Apocalypto!

MANILA, Philippines - Lamborghini has a very nice video of their hottest, fastest bull. Alone on a highway, shot in heavily de-saturated film, the Aventador speeds towards growing cracks in the road. Straight out of 2012, the cracks widen into yawning crevices just waiting to gobble up the car. Yet the car skillfully sidesteps each one, zooming along at what must be 300+ km/h, outracing the rapidly crumbling road behind it. For the climax a gathering storm cloud blocks the Lamborghini’s path. A blip of the throttle, akin to a bull’s scraping its hoofs before the final charge, and the car shoots like an arrow into the heart of the cloud, whipping up its own fury inside it before the dust finally settles and only one unstoppable force is left standing.

Dramatic? Let’s just say if the world ends tomorrow, there’s only one car I’d like to be in.

For all but the most jaded supercar fans, Lamborghini has been the quintessential supercar. I am of the generation that put posters of the Countach on my bedroom wall. Even before I understood what was the difference between a header and a Webber I already knew that a Lamborghini was a very fast car. Now, one could argue that there are many, many other fast cars, but there was just something about the Countach’s angular body, its flat-pane windows, those scissors-type doors, that seemed so futuristic for its day, like the star of its own sci-fi movie. Actually, if I could drive a Countach today I’d be over the moon.

Instead, Lamborghini lent me the keys to an Aventador for a few laps around the track, and I was happier than a kid in a candy store. The Aventador has so much going for it that it’s easy to get overwhelmed by all the numbers: 690 horsepower. 510 pound-feet of torque. 0 to 100 km/h in 2.9 seconds. Add another 6 seconds and it’ll be hitting 200 km/h! A top speed of 350 km/h. All this from a 6.5-liter V12, mated to a 7-speed single-clutch automated manual with Independent Shifting Rods, driving down the power through all four, 20-inch tires. The naturally aspirated V12 is such a precisely engineered powerplant that the ECU must perform half a billion operations per second to get everything working in harmony.

Like I said, overwhelming.

But wait, there’s more: it is the first of its kind to use a carbon fiber cockpit. It’s not just a tub, either. The entire shell includes the pillars and roof, creating a super stiff, lightweight structure that rivals the engineering of a Formula One car. The carbon fiber shell isn’t outsourced either, as Lamborghini proudly lays claim to building the entire unit at its plant in Sant’Agata Bolognese, Italy. Seen without its sleek body, the CF shell with its humongous tires, midships-mounted engine, and titanium cross braced subframes looks like the bastard son of an F-117 fighter jet and the Batmobile.

More F1-inspired stuff comes in the form of pushrod suspension for superlative handling. The cockpit may as well have been lifted from a stealth plane with TFT gauges, multiple banks of switches and buttons, and an Engine Start/Stop button concealed by a red safety cover. There are so many fighter plane cues in this car you sort of think you’ll need a wingman every time you sortie.

Then it was time to dance with the devil.

After I smoothly got into the bucket seat without banging my head on the low roof, I familiarized myself with the controls. The steering wheel is nice and fat, and the paddle shifters are fixed onto the steering column. The driving position was actually quite comfortable, with an almost panoramic view out except for a virtually non-existent rear view. Sitting just a few inches above the ground it takes awhile to get used to feeling the road rumbling so close to your butt, but then the music drumming forth from that V12 just behind your head takes up just about all your attention!

Lamborghini took pains to tune the exhaust note, and the result is a melodious, rising symphony of valves, cylinders, camshafts and who-knows-what-else-is-back-there that gets even more delicious as you approach the 8,250 RPM redline. Mozart couldn’t have composed it better. From outside the car, however, it’s positively intimidating. It’s not the high-pitched scream of a Ferrari but more like the overwhelming roar of a WW2 fighter plane coming by for a strafing run. I guess Signor Feruccio really wanted to one-up the competition back then, and the Aventador continues that tradition.

Driving the car fast is surprisingly easier than one might expect given the potential of all that power to make you go anywhere but your desired trajectory. With all-wheel drive and the engine computer set to “Strada” (“Road”), throttle and shift response are fast but not race car-quick. Steering feel and turn-in is predictably go kart-like, and the super low driving position and panoramic view make it easy to aim the car where you want to go. The V12 revs very quickly, such that if you insist on doing the shifting with the paddle shifters your hands will be quite busy. Acceleration is blisteringly fast even with the somewhat delayed response of the shifting in “Strada” mode. I’m inclined to believe Lamborghini’s acceleration figures; on the straights and from a rolling start of around 30 km/h I hit 220 in just a few seconds before it was time to hit the huge disk brakes and set up for the next corner. With the computer smoothly dialing back power to the tires at the onset of slippage I never felt terrified of spinning out, and anyway the car’s perfect weight balance and all-wheel drive make it a very nimble handler that’s never struggling with the transition between understeer and oversteer.

Ride quality on the track was surprisingly good considering the thumb-width profile of the 20-inch tires and the race car-like suspension setup. Of course, on subpar public roads it may well be a different experience!

But who cares about that? Lamborghini’s claim that they’ve made a supercar from the future and brought it to the present day isn’t that big a stretch. It’s the automotive equivalent of the F-22 Raptor facing off against a squadron of Mig-29s; performance so overwhelming that the game might well be over before it’s even started. About the only feature missing is stealth technology to defeat all those radar speed guns, but maybe they’ll have that in a few more years.

The Lamborghini Aventador will be available in the Philippines soon via its official importer/distributor PGA Automobile, Inc. Watch out for it!