2003
Terminator 3
12-28-2002, 12:21 AM
By Albert Hall
On Sale: Now
Expected Pricing: $270,000
Lamborghinis have always been the meanest of the exotic sports cars. With its wild styling, the Lamborghini Countach was the poster car for every teenage boy in the 1970s and its successor, the Diablo, looked just as mean.
Gaze at the new Lamborghini Murcielago and the thoughts flow something like this: "Wow. Sexy, almost sinister. Probably does 200. Expensive." This first impression is accurate: It does do 200. It is expensive. It certainly looks sexy and sinister. Nothing else matters beyond that.
These same impressions apply to exotic cars from Ferrari and Porsche. Even the Dodge Viper lays some claim to this. Yet Lamborghini cars have always been a bit more extreme, a bit angrier, screaming "get the hell out of my way" just a little louder. In the past, there was a price for that angry streak, beyond the stratospheric window sticker. The Lamborghini Diablo, the Murcielago's predecessor, was mean. It was also the least polished, most finicky and most difficult in a group of cars not known to be particularly user friendly.
So in that sense the Murcielago truly is new. Thanks to serious investment from its new parent company, Volkswagen-Audi, Lamborghini has pulled its flagship sports car into the 21st century with a host of, dare we say, refinements.
Don't get the wrong idea. Automobili Lamborghini's logo is a snorting, raging bull, which offers a nice impression of what its cars are supposed to be. Indeed, the newest Lambo is named for a bull. In 1879, the matador Rafael spared his opponent after an epic fight in Cordoba, an honor reserved only for the most courageous and spirited beasts. That bull was named Murcielago, the Spanish word for bat, and went on to sire one of the most formidable lines of fighting bulls in Spain.
The two-seat, mid-engine Murcielago has all the high-performance hardware exotic-car enthusiasts expect. Its frame is fashioned from light-alloy steel tubing, braced with sections of carbon fiber and finished with carbon-fiber body panels. It has Lamborghini's trademark front-hinged gullwing doors. Its 6.2-liter V12 is one the most powerful production car engines available in the United States, producing 575 horsepower at 7500 rpm and 480 pounds-feet of torque at 5400.
Murcielago features the viscous-coupled all-wheel-drive system developed for the Diablo (the Diablo was also offered with standard rear-wheel-drive; not so Murcielago). This system shifts engine power to the wheels with the most grip to maximize traction. Murcielago has a classic, all-wishbone race-car style suspension to maximize tire contact and road holding in all conditions. Its huge four-wheel disc brakes are squeezed by four pistons in each caliper. We expect such things in so-called supercars.
What we don't expect in Lamborghinis is technology intended to soothe the raging bull. The Murcielago is the first Lambo equipped with a six-speed manual transmission, featuring improved synchronizers that make it much easier to shift. The beastly V12 has variable intake system and variable valve timing, so it delivers all that torque over a broad range of engine speeds and doesn't want to stall at idle.
The Murcielago's shock absorbers are electronically controlled, and can be adjusted automatically or manually for an appropriate balance of road-holding and straight-line stability. It features active aerodynamics and something Lamborghini calls VACS (for Variable Air-Flow Cooling System). The rake of rear spoiler changes with road speed, and the radiator-feeding vents at the rear of the car open and close, depending on engine and ambient temperature, to maintain proper cooling while maximizing aerodynamic efficiency. The body and frame were developed on a supercomputer for industry-leading rigidity.
In the past, Lamborghini wasn't big on features not specifically geared toward going fast. But the Murcielago makes ergonomic concessions that increase interior space and improve access. Its doors open wider than the Diablos and the sills are lower, making the act of climbing in less an acrobatic feat. Its footwells are larger, so a passenger's feet aren't squeezed so tightly and the driver has no trouble telling which pedal is which. Murcielago has more shoulder room than Diablo. It offers several storage cubbies. There's even an optional satellite-guided navigation system, but don't try to punch in destinations while driving this angry bull.
Of course, the Murcielago is fast. To make the point, Lamborghini ran one at 200 mph for 176 consecutive miles in February 2002, setting three production-car speed records in the process. Murcielago's 0-60 mph acceleration capability, expected at 3.5 seconds, should make it the quickest car offered in the United States.
Of course, Lambos don't come cheap: The Murcielago retails at $270,000 in the States. That's $44,000 more than it�¢??s most direct competitor, the Ferrari 575M. Special paint adds $2,500. A two-tone interior adds another $1,875. The factory will match just about any color you can show it for an additional $5,000. From its annual production of 400, Lamborghini expects to deliver 120 Murcielagos in the United States. It's being introduced as a 2002 model. The Murcielago has been a long time coming, and the infusion of VW cash that finally allowed Lamborghini to replace the 12-year-old Diablo should also add an element of security when it comes to owner support and dealer service.
Every car in this class is fast. For most shopping this market, the choice probably comes down to the image projected, or whether the manufacturer's values match the buyer's. If you prefer the hairy-chested king of impressionist cars, Lamborghini could be your choice. The Murcielago should simply make the choice easier to live with.
On Sale: Now
Expected Pricing: $270,000
Lamborghinis have always been the meanest of the exotic sports cars. With its wild styling, the Lamborghini Countach was the poster car for every teenage boy in the 1970s and its successor, the Diablo, looked just as mean.
Gaze at the new Lamborghini Murcielago and the thoughts flow something like this: "Wow. Sexy, almost sinister. Probably does 200. Expensive." This first impression is accurate: It does do 200. It is expensive. It certainly looks sexy and sinister. Nothing else matters beyond that.
These same impressions apply to exotic cars from Ferrari and Porsche. Even the Dodge Viper lays some claim to this. Yet Lamborghini cars have always been a bit more extreme, a bit angrier, screaming "get the hell out of my way" just a little louder. In the past, there was a price for that angry streak, beyond the stratospheric window sticker. The Lamborghini Diablo, the Murcielago's predecessor, was mean. It was also the least polished, most finicky and most difficult in a group of cars not known to be particularly user friendly.
So in that sense the Murcielago truly is new. Thanks to serious investment from its new parent company, Volkswagen-Audi, Lamborghini has pulled its flagship sports car into the 21st century with a host of, dare we say, refinements.
Don't get the wrong idea. Automobili Lamborghini's logo is a snorting, raging bull, which offers a nice impression of what its cars are supposed to be. Indeed, the newest Lambo is named for a bull. In 1879, the matador Rafael spared his opponent after an epic fight in Cordoba, an honor reserved only for the most courageous and spirited beasts. That bull was named Murcielago, the Spanish word for bat, and went on to sire one of the most formidable lines of fighting bulls in Spain.
The two-seat, mid-engine Murcielago has all the high-performance hardware exotic-car enthusiasts expect. Its frame is fashioned from light-alloy steel tubing, braced with sections of carbon fiber and finished with carbon-fiber body panels. It has Lamborghini's trademark front-hinged gullwing doors. Its 6.2-liter V12 is one the most powerful production car engines available in the United States, producing 575 horsepower at 7500 rpm and 480 pounds-feet of torque at 5400.
Murcielago features the viscous-coupled all-wheel-drive system developed for the Diablo (the Diablo was also offered with standard rear-wheel-drive; not so Murcielago). This system shifts engine power to the wheels with the most grip to maximize traction. Murcielago has a classic, all-wishbone race-car style suspension to maximize tire contact and road holding in all conditions. Its huge four-wheel disc brakes are squeezed by four pistons in each caliper. We expect such things in so-called supercars.
What we don't expect in Lamborghinis is technology intended to soothe the raging bull. The Murcielago is the first Lambo equipped with a six-speed manual transmission, featuring improved synchronizers that make it much easier to shift. The beastly V12 has variable intake system and variable valve timing, so it delivers all that torque over a broad range of engine speeds and doesn't want to stall at idle.
The Murcielago's shock absorbers are electronically controlled, and can be adjusted automatically or manually for an appropriate balance of road-holding and straight-line stability. It features active aerodynamics and something Lamborghini calls VACS (for Variable Air-Flow Cooling System). The rake of rear spoiler changes with road speed, and the radiator-feeding vents at the rear of the car open and close, depending on engine and ambient temperature, to maintain proper cooling while maximizing aerodynamic efficiency. The body and frame were developed on a supercomputer for industry-leading rigidity.
In the past, Lamborghini wasn't big on features not specifically geared toward going fast. But the Murcielago makes ergonomic concessions that increase interior space and improve access. Its doors open wider than the Diablos and the sills are lower, making the act of climbing in less an acrobatic feat. Its footwells are larger, so a passenger's feet aren't squeezed so tightly and the driver has no trouble telling which pedal is which. Murcielago has more shoulder room than Diablo. It offers several storage cubbies. There's even an optional satellite-guided navigation system, but don't try to punch in destinations while driving this angry bull.
Of course, the Murcielago is fast. To make the point, Lamborghini ran one at 200 mph for 176 consecutive miles in February 2002, setting three production-car speed records in the process. Murcielago's 0-60 mph acceleration capability, expected at 3.5 seconds, should make it the quickest car offered in the United States.
Of course, Lambos don't come cheap: The Murcielago retails at $270,000 in the States. That's $44,000 more than it�¢??s most direct competitor, the Ferrari 575M. Special paint adds $2,500. A two-tone interior adds another $1,875. The factory will match just about any color you can show it for an additional $5,000. From its annual production of 400, Lamborghini expects to deliver 120 Murcielagos in the United States. It's being introduced as a 2002 model. The Murcielago has been a long time coming, and the infusion of VW cash that finally allowed Lamborghini to replace the 12-year-old Diablo should also add an element of security when it comes to owner support and dealer service.
Every car in this class is fast. For most shopping this market, the choice probably comes down to the image projected, or whether the manufacturer's values match the buyer's. If you prefer the hairy-chested king of impressionist cars, Lamborghini could be your choice. The Murcielago should simply make the choice easier to live with.
SuPeRcAr_MaN
12-28-2002, 04:06 PM
Damn, that is a long post.
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