GOLIATH OF A CAR CHALLENGES DRIVERS
Outrageous ferocity of Italian marvel will truly make your palms sweat
Nothing prepares you for it. No amount of YouTube videos, Instagram posts, car spotting in ritzy neighbourhoods or “seat time” in Forza Horizon prepares you for the magic and brutality. The Lamborghini Aventador S roadster is a Goliath of a car, in an age where turbocharging and electrification dominate, where Supreme stickers are carelessly affixed to fine leather dashboards.
The first thing about the Aventador that hits you is the sound. There’s a red, half-clamshell lid on the centre console. Flip it up, stab the button and the Aventador grunts awake before settling into a gruff grumble. Give the throttle a couple of blips, and the Aventador shrieks in anger — and this is with the car sitting still. A rip to the sky-high, 8,500 rpm redline fills your surroundings with the howl of a banshee.
It takes a fair bit of confidence to pull a rip to the redline. The Aventador’s 6.5-litre V12, rated at 740 horsepower and 509 poundfeet of torque, is pure violence. With the sound and the razorsharp response only a normally aspirated engine provides, the Aventador charges hard toward — and well beyond — highly illegal speeds in less than a blink of an eye. That’s to be expected; from a standstill, the Aventador S roadster hits 100 km/h in exactly three seconds, before topping out at a hair over 350 km/h.
It’s one of the few modern cars that will legitimately make your palms sweat. Let’s see your fancy surround-sound system manage that when you’re ripping through the Australian outback in Forza Horizon.
The original Aventador was a wild beast, but the S — billed as its replacement — smooths out a lot of its kinks and introduces a laundry list of enhancements. Chief among them is a rearwheel steering system. It operates no differently than other rear-wheel steering systems we’ve seen, but Lamborghini pushes the envelope by allowing the rear wheels to turn up to three degrees, in the opposite direction of the front wheels, at lower speeds. Go faster and the rears turn in the same direction as the fronts. Lamborghini says this translates to far better cornering dynamics, belying the Aventador’s sheer size.
With the clever all-wheel-drive system and super sticky Pirelli tires that may as well be made of Velcro, the Aventador S feels stable. And when you’re dealing with 740 hp, stability is crucial.
Also new to the Aventador S: A new mode for the LDVA system, short for Lamborghini Dinamica Veicolo Attiva. This mishmash of letters essentially serves as the car’s brain, and either saves or coddles your bacon, depending on the drive mode you’ve selected.
When you’re driving an Aventador S, let alone one finished in an obnoxious colour, it’s as though there’s a target on your back. People don’t just look — they stare. They whip out their iPhone to take a picture and give you either a thumbs-up or a scoff. Make a bit too much noise and you’ll draw the attention of an overzealous police officer.
As if that doesn’t make life with an Aventador difficult enough, it’s not an easy car to drive. That’s the beauty of this car: it challenges you. On anything but fullthrottle rips, the transmission makes the car buck and shudder, especially on low gears. The proportions are just insane; this car is almost unreasonably low and wide. Oh, and fuel economy? Ha!
Despite the Aventador’s width, the interior is cramped. Forget about carrying a couple of water bottles, a messenger bag, or a purse. Shoulder check? Good luck with that. If you want to drive topless, forget about using the front trunk because that’s where the roof panel is stowed, and it takes up the entire compartment.
Entering and exiting the Aventador is an exercise in contortion, but once you get in, the cabin cocoons you well. Materials are obviously befitting of a US$460,000 supercar, though you might have a tough time finding some of the controls.
It’s difficult to grasp the true purpose of the Aventador’s existence. Most will be treated as a plaything for the rich, an accessory for young Millennials whose primary income is the Bank of Mom and Dad. Come on, that wing has an objective — not to stay up as you trundle along through ritzy neighbourhoods, but to keep the rear end planted at triple-digit speeds. On the flip side, you can’t appreciate the Aventador’s performance on a daily basis, unless you want to lose your licence.
To fully understand and appreciate the Aventador, you need to consider the present and future. Lamborghini is very much in the SUV game; the Urus is effectively a licence to print money. Lamborghini’s future is also inevitably electric; the wild Terzo Millennio concept is reportedly giving way to an ultra limited-production, electrified hypercar that will also be a precursor to the Aventador’s eventual replacement.
The Aventador is an outrageously styled, violently fast and hellaciously loud Goliath of a car. One day, that madness will be abated by battery packs and electric motors. When that day arrives, we’ll lose something special.
For an interactive and multimedia look at the Aventador S, visit Driving.ca.