REAL BEAUTY!
THE LAMBORGHINI AVENTADOR S ROADSTER IS A GOLIATH OF A CAR.
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 skyhigh, 8,500 rpm redline fills your surroundings with the howl of a banshee, announcing your presence to anyone within a kilometre or two.
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 rear-wheel 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 all-wheel-drive system and sticky Pirelli tires that may as well be made of Velcro, the Aventador S feels stable. And when dealing with 740 hp, stability is crucial.
On top of all that, the steering wheel is communicative. It’s heavy, but not to the point where you should hit the gym, and you can actually feel what’s going on below the front wheels.
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. Previously, you could choose between Street, Sport and Track ... er, Strada, Sport and Corsa modes. As you’d expect, these modes fiddle with the car’s steering, suspension and drivetrain, including the exact moment stability control shuts down your party.
Strada is the tamest — if you could even call a 740-hp supercar “tame” — while Corsa is the wildest. New is Ego mode, which lets you tailor custom settings. Lamborghini called it that because “Custom” or “Individual” are too pedestrian.
When you’re driving an Aventador S, 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 cop.
As if that doesn’t make life with an Aventador difficult enough, it’s not an easy car to drive. It challenges you. On anything but full-throttle rips, the transmission makes the car buck and shudder, especially in low gears. The car’s proportions are just insane; this car is almost unreasonably low and wide. Sure, that helps it better cut through the air and clip apexes at Mosport and Mugello, but potholes, dips, speed bumps and driveways are your worst enemies, threatening to unleash hell on the oversized wheels and carbon-fibre front lip. Oh, and fuel economy? Ha!
Despite the width, the interior is cramped. Forget about water bottles, a messenger bag, or a purse. Shoulder check? Good luck with that. Adjust your mirrors wide, because all you’ll see is the rear bulkhead and fine leather. 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 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 a licence to print money. Lamborghini’s future is also inevitably electric; the wild Terzo Millennio concept is reportedly giving way to an ultra limitedproduction, electrified hypercar.
The Aventador is an outrageously styled, violently fast and hellaciously loud Goliath of a car. One day, that madness and violence 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.