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| Lamborghini Aventador |
What’s different is that the manual gearbox and the legendary Bizzarrini V12 engine is gone. Instead the Aventador is powered by a brand new 60 degree 6498cc V12 that’s mated, like it or not, to a seven-speed paddle shift gearbox. And at its core sits a no-expense-spared carbonfibre monocoque – hence the impressive claimed 1575kg ‘dry’ kerbweight – with single-seater style pushrod suspension at each corner. Its brakes are similarly state of the art, and feature carbon ceramic discs with six-piston callipers at the front, four at the rear. Even its body parts are fashioned mostly from carbonfibre (although the bonnet, bumpers and doors are made from aluminium). What we’re talking about, in other words, is a car that may look and sound like a traditional raging bull but one that’s very much at the leading edge of things technically.
So what’s it like to drive? Outrageous is the word that keeps on popping into one’s mind when attempting to describe what this car is actually like. The scissor doors open upwards to reveal an interior that is every bit as new and revolutionary as its engine, gearbox or suspension. And, mostly, it works as good as it looks. The start button sits beneath its bright red cover within the centre console. Summon the courage to give it a prod and you’ll hear a quite outrageous eruption of revs when the engine fires. As if climbing into a bright red Lamborghini via one of its vast scissor-doors isn’t somehow theatrical enough on its own.
To begin with the steering seems lighter and a lot less cumbersome than you remember, the ride is massively more refined than a Murcielago and the entire car, interiors included, feel more mature than you expect.
But the big news, inevitably, concerns the performance, and I can tell you here and now that it is absolutely astonishing .Throttle response is explosive, even at 4000rpm, and when you do finally let rip in the Aventador, the most surprising discovery is that it’s nowhere near as terrifying as you thought it might be.
The acceleration and the noise are monstrous in every way, and it’s difficult NOT to be in the mood for 690bhp of V12 thundering away behind your head. To top it off it has one of the best balanced mid-engined chassis’ in existence and there’s a fundamental composure to the driving experience that makes the Aventador seem unusually friendly for a big, hairy Lambo. And what helps are the race car like brakes that are really powerful when you really lean on them.
Switching between its various drive modes (strada, sport and corsa) alters not just the gearchange speed and severity but the crispness of the engine mapping as well. And then there’s the single clutch gearshift itself, which Lamborghini claims is 40 per cent swifter than a Gallardo Superlegerra’s.
The steering is light yet precise, the handling balance so well resolved, and you can take huge liberties with this car without feeling like you’re on the verge of an accident. So long as you respect just how rapidly it accelerates, in fact, it’s actually a pretty easy thing to drive hard. Much more so than the ‘will it, won’t it’ Murcielago ever was. A modern beast of a supercar, yours for 3.75 Crore.
Courtesy: autocarindia.com
