Fast, sleek, powerful and exotic -- that's Italian superpremium sports car Lamborghini's neighborhood in the low-volume, high-end automobile marketplace. So when it's time for an upgrade, what better than a faster, more powerful model?
Exactly. And that's just what Automobili Lamborghini is offering in its Gallardo LP 570-4 Superleggera. Drive On just got a close look at the supermobile when Lambo brought it to Southern California.
It's a lighter, more powerful version that sits as the new king of the Gallardo line, its V-10 engine just behind the driver putting down 570 horsepower through all-wheel drive with on-rails traction that tames any oversteer. Lamborghini's well-developed paddle-shift e-gear transmission is standard, in a package that tips the scales at under 3,000 pounds, at least until the driver swings a leg into the two-seater's low, tight, typically Italian cockpit.
Talk about enviable power-to-weight ratios -- this car rolls out of the Sant'Agata Bolognese factory in track-ready condition.
Not a car for everyman or everywoman, no matter how wealthy:
The Superleggera, or super light weight, won't carry many groceries and provides not a single cupholder. Carbon fiber replaces most of the hard parts in the interior to save weight, leather upholstery is abandoned for a lighter synthetic, and polycarbonate instead of glass rear and side windows trims the load. And while it comes with air conditioner, power windows and radio -- there are limits to the weight-saving sacrifices American drivers are willing to make -- there's not even an arm rest on the carbon fiber-lined doors. Just pull it shut with the fabric strap, as you do on your dedicated track car.
The Superleggera arrives with a U.S. base price of $237,600, plus the $2,100 gas guzzler tax (with fuel economy rated at 14 mpg/city and 20 mpg/highway, it's at least as respectable as some SUVs on the road, and practically a commuter compared to Lambo's V-12 Murciellago model). And then there are essential upgrades like a $16,450 set of orange or yellow ceramic brake calipers. Which you will want.
This is not a car that makes you want to scrimp.
