Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 review

For a change I’d like to start this review with the negatives. The Gallardo LP560-4’s optional £10,328 carbon ceramic brakes are snatchy, while changes from the £6,249 e-Gear robotised manual gearbox are harsh. Right then, now that’s out of the way I can concentrate on explaining what a wonderful creation this car is. And where better to start than that superb mid-mounted 5.2-litre engine?

This has to be one of the best units ever created. The V10 pulls seemlessly from low down and power builds ferociously to the 8,500rpm red line. The relentless acceleration keeps you pinned back in the leather-clad bucket seat and doesn’t seem to start to abate until well after 150mph. And all the while you are treated to a glorious metallic howl. The noise could even make the hairs on the back of the neck of a corpse stand on end.

Then there’s the steering. It’s just so direct and so precise that it’s not a matter of turning the wheel, you simply have think which direction you would like to go. It just feels telepathic. And there’s so much feedback you can feel the fat front tyres gripping into the tarmac giving you added confidence to really lean hard on the nose into the corners.

The LP560-4 has a revised four-wheel-drive system from the old Gallardo - hence the 4 in the name. There’s uprated suspension too and a redesigned rear diffuser for improved high speed stability. All this means you are less likely to end up going backwards into a tree.

Really, for a supercar the Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 is incredibly easy to drive. And it’s one you really could live with everyday. That praise is normally levelled at the Audi R8 - with which the Lambo shares its chassis. But compared to the LP560-4 the German machine doesn’t actually deserve to be called a supercar. That’s not a dig at the Audi. It’s just that the LP560-4 is in a completely different league.