Saving the best until last
LAMBORGHINI WILL build 350 of these coupés, along with 250 roadsters, as the last hurrah for its V12 flagship before it bows out. It’s been a long time coming. The Aventador dates back to 2011, and it’s checking out with a 780bhp V12, an 8700rpm redline, 0-62mph in 2.8 seconds and a top speed beyond 200mph.
That output is higher than any Aventador before it, 10bhp more even than the track-focused SVJ, so the Ultimae is not only the last but also the most powerful Aventador. Lamborghini’s development of its flagship has evidently been to its enormous benefit, as the Ultimae rides with surprising civility, its massive V12 is easy in traffic, and it is even surprisingly easy to see out of.
Some quirks remain, however. The infotainment system betrays the car’s vintage, and the robotised ISR (Independent Shifting Rod) seven-speed gearbox remains the biggest shortcoming, its 50-millisecond shifts like yawning gaps when compared with the immediacy of its competitors’ transmissions.
The roads around Bologna have been congested and wet but now, turning towards Zocco, things are very different on a road that snakes up a hillside like a dropped string of cooked spaghetti. It’s smooth and wide, with switchback, hairpin bends mixing with longer, sweeping curves, and all manner of lengths of straights joining it all up.
The preferred drive mode here (everywhere, frankly) is Sport. Strada (meaning ‘Road’) is a little bit too nannying. Sport’s thresholds are enough that you can feel the Aventador Ultimae’s balance, with the traction and stability systems less front-ofhouse. The suspension remains composed and supple, maintaining fine control without discomfort, while the gearshifts are speeded up so as not to feel quite so slow in their selection, but still needing management with a slight lift to ease upshifts. Corsa (‘Race’) is tempting, but it ups the Ultimae to a level that’s just too brutal.
If Sport’s a compromise, it’s unquestionably a good one, because the Aventador Ultimae feels incredible here. The steering, a system old enough still to be hydraulic, is loaded with detail. Turn the wheel and there’s only the merest hint of understeer before the nose tucks in; it’s natural, quick and incisive, shrinking the big Lamborghini, which on these roads is no bad thing. There’s masses of traction: most of the time the power is directed to the sizeable 355/25 ZR21 Pirelli P Zero Corsas at the rear, but if there’s the need some of that drive is pushed to the front axle. You’ll rarely notice it doing so, the Aventador’s balance being nicely judged and exploitable.
There’s so much performance below 6000rpm that you could short-shift and still make indecent progress, but hanging on above that reveals that the big 6.5-litre V12 still has so much more to give. It’s backed, too, by the sort of glorious, rich mechanical symphony that’ll soon be consigned to history.
That said, the Aventador’s replacement is expected still to come with a V12, but it will feature electrical assistance and, while that’s perhaps right for the world, this traditional supercar is not going down without a fight. Lamborghini has saved its very best until last.