DrVertigo

Blurgh. Please don't say "crushing it" so soon after that last episode of Game Of Thrones.

Egoista's probably the maddest-looking thing they've ever produced (Veneno second, though it traded a bit of madness in favour of actually being good looking). Pregunta, Marzal, Faena, LP500 Countach and Estoque are my favourites though.

Will there be an Aventador SuperVeloce (ASV) edition: Yup. If they launch one for the pre-facelift Aventador then the second will probably be given another name (Jota?), but SV is the go-to title. And it's been obvious from day 1 that the Aventador has far more potential than the launch model, so a 'hardcore' model seems inevitable. How many ASV variants (coupe and roadster) will there be: 100% guess, but I'm saying both. I get the impression that the Performante was only greenlit because of Ferrari's 16M, and if they'd known how good a reception it would get, they might have designed a vert range-topper for the Murcie too. What Year in Geneva will the car be unveiled: 2018/9, depending on the Aventador's total lifespan. I think we're starting to cut it a bit close to the Aventador's mid-life update, which should be within the next two years, and the base car's sales are still growing. They have the Huracan Spyder to keep the company hot in the meantime (and maybe even a Hura Superleggera, which needs to arrive earlier than the Gallardo's MK1 SL). Plus, they've already had the 50th Anniversary cars for a hot Aventador MK1 version. So, I imagine they'll repeat the Murcie's formula and save the SV for the run-out edition. What will the base price range be: +20% over standard car. How many ASV will Lamborghini produce: 400, a bit more than they'd planned for the Murcie SV. How many HP do you expect/think the new ASV will have: 770 PS, claimed. Will the new ASV be single or double clutch technology: Single. Although the Huracan's DCT has been incredibly well-received in the press, they'd have to make some major changes to the Aventador's architecture to fit a DCT unit in. Anyway, single-clutch is still the superior solution in terms of vehicle weight and packaging; they'll want to develop it as much as possible. Any words you like to share: If they go turbo or hybrid then all bets are off. The Aventador's emissions/economy are fairly abysmal, and I suspect power development is being hamstrung by the need to pass regs (which are only going to tighten). Naturally aspirated V12 is at the core of Lambo DNA, so they'll hold onto it as long as they possibly can, but anything which sidesteps the pollution issue will allow them to unleash vastly more from that powerplant. Ferrari's already starting to dip their toes back into turbocharging, and lately Lambo's been pretty keen on following Maranello's example. More importantly, Lamborghini is treated as a performance testbed for VW AG, so if the group needs high-end development on a particular technology, it'll happen at Lamborghini.

I don't remember it cropping up so much in the Aventador or SV road tests.

Seems like every review coming out mentions understeer. I'm surprised, given the Haldex clutch.

12C with latest updates and 650S bodykit seems like a pretty good option.

Because it reminds them how dumb it was to secede from the glorious British Empire. Left-hand drive... imperial measurement system... using the word 'football' for a sport in which the ball is primarily carried and thrown... five commercial breaks per hour of TV... madness.

38mph I'd believe (limit is 30, and with bloody good reason). Placid's right about the other lane being for oncoming traffic; the Mazda pulled into the correct lane. His visibility was partially blocked by an SUV parked on the corner (which I'll bet was on a double-yellow line, ie. illegally parked), but in those circumstances, you have to pull out slowly and continue looking as your visibility improves. Pulling out all the way without looking was asking for trouble (that's what she said). Lambo driver looked to be exceeding the speed limit - I don't think it was by much, but it's bloody easy to twitch your foot and shoot over 30 in a supercar. Maybe illustrates how poorly suited they are to a cramped, ultra-busy city environment. He also really should have seen the Mazda coming - you need to be ridiculously careful driving anywhere in London - though he wasn't the one who was legally required to give way for the other car.

Current-gen Renault Clio. World's slowest and jerkiest automatic gearbox, cramped, jumpy ride, lots of road noise, inoperable satnav, bin-like interior materials, least feel I've ever experienced in wheel and pedals, and an engine that manages to combine loudness, slowness and unimpressive economy. I don't agree with all the Prius bashing, they're certainly in another dimension to that Clio. They're just priced way beyond what they're really worth.

For what it's worth, a lot of now-traditional Lamborghini styling cues began with the Miura. Intakes behind the side windows, sweeping bonnet, slatted rear window, mild curves above each wheel and a big one ahead of the front wheels... not to mention inventing the mid-engined supercar. It's not like the Miura evaporated into history, it's an integral part of every car that rolls off the factory floor.

The R8's priced on another level really, even the base R8 V8 manual is £9k more expensive than the range-topping F-type R coupe. It's a £30k price gap to the V10 - or, to put it another way, an additional third of the top Jag. My opinion - R8 V10's in another league and is an easy choice, but I'd go for the Jag over any Audi that's actually comparable. Great engine, great chassis, great looks.

I can't think of any main Lamborghini model that's never had a facelift or major upgrade. The last one to go without a visual update was the LM002, and even then, that was a (flop) extension of the Cheetah program. I'd be shocked if the base Aventador of three years' time is an LP700. Just a question of how short the cycle is - the standard under Audi has been 10 years with an update at 5, but people seem to expect shorter.

Well both Audi AG and Volkswagen AG release publicly available annual reports which detail the # built (and one of them also lists # customer deliveries), which is where I get my records from. Audi has a neat list of them here, but you'll need to use Google to find the older Volkswagen ones. The latest one's available here, it only came out yesterday. Anyway, if you're interested, I've attached the notes I've aggregated from the official reports. (I normally keep it in .txt format, but the attachments system garbled it up.) Lamborghini_info.doc

Also, if anyone cares, here's how the Aventador's shaping up: 2011: 447 coupes 2012: 958 coupes 18 roadsters 2013: 710 coupes 403 roadsters Compared to the Murcielago: 2001: 65 coupes 2002: 442 coupes 2003: 424 coupes 2004: 304 coupes 80 roadsters 2005: 230 coupes 234 roadsters Compared to the Gallardo: 2003: 933 coupes 2004: 1294 coupes 2005: 947 coupes 25 spyders 2006: 626 coupes 1025 spyders

Yup, it was at least 2000, and I dimly remember hearing it could cope with a little more than that (2500 iirc). 1,951 Gallardos were made in its best year (2007) and two other years came within 15% of that. Cheers for the Huracan info, by the way!

Curious. The Gallardo line was designed to cope with 2,000-odd cars a year, I wonder how many sales they're expecting.

100 new employees, expanding of facilities? Wonder if they're gearing up for the Urus.

Well they certainly got into that back in the day. Couldn't find much that was faster or more expensive than a Miura or early Countach. I do wonder what the Aventador's ridiculous success will mean for the company's future. Might open some options that a £150k/1200-per-year and £200k/450-per-year company simply couldn't justify.

Seats look stunning, congrats.

Nope, not mine. I'm obsessively into soundproofing my PCs, I imagine the noise in that little thing would drive me nuts. Looks like a 1:12 model to me, but skimming the front page build log, I'm not sure the guy even knows. He refers to it as a "cool junk toy"...

Hey, if you have shares in Durex, you need to make sure your fellow shoppers don't buy Trojans.

The only Diablos I like are the SE30, GT and 6.0. Words cannot convey the degree to which I hate the Countach's wing. I think the 5.0 coupe is the best-looking Gallardo. Two-tone exteriors bring me out in a brain rash. This also counts for the unpainted CF addenda on recent lightweight Lambos. I want a heavily restored Espada more than any other Lamborghini, and possibly any other car. I haven't yet gotten round to booking a psychiatrist. Much prefer hybrid tech to turbos, but not convinced about EV sports cars. I don't like V8s. On the road, I greatly prefer grip and neutrality to oversteer and driftiness. Enjoy your hedge, XKR-S drivers. Bentleys are soulless. Kind of like the 03-11 Continental GT's exterior styling though. My favourite E-type is the V12. I've been known to discount car options purely on the basis of their satnav quality. I don't like most German cars, but have a weird attraction to Lexus. I secretly love Mustangs. Modern Mustangs. Michael Schumacher made me hate Ferrari. I only recently discovered that "separate" is not spelt "seperate". In any country.

Remember that Asus Lamborghini laptop? It's for noobs. Here's how it's really done. Build log here.

I'd love to see the C7, Mustang, Quattroporte and Model S 'reviewed' too, but none of them have been launched over here yet (aside from the Maser), or have a strong import market. I imagine they'll get around to them.

Worthless episode in my opinion, the only thing I enjoyed was the music. The cars themselves were devoid either of interest or fun factors. Am I right in remembering that they didn't actually have a road test?