- Doors and Seats
2 doors, 2 seats
- Engine
5.2i, 10 cyl.
- Engine Power
405kW, 540Nm
- Fuel
NA
- Manufacturer
RWD
- Transmission
Manual
- Warranty
NA
- Ancap Safety
NA
Lamborghini Gallardo LP 570-4 Superleggera Review
There will be few, if any cars in the world today, that will come close to its breadth of capabilities on the road or track.
If there ever was a car you might seriously consider downsizing and selling your house for, it would be a Lamborghini Gallardo with the word Superleggera scribbled down the bottom of the door panels.
There will be few if any cars in the world today, that will come close to its breadth of capabilities on the road or track.
It’s the surgeon of all surgeons, when it comes to dissecting twisty mountain roads with scalpel like precision and poise.
Of course, we haven’t yet driven the LP 570-4 Superleggera but our undying passion for all things Superleggera comes from our experience behind the wheel of an LP 540-4 Supperleggera back in 2008, when we blew apart the Italian Alps in a couple of Lamborghini’s finest.
While the stock Gallardo LP 560-4 sits at the top of the supercar tree when it comes to all round driveability, the Superleggera is the weapons grade version.
And while it can destroy almost all other high performance machines whether that be on the Autostrada or the Stelvio Pass, it’s more about how easy it is to drive the Superleggera fast that sets it above any other supercar we’ve driven.
At this stage, we can only guess how good the Gallardo LP 570-4 Superleggera will be, but rest assured, it will raise the high performance bar even higher.
The “superlight” Gallardo from Sant’Agata Bolognese has had what little fat there is on the standard car, trimmed off to the tune of 70 kilograms. This highly focused machine now boasts a dry weight of just 1340 kilograms.
That’s good news all round. With a better power-to-weight ratio and reduced total mass, CO2 emissions have also been lowered to 319gr/km with the E-Gear transmission, slightly better than the manual version.
The 5.2-litre V10 powered Superleggera is good for a top speed of 325km/h and will rocket from 0-100km/h in 3.4 seconds. Moreover the zero to 200km/h sprint will take just 10.2 seconds and that’s important if you’re lucky enough to be on a German Autobahn in a derestricted zone.
When a Lamborghini V10 is spinning at around 8,000 rpm, there is no better sound in the world bar an F1 engine at maximum revs.
Its enormously powerful with 419kW (570 hp) and all of 540 Newton-metres of torque providing significant pulling power from low down in the rev counter.
There’s a lot of carbon fibre on board the LP 570-4, some 40 of the 70 kilograms in weight saving on board the car. Inside the cockpit, it’s carbon fibre and Alcantara almost exclusively. That includes the door panels, central tunnel cover including the E-gear transmission lever and both seat shells.
Alcantara (looks and feels like suede) is lighter than leather and is used for the seat inserts and headliner, providing a high quality look and feel, which is beautiful to touch.
But what sets the Superleggera apart from its Gallardo siblings are the little things, like the exotic exterior paint jobs such as Verde Ithaca, Giallo Midras, Nero Noctis and Arancio Borealis and the matching seat trims and stitching.
While power is only slightly up on its predecessor, the latest Supeleggera is considerably more efficient with fuel consumption down by 3.5 litres/100km. That’s due to the “intiezione Diretta Stratificata” or direct petrol injection, the process of which allows for a very high compression ratio of 12.5:1.
It doesn’t matter whether you like your six-speeds on the floor or not. Once you get a taste of Lamborghini’s super fast E-Gear transmission, there’s no going back to old favourites.
You simply cannot compete with the speed at which this gearbox shifts ratios and that includes Michael Schumacher and Jensen Button.
But more to the point, it’s easy. Hammering down the switchbacks near the Alpine village of Aosta and it’s a simple matter of flick, flick, from fourth down to second, as you dive into each hairpin with ridiculous ease before flooring the throttle again, as you blast out of each hairpin towards the next.
And then there’s the grip, the term prodigious, doesn’t come close to describing how planted this car feels. The Superleggera (and I’m talking about the superseded LP 540-4) is blessed with extreme levels of adhesion, which inspires unrivalled confidence through any degree of corner or when sitting on 300km/h plus, on the Autostrada.
It’s not just about the four driven wheels either, as denoted by the 4 in the model name although, clearly, that is a critical factor.
When you’re really on the right pedal, the Superleggera feels like a rear wheel drive sports car, which has a lot to do with the central viscous coupling and the 45 percent limited slip diff on the rear axle.
Power is distributed with a ratio 30:70 front to rear and allows the rear end to step out while allowing you to correct before the electronic nannies have woken up.
That said you simply can’t rate this car on any one particular component. It’s a perfect package which includes the world’s best steering set up, race quality fade free brakes (carbon ceramic) and a suspension system that makes this car an acceptable daily drive as well as a track day winner.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the Pirelli P Zero Corsa tyres, 235/35 ZR19 up front and sticky 295/30 ZR19’s on the rear. They may as well have been custom designed for the Gallardo LP 570-4 Superleggera, if our experience with its predecessor is any indication.
CarAdvice will bring you a full-length road test and video of the Lamborghini Gallardo LP 570-4 Superleggera later this year.
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