2008 Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera & Spyder Review
4 Apr, 2008
7 Comments 
Paul
After an overnight stay in a lush hotel in Biella arranged by an Italian mate of Anthony’s, we headed for the Aosta hills where our video shoot took place. The higher we drove, the more snow we saw. To call the scenery amazing would be the understatement of the year. The Aosta hills gave us a chance to put the Superleggera and Spyder through their paces on a virtual switchback circuit up past the clouds.
Both vehicles were fitted with Lamborghini’s E-gear automated manual transmission. The system works – in general terms – by operating a computer controlled automated clutch while the gears are manually selected. The driver controls the gears by paddle-shifters statically attached to the steering column. You can also select an automated mode, which shifts gears much like a regular automatic gearbox.
Driving both cars back to back, it was hard not to sense a difference between the gearbox ferocity and shift times between the two cars. The Superleggera literally felt like a DSG gearbox, shifting gears with ultimate ferocity and speed. The Spyder on the other hand felt much more lax and laid back. By all means, the Spyder gearbox wasn’t slow, it just felt slow in comparison to the Superleggera.
With a shift time of a remarkable 40 milliseconds, it makes the E-gear gearbox one of the fastest of this type on the market. When left in the automatic mode, it feels like a regular gearbox, shifts occur as you would expect and it’s ready to drop down gears with quick stabs of the throttle. On inclines, the gearbox is programmed to slip the clutch to provide slight motion to creep forward.
Driving the Superleggera at speed is tremendously easy. On approach to the corner, the brakes grab with tremendous force. Turn in is extremely sharp and precise, the steering feels like it’s in contact with the road, you feel everything that meets the tyres on the ashphalt.
Blasting along at supercar speeds I would have traded the leather clad steering wheel for the suede version in a heartbeat. Your hands tend to sweat a little in a sustained high velocity run, and leather does not absorb moisture anywhere near as well as suede. The wheel itself though, is perfect size for aggressive driving. Shaved at the bottom, it facilitates for perfect 10-to-3 driving position, along with the perfect space between the paddle-shifter and the steering wheel.
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April 4th, 2008 at 4:21 am
***** N U M E R O U N O ******
Ace well written, all the time I was worried you’d wrap one of these round a lamp post. Pity about the gloomy weather, you guys must have forgotten it was winter up north.
Mines the Superleggera please.
Ceramic brakes…they cost more than a Corolla.
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April 4th, 2008 at 4:25 am
Hope you washed you hands before holding that suede steering wheel. Can you imagine that in two years time in a hot climate. It’ll look like leather.
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April 4th, 2008 at 7:09 am
Well done again guys, Bugatti, Lambo … impressed? MUCH!
A brilliant read, but I can’t wait for the video and that awesome Italian symphony
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April 4th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
I’ve had the pleasure of driving my friend’s Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera, and I must say….it was completely unforgettable. All I can say is, these cars really do bash your senses and emotions into submission.
An interesting point to note, is my friends Superleggera came standard with the suede steering wheel, he definitely didn’t option it in. Maybe the leather wheel is an option?
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April 4th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Whoa!!!
I can’t wait to see the video review.
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April 6th, 2008 at 11:51 am
Superb review! Loved it.
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April 6th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Great review!
Spectacular cars!
The fog actually helped the photography I think - you can’t beat a bit of diffused light on cars.
That part of N. Italy can get really cold - I was in Modena last November - forgot my wooly hat one day and lost the feeling in my head after 5 minutes.
Wouldn’t have fancied driving the Spyder with the roof off in that weather!
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