Supercar worthy of the Lambo legend
“Supercars just don’t excite me anymore.” These words spoken to me over a month ago by another journalist, friend, and (socalled) enthusiast were echoing in my head for far too long, but they’ve finally been drowned out. Naturally, they’ve been drowned out by the wail of a naturally aspirated 6.5-litre V12 engine mounted in the middle of the new Lamborghini Aventador S Roadster.
My friend’s point is that back in the good old days, there was a crop of supercars that captured the imagination with amazing style, sounds, performance, and more. Today, it seems like everything is capable of supercar performance, with large luxury sedans outdoing some of the best and most dedicated teams of car nuts, while former pillars of automotive excellence are suddenly pumping out familyfriendly SUVs.
Beyond that, another league of supercars, dubbed hypercars have cropped up with hybrid gas-electric powertrains that make magical things happen quickly, but at the cost of the acoustic drama, visual flair, and engagement factor that supercars were known for.
Back then, I politely countered that I didn’t share that opinion, but now I can definitively say that my friend is dead wrong. Every single one of these points is meaningless because supercars will always be a beacon of excitement that nothing else on the road can match.
I’ll use the new Lamborghini Aventador S Roadster as the prime example. The badge adorning the front of the very pointed nose is rich with a history of some of the most bonkers and beautiful cars ever built. The sleek and sexy Miura practically invented the supercar as we know it today, and everywhere it stopped, traffic stopped too as other motorists and pedestrians with any form of inner child gawked at it. It was a show stopper, but so was the Countach, an ostentatious Lamborghini that was offered from 1974 to 1990 that featured wild angles that dropped jaws, because it featured a design language justified with the phrase “because we could.” As fast as it looks and sounds The visual impact of the Aventador S Roadster is hard to ignore. It infects the people who see it. But wait and see what people do when the 6.5-litre V12 engine is fired up, something that fortunately happens a few more times than you’d think thanks to an automatic startstop system.
It barks a short tone that’s like a cymbal being shredded by a buzzsaw. In a world where the EV-proud is happy to boast that a Tesla makes no noise even as it sprints to 100 km/h in three seconds, the Lamborghini Aventador S Roadster makes it clear that noises still matter.
Once you put your foot down, the engine howls. The 740 horsepower provided by that big engine allows this all-wheeldrive supercar to hit highway speeds in 3 seconds, a figure that’s been replicated by so many other cars out there. And while a Tesla Model S P100D can do that, and a BMW M5 can do that, and a Dodge Challenger Demon is faster in some cases, very few of those cars provide the same combination of thrill and showmanship that the Lamborghini offers. Force feedback But that feeling might have something to do with the raw and unrefined single-clutch automatic transmission. It’s slow, with the upshifts from first to second and second to third feeling particularly awkward. The only way to make the car feel somewhat natural is to change gears at higher RPMs, which serves up that intoxicating sound as well. While the first impression of the gearbox isn’t a positive one, it grows on you especially as you use the paddle shifters to chose your gears. Touch tactility The steering also has a weight and feedback to it. The steering and handling have been augmented with some interesting elements, as four-wheel steering and variable ratio steering are both in action here. The former feature helps the big Aventador S Roadster feel more agile and nimble in slow speed situations, and also provides a feeling of stability in high-speed actions as well. The variable ratio rack means that less steering input is required at higher speeds. It’s a feature that can feel a bit disconnected and inconsistent at times.
The Sports mode sends 90 per cent of the power rearward, while the track-focused Corsa mode dials it back to 80 per cent. These modes also come with their own stability control limits too. The verdict Of course it’s expensive. That’s because it’s not only special but exciting. A cost of $506,751 in Canada gets you into the roofless car, and that’s just the beginning, before any options or extra features.
But think about what it does that so few cars can do and there’s intangible value. It announces your arrival and departure with a 12-cylinder symphony, it turns ordinary people into raving car-parazzi and it does this while going fast and keeping you involved in the process. This is a true supercar and a sign that they’ve never been better.