology.
Hidden under the striking exterior is a carbon fibre monocoque chassis and all-new V12.
The entire cabin area and roof is a single carbon cell designed to deliver incredible stiffness, plus reduce weight.
It’s ultra-fast heartbeat is that 12-cylinder engine, which has more power and torque than its predecessor, yet is smaller, lighter and has a lower centre of gravity.
It’s mated to a seven-speed automated manual box — and Lamborghini claim gearshifts are 40 per cent faster than with the outdated e-gear box in the Gallardo.
All of which makes even journeys to the flicks epic — even more so as you aim to crack the Aventador’s claimed 217mph top speed.
Even getting in the Aventador is like the opening sequence of a Hollywood movie — swinging open the traditional Lambo scissor doors — makes you feel like a movie hero.
Once inside you are confronted by theatrical cabin, trimmed with suede, carbon-fibre and classy finishing.
It’s tight to say the least with low-slung bucket seats — but you know you’re in something very special.
Then the drama with a capital D kicks in. Flick up the red ‘rocket launch’ style cover on the centre console, press the start button and the 690bhp V12 barks into life.
The noise is better than sex (so my wife tells me).
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It lets off a hollow crackle, stamp on the right pedal and it gains pace and a deep bellow that grabs your inner organs and pushes them up your throat.
Once on the move, it’s an earth-shattering mix of grip, precision cornerning and straight line power. The steering is precise, the ceramic brakes give incredible stopping power and, in the fastest of its three settings (they increase in intensity from Strada to Sport and Corsa), the transmission whacks each gear into place so fiercely that your head is thrown back into the seat’s headrest. But it’s the straight-line speed that takes your breath away.
On this Farnborough runway the Aventador was mind-boggling, with 120mph in fourth gear and 170mph in sixth before running out of road and guts at a shade over 200mph in seventh.
Remarkably, it didn’t even feel that terrifying because it is so stable and refined. The rear wing automatically varies its angle to reduce lift, while the underbody aerodynamics ensure air is controlled as it flows under the car.
Off the airstrip the huge wheels, rigid chassis and racing suspension means the Aventadaor’s ride is hard work on local roads, to say the least. When it comes to safety the carbon chassis forms an incredibly strong safety cell, while side, thorax and knee airbags are standard.
There’s also a handy colour-reversing camera, which makes it easier to manoeuvre the car’s huge bulk in tight spaces.
Plus, a hydraulic nose lifter raises the front suspension to allow access to driveways without damaging the low front splitter. At night, headlights from cars behind dazzle you as they reflect through the glass engine cover and tiny rear window.
Roomy it isn’t.
There is some luggage space behind the seats and there’s a small, but deep, boot at the front.
But that doesn’t stop this being one of the most incredible cars in the world at the moment.
It costs a shade under £250,000 and has a waiting list of around 1,200 and 18 months wait. Those with money to burn are even happy to wait for it.
That says it all.
This Bull has everyone fighting over it.