Lamborghini Gallardo

Nauman Farooq blasts around Toronto in the 500bhp banana

The Lamborghini Gallardo (pronounced Ga-yar-doh) is the first baby Lambo since the Jalpa bowed out in 1988. However, 'baby' is hardly a way to describe this car, especially once you look at the specs. It has a 5-liter V10 engine, that pumps out 500 hp, that is a mere 80 hp less that its big brother, the Murcielago.

Having driven the Murcielago last year, the biggest question on my mind as I set off was whether it is just a detuned Murcielago or does the Gallardo has its own identity?

For the second year running, the weather was great, which was a true blessing, especially since the forecast was that of rain.

e Gear

The car I was provided with by Lamborghini Canada had the e-gear system gearbox, Lambo's first attempt at a paddle shift gearbox. It's fantastic! The shifts are not only quick, but require very little throttle liftoff to change gears. As you can imagine, getting upto highway speeds takes very little effort.

In fact, the whole driving experience takes very little effort. The controls are light at town speeds, the driving position is great, visibility to any angle is very clear, especially looking out the back which was never a Lamborghini strong point.

Quality fit and finish was also never a Lambo strong point, yet the Gallardo is built as well as... as well as an Audi actually. Not surprisingly, most of the switchgear comes from the Germans. That's needn't be a negative though since they picked all the nicest pieces available to them. Even Ferrari use Fiat parts bins. It's simple economics.

Powertrain

That leaves most of the budget available for the more important stuff such as sorting out the driving dynamics and producing monster engines. As mentioned before, the Gallardo has a 90 degree, V10, with four-valves per cylinder and variable valve timing. It pumps out 500 hp at 7800rpm and 376 lb/ft or torque at 4500rpm and the nicest exhaust note this side of an Enzo.

With just 1470kg to push and having a brilliant all-wheel drive system, this baby-Lambo will very easily hit 60 mph from stop in just 4.1 seconds. More impressively, it'll go from 0-100 mph in just 9 seconds flat, that is big boys supercars territory. Top speed puts it in the premier league too, with a top speed of 194 mph!

The Gallardo not only goes like the big league supercars, but also manages to handle like a light nimble sportscar, which came as a huge surprise. You can push it through corners at ridiculous speeds, and it'll just grip and grip. The last time I drove a car with such bionic grip was the Subaru STi, the Gallardo just has 40% more power to play with.

The Daily Driver

Yet, despite the sports suspension setup, despite the 19-inch rims, this is a very comfortable car to ride in. You can truly live with this car on a day to day basis, even in winter, if you had to.

So, any complaints, umm... the trunk space is very small, but that's it, I honestly can't think of anything else. This car is as close to perfection as it can be.

But is it better than or equal to a Murcielago? In a word, "No."

The Murcielago is a real beast, a wild lion in the African jungle, whereas the Gallardo is more like a trained circus lion, still deadly, but very well behaved.

These two cars might have a lot in common on paper, but on the road, they take the approach to speed in very different manners. I really can imagine someone having both these cars in their garage, the Gallardo for everyday use, and the Murcielago for when you want to blow your head off.

The Gallardo is a wonderful car, but it poses no threat to its big brother. However, Ferrari should feel very threatened, because the Gallardo is much more car than the current 360 Modena is. The bar has been raised...

Nauman Farooq

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dinkel

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