aventador test drive

*thanks to Nath4n for saving a copy of the review pre-lambopowerocalypse

 

First test drive.

 

Okay, so a preface to what I'm about to write about. I've been a 2010 458 owner for about a year, with a history before that with a 2009 Porsche 911 Targa, and somewhat recently a 2011 Maserati GTS. I've had a chance to drive a variety of other cars for spans of a few days to a few weeks each, thanks to a number of well-heeled car enthusiast neighbors. My dream car is one that I can rip down an open road in, with an engine breathing fire down the back of my neck, and with little fuss turn into a peaceful cruiser that my girlfriend can sleep in (that's all she does in the car…) over long stretches. Nowadays there are plenty of cars that somewhat fit this bill, however you'll learn more of what I mean in detail with the rest of this write up.

 

I got an invitation some time ago to take the LP700 for a spin on a race track down near Newport Beach, however I was out of the country at the time, and as fun as it would be to drop by for the event, it wasn't worth 15 hours of flight time each way so I passed on it. A few days ago I received a second email with news that the dealership had a demo Aventador in for a few weeks at least and that I could stop by for a test drive any time. With another 'bout of very busy scheduling no more than a week away, I decided to hop on a plane down and take it for a spin.

 

Now, I'm a firm believer of "priming" having some element of control in one's experience of something. In this particular case, I had been primed with all sorts of reviews, videos, forum posts, etc. of other people's experiences. Just so you are aware of what was swirling around somewhere in my head, was that I was expecting a car of spectacular acceleration, terribly slow gear shifts not so different from the old Murcielago E-Gear, a corsa mode with upshifts that would cause minor scoliosis in myself and perhaps my progeny as well, and a ride quality worse than a Mini Cooper S. Many of these preconceptions would soon be validated, refuted, or further muddled by my hands on time with the real deal.

 

I had originally planned on doing a road trip down with the 458, however I've been a bit tight on time lately so flying seemed like the more pragmatic option. Due to my affinity towards Virgin America, I landed at an airport an hour away from the dealership, so the first thing I did when I touched down was look for a rental car. Serendipitously, a call to Midway Car Rental revealed a decent deal on a 2010 V8 Vantage Roadster, so after slightly more than the usual paperwork, I was on my way. This seems like an aside, but it is relevant, I promise. It was the first time I had ever spent any real amount of time in a V8 Vantage, and to be honest, it was surprisingly pleasant. The ride was substantially more compliant than my Porsche back home, yet it still had a great deal of sporty goodness in handling, and acceleration. I must admit I was rather disappointed with the exhaust note. It really would only kick in above 4k rpm's and only when I really hammered the pedal down. I understand now why everybody clips fuse 22.

 

Finding the dealership was rather straight forward, and after some cordial hello's, it was time to go for a ride. This had been the first time I had seen one of these in person, and I would have to say I think Arancio Argos is going to be a very popular color. The Aventador that squatted before me was not Arancio Argos. It was matte white. Given the $15k premium on matte colors, and the notoriously difficult maintenance associated with the specialized paint, I was not particularly impressed with how it looked in the metal. I would say it's a reasonably high quality variant of the balloon white that came out years ago, less so the stunning matte white I had witnessed in pictures from Geneva. Nevertheless, the car looked good. I would imagine the car would look good in pretty much any color, which is good news for owners, since from the other Lamborghinis sitting nearby I suspect the Aventador will show up on roads in pretty much every color.

 

So the walkaround checked out, now for the fun. Reaching beneath the scissor door, there is a rubber accordion-like handle. It feels a touch flimsy, not quite as "magical" as the MP4-12C's iPad-like hand swipe door opening mechanism, but once you depress the rubber button, the scissor doors' hydraulics kick in and the door swiftly and gracefully lifts itself into the air. Very cool.

 

The sill is wide, but it's not nearly as difficult to clamber into as the SLS AMG's mile-wide and mile-tall sills, and noticeably better than the almost equally troubling sills of the Murcielago. Entrance and egress from the Aventador will likely be much more elegant than from the old Murcielago. Maybe this time around they won't have to film Bruce Wayne getting out of his car in two separate shots.

 

Once inside you quickly realize that it's not as nice as the 458 Italia. Something about the leather, the shapes, the oddly bulky steering wheel (do they not know how to pack an airbag properly?) makes you think "maybe I should be buying some AAPL instead), but after getting settled in and clicking around the controls a bit, you realize that everything is quite professionally sewn/glue/screwed together, and there's not much to complain about. The seats too, are a bit softer and more comfortable than the 458's (for those 458 owners out there who carry their wallets in their back pockets, do you take it out every time as I have to?) albeit not nearly as cloud-like as the Aston Martin's (see I told you it was relevant). All the buttons are laid out well, and feel very good at your fingertips, and although the actual center LCD display has a layout reminiscent of an Audi, the package as a whole feels reasonably bespoke.

 

The uber dramatic jet fighter start button isn't really all that ridiculous and over-the-top as everybody claims. It's no more strange or melodramatic as the center console push button starter of post-2009 Aston Martins (see, and I'm just getting started…). The engine start revs don't seem very over the top either. In fact, I almost wish it revved the engine a little harder so as to not leave that "porsche-esque" trace of a raspy after-howl. At this point in time, I'm starting to be a bit concerned that the whole darn machine is not going to be sufficiently over the top.

 

As we pull out of the driveway, the first thing I realize is how complacent the car is. In strada mode, they've certainly sorted out any sort of jumpy behavior. It feels as if the engine is simply pushing along a very heavy boulder, versus the feel when starting in a 458, which is more like a cart being hauled forward by a big horse. I would say in general, this is not a good thing. What is a good thing though is how ridiculously comfortable the ride is. I'm not sure whether that british looking fellow from that one magazine was saying when he said that the car does everything well, but ride well, because at this point I am honestly stunned by how smooth the car is at low speeds. I literally had just come cruising in on the same road in the Aston Martin V8 Vantage, which was arguably more comfortable than my 458 Italia with magnaride on, which is certainly more comfortable than my Porsche 911, which is significantly more comfortable than my old Mini Cooper S, and this 691hp V-12 beast of a machine that pulled off a Top Gear lap time lower than a Bugatti Veyron SS and supposedly rips from 0-60 in under 3 seconds feels almost as comfortable as my Maserati GTS. It's really quite ridiculous. And it does all of this without any weird magnetic fluids, or adaptive dampers, or whatever. The push-rod suspension, whatever the heck it is, is certainly doing a damn good job of eating up bumps.

 

The next thing I notice as we pull away from the first stop light, is the gear shift. Wow is it slow. I was just pulling paddles in a 2010 AMV8 (again there it is), and these gear shifts are only marginally faster. The dealer tells me these are supposed to be 120ms. They feel more like a quarter of a second, or maybe even half a second. 120ms my ass. I press the pedal down, expecting whiplash from the amazing acceleration, and the beast of a car just sort of trundles forward. It's quick, for sure, but somehow completely devoid of any sort of urgency. If I had done this in a GT-R or even a 458, my heart would be beating faster, and the steering wheel moist. The steering wheel is still moist, but more from my nervousness at how wide the car is on the road.

 

Whether it was a visible reaction of disappointment, or otherwise, the dealer quickly popped the car into sport, and everything changed. This wasn't just the Ferrari "race" mode, which, as far as I can tell does absolutely nothing except make the exhaust louder, but this is a real change in throttle response. All of a sudden pushing the pedal down made the virtual rpm needle race towards redline. Once again an immediate comparison in my head occurs between the LP700 and the 458. In the 458, I would be utterly afraid of flooring it while changing lanes - it's just too easy for the tail to break loose - but the Aventador latches onto the ground like it's duct taped to the gravel. Pedal to the floor, the car slices through traffic like a spoon through argentinian steak - not all that quickly, but given what I'm working with, amazing. It's reminiscent of my four wheel drive Porsche Targa, no fear at all of things getting hairy, and my confidence builds. At the next light before the onramp, I floor it and look closely at the tach for redline. In the time it takes me to change my view from the tachometer to the windshield and back, I'm going 80. Fortunately this is socal, and at this speed a minivan filled with kids' faces pressed to the window passes me on the right. I look to the relatively small rear view, and the bottom half of the 8 vertical inches I have to see out of gets obscured by the rising spoiler. I tug the left paddle twice, and now the dealer seems to have gained some confidence in my driving comfort and clicks the car into corsa. "You're on your own now." I vaguely remember something about "no rev limiter" in corsa mode, which is likely what he was referring to.

 

I tap the brakes to give myself a little runway, more minivans and priuses zooming by me, and then drop the hammer. Unlike the 458, which annoyingly blows its exhaust flaps open and closed every time you goose the throttle, loud/soft/loud/soft/on/off/on/off/blaaaat/pshh/blaaat/pshhafjskl;e dyyou get where I'm going with this, the Aventador's exhausts start from a low grumble and quickly climb to a shriek. The windows are down, the engine is roaring, and I pull the right paddle.

 

… and the world doesn't end. Once again I'm confused. I had assumed up until this point, that I should be bracing myself to receive a wallop to the back of my head and back that would leave bruises, but the upshift is simply a lightning fast *thump* accompanying a noticeable hiccup in my seat. I pull the paddle again, 8000 rpms, and again a rapid thump, accompanying an aggressive nudge. I don't know what the hubbub has been about. The 458's high rev gear shifts are probably a bit sharper and more painful than that of the Aventador, albeit less overall movement. Perhaps it's that I'm a bit younger than the average exotic car reviewer, and therefore have a more resilient spine, but I am quite pleased with the result. I fully plan on driving this thing in corsa mode all the time, whatever that means for my maintenance intervals. Through this cloud of idle bemusement, I can hear the dealer saying something. It's hard to hear him over the engine howl, and the wind pummeling my face through the open windows. I look to my right and that minivan that overtook me a mile earlier goes flashing by in the other direction. Oh right, speed limit, yeah.

 

The carbon ceramic brakes shave off maybe 50 mph in literally an instant. It's somewhat absurd how powerful they are, and they aren't even warmed up. Thank goodness too, because as we shriek by the next onramp, an officer of the law comes cruising onto the highway. He gives us the thumbs up.

 

The rest of the test drive slows down, as we're passing by some fancy golf course where apparently a great deal of law enforcement occurs. It's during this part of the trip that I settle back in to the rather comfortable driver's seat, and enjoy the obscenely comfortable ride of the car. Things are quiet, calm, and collected on the inside. It's nearly as comfortable as my Maserati, can be as insane as the 458, and as safe as the Porsche. Children are screaming and pointing at us on the outside. I know what it's like to be Justin Bieber.

 

So the final verdict? Long story short, I'm not willing to trade in my 458 to buy it, but I'm also not willing to not buy it so I can keep my 458. Time to sell some stock.

Thanks for the wonderful awesome review. Really applies to me as I have been living with a 458 and GTR for sometimes and just traded the 458 for the Aventador. Thanks for the wondeful review. It is definately much less biased then the other craps some reviewers put out. Btw, how do you find the car on an emotional/adrenaline level thats has everyone talking about? 458 has been termed emotionless on Fchat as comapred to pass Fezzas, so how to you rate the 458 to the Aventador in this regard?

Thanks for the wonderful awesome review. Really applies to me as I have been living with a 458 and GTR for sometimes and just traded the 458 for the Aventador. Thanks for the wondeful review. It is definately much less biased then the other craps some reviewers put out. Btw, how do you find the car on an emotional/adrenaline level thats has everyone talking about? 458 has been termed emotionless on Fchat as comapred to pass Fezzas, so how to you rate the 458 to the Aventador in this regard?

 

I'm going to have to start with the exhaust note on this. You know, I drove an F430 for about a month a little while ago, and I get what people meant about the 458. In the F430, the exhaust note sounds very raw. It's sound isn't really a singular sound, but a whole bunch of different noises that sort of come together into this animalistic roar. The 458 on the other hand has a very synthetic sound. The motor sounds extremely refined as if everything going on inside it is very controlled. Relative to the F430 even the burbles on the overrun of the 458 sound contrived.

 

The LP700 is rather unique in this regard. It seems at first just as synthetic and refined as that of the 458, but when you have the windows down, you can hear all sorts of interesting noises that are pretty awesome. When you accelerate flat out, you just hear that shriek that is pretty accurately reflected in the top gear videos (for some reason none of the other video reviews I've seen accurate reproduce the exhaust note). However when you're accelerating in various middle ranges, the engine makes these crazy sounds that are somewhat fleeting. I was turning a corner and as the normal exhaust note sounded, when I let off the throttle, there was this super high pitched tone that sounded like something that a spaceship out of a sci fi movie would make. On the overrun, you get the same sort of burble sound that comes out of most sports cars, but it's overlayed by multiple layers of synthetic/organic tones. In some ways it reminded me of those monks that can hum two notes at the same time. Creepy, in a good way.

 

The interesting part is that most of these sounds you really only can hear when you're listening to the car in person. Most of the subtleties get lost when shunted through youtube videos. The 458 sounds exactly as it does in videos, however the LP700 does not. It's cool since, as owners, we will get to experience it and there's a value add in actually owning the thing versus watching it on videos. So, on the exhaust note, I think the LP700 has a lot more depth and organic-ness than the 458 does. I don't know if you've had a chance to hear one in person, but you really have to check it out, and also make sure its warmed up and really getting revved near redline.

 

In terms of the drive, there's a much bigger shock factor when you're flooring it at high revs with the LP700 than in the 458, and because of the sheer grip, you feel like you can really push the Lambo on the street, whereas I'm always scared of flooring the 458 since the tail always slips wide. It's a different kind of emotion. In the Aventador I feel like I can get really aggressive and the g-forces are just obscene. In corsa mode, pulling the paddles gives you a jolt, just enough to put a smile on your face. It adds to that sense of terror as you're accelerating, and then shifting and your whole body gets shifted around, whereas in the 458 high speed shifts feel, once again, controlled. In the 458 I feel more like I need to control myself although it can be fun to do mini-drifts in the corners, whereas in the LP700 I feel like I can really let loose and that chaos is happening all around me with the added mental security of feeling glued to the ground. It really depends on what you prefer.

Thanks for the wonderful awesome review. Really applies to me as I have been living with a 458 and GTR for sometimes and just traded the 458 for the Aventador. Thanks for the wondeful review. It is definately much less biased then the other craps some reviewers put out. Btw, how do you find the car on an emotional/adrenaline level thats has everyone talking about? 458 has been termed emotionless on Fchat as comapred to pass Fezzas, so how to you rate the 458 to the Aventador in this regard?

 

I'll add that I doubt you'll regret trading the 458 for the Aventador. Honestly, and hopefully you know what I mean by this, the 458's exhaust note is essentially a "buzzing" sound when you hear it from inside the car. I'm not sure how long you've owned your 458, but after a year of regular driving I have more or less gotten used to the speed. One thing I might add, is that when I had a GTR for some time, the only reason I ever drove it was for the shock of the sheer speed of the thing. Everything else I disliked about it. It was huge, hard to park, mechanically noisy at low speeds, had a suspension like a go-kart, and after a short while developed a lot of rattles like it was going to fall apart. But I put up with it because of how fast it was. Nothing else gave me quite the rush (except for the 2010 Turbo S). With the Aventador, you won't need the GTR for its speed anymore. There's literally nothing the GTR can do that the Aventador can't do substantially better, except go around unnoticed. Then again, I imagine that's why you are keeping it around:P

*thanks to Nath4n for saving a copy of the review pre-lambopowerocalypse

 

great write up, phoenix. i'm glad it didn't get lost in the forum crash.

so, what specs do you have in mind for your Aventador?

Great writeup! I enjoyed reading your comparisons with the gtr and 458.

 

I have an aventador on order and im worried that it wont be as fun to drive as the 458. The f car being rwd and having the dual clutch transmision, but after reading your review it seems that the gearbox adds some character to the lambo!

 

I got to rev the car last december but never got a chance to drive it, cant wait for the dealer demo to arrive.

The interesting part is that most of these sounds you really only can hear when you're listening to the car in person. Most of the subtleties get lost when shunted through youtube videos. The 458 sounds exactly as it does in videos, however the LP700 does not. It's cool since, as owners, we will get to experience it and there's a value add in actually owning the thing versus watching it on videos. So, on the exhaust note, I think the LP700 has a lot more depth and organic-ness than the 458 does. I don't know if you've had a chance to hear one in person, but you really have to check it out, and also make sure its warmed up and really getting revved near redline.

 

This is exactly my experience. When I posted the first startup of the Aventador during my secret mission in March recorded on the iPhone, the sound was just not captured well. It seems to defy recording. When I drove the car last week, there was a whole different experience. Phoenix is right... most of the subtleties of this exhaust seems to get lost in videos and certainly the reviewers don't talk about it. There are tones and pleasant growls that you just have to sit in it to really appreciate. At mid- and high RPM, it seems like a whole other set of tones come alive. I have listened to the video I am not editing from my test drive, and they just don't to justice to it.

 

Anyway, back to editing. And BTW, greetings from the Emerald Isle. Munich later this week and hopefully an Aventador on the Autobahn. Wish me luck!

 

Really great review. The comparisons between the 458 and Maserati are very helpful. Thanks!

 

I listened to an Aventador start yesterday and I thought it sounded good--but highly unusual. To me it sounded like almost a higher pitched sound and like the engine was gasping for its first breaths back to life. To me it sounded very exotic and like no other start I had heard.

Phoenix, your thoughts on the GTR and 458 are spot on. I traded the 458 for the Aventador as I thought it would be a duplicate of what the 458 can do in every respect though only better. Your unbias review proves I may be right after all. Not getting into a bias review here is VERY important since many owners are still very much attached to their current cars such as LP670SV or 458s until their possible new Aventador arrives. Like some forum regulars said, once these owners get their new Aventador in their garage, they may very well do a 180 degree turn and say this car is the creame of crop among all others. I kept my GTR because I've spent much effort into tuning and modification. It no longer has the refinement nor ease of drivability compare to the stock car. The car is pushing 1150whp as of this moment with 4.2l stroked engine and huge precision turbos. So that was never a comparison anymore. You could still daily drives it since its such an easy car to drive, even at such power thought I totally agree with what you said regarding the car, it rattles like shit and sometimes you would be embarass its a 100k car.

 

Regardless, thanks for the great write up and you just made a lot of us even more eager to receive our car anytime soon. Regarding the exhaust note, nothing a Tubi/Akrapovic/Larini couldn't solve

Excellent review! I really enjoyed reading it and I'm looking forward to seeing one in the flesh.

 

BTW Sounds like the Aventador might be a perfect fit for Swil!

thanks for your writings

 

ciao

 

GREAT write up !!

Excellent review!

Great review!...Thanks for the great write-up!

Great writeup!

Fantastic writeup.

 

Felt like I was reading a car magazine. Very rarely do I compliment someone on their grammar, but it was a pleasure reading that.

Thanks for the great writeup!

Nice writeup!