Lamborghini Houston Unveils Aventador S
TeamSpeed gets an up-close look at newest version of Lambo supercar, which hits U.S. showrooms in June.
When the door of a Lamborghini Aventador is up, its side mirror reflects the sky — “the limit,” according to the popular phrase. That seems to be the only upper bound for people who can afford cars like the Lamborghini Aventador S. TeamSpeed joined many of them at a recent unveiling of the new raging bull at Lamborghini Houston on March 25.
Before Lamborghini Houston’s general manager, Zack Lawrence, pulled the silky black cover off of the latest in a long line of Lamborghini S-badged models, he answered some questions for TeamSpeed. Apparently, only the sky is his limit, too.
Lawrence’s automotive career began in car audio then progressed to car sales. After selling cars from various brands, he graduated to Lamborghini sales, a lofty position in which he’s able — actually, required — to drive Lambos all over the world. He says that the standard Aventador feels like a large car, one he had to use two hands to push where he wanted it to go.
By the end of the evening, Lamborghini Houston expected its pre-orders for the $417,650 Aventador S to increase by five or more.
The Aventador S is more agile and refined than its predecessor thanks to two things: Lamborghini Dynamic Steering, and its new four-wheel steering system (a production Lamborghini first), which helps to reduce the Aventador S’ wheelbase at low speeds and extend it at high speeds. Compared to the Aventador, the S is a “point-and-shoot” machine that “can be driven with one hand on the wheel,” according to Lawrence, who drove the improved model on a wet track in Spain. Lamborghini calls it “The Icon Reborn.” But, Lawrence, with unshakable conviction forged by experience, simply calls it “a confidence booster” that “makes an average driver a better driver.”
However, none of the people in the backroom of the Lamborghini Houston dealership were going to be able to drive the Aventador S that evening. It was going to have to impress them with just its looks. Lawrence had a feeling it would do just that with the help of its Giallo Evros paint, eye-catching front-end design, and available center-lock wheels. By the end of the evening, he expected his handful of pre-orders for the $417,650 Aventador S to increase by five or more.
After a short speech and video presentation, Lawrence removed the dark shroud from the night’s main attraction. Its restyled front end looked sharp and ready to cut the air into gusts that would more efficiently cool the tweaked V12 and radiators. A large diffuser flanked the three-pipe exhaust outlet. The number of pipes might have been odd, but the sound cannon they fit inside looked perfectly normal on a bright yellow Lamborghini.
With the flip of a red cover and the push of a button, Lawrence fired that cannon, filling the room with the sound of anger, a digi-mechanical warning about rousing the big bull from its sleep. With each subsequent jab of the right pedal, the enhanced 740-horsepower/507-lb-ft 6.5-liter V12 stabbed at everyone’s ears with sharp, raspy sonic daggers, exacting its revenge for Lawrence’s aggressive right foot and everyone else’s gleeful acceptance and encouragement of its attacks.
For the next several minutes, the air was thick with the smell of exhaust. In that fog, I did my best impression of a circus contortionist to fit inside the Aventador S’ cockpit: stand parallel to the car with my back to it, bend in half at the waist, put my rear end in the driver’s seat, duck my head, and pull in my legs, being careful to not hit the scissor door or scrape the sill with one of my shoes. There was just enough headroom in the roof carve-out above my head to fit all 5 feet and 10 inches of me. The prominent center gear indicator/tachometer showed that the Strada drive mode was engaged, which meant the Aventador S’ various systems were set up for comfort and daily driving, and that torque was split 40/60 front/rear.
Changing to Sport mode would’ve made the all-wheel-drive S behave more like a rear-wheel-drive machine by sending up to 90 percent of the engine’s torque to the back rubber. Corsa was available for all-out track blitzes. For the Aventador S, Lamborghini has added a new setting: Ego. “This provides several additional and individual set-up profiles, customizable by the driver, selecting his preferred criteria for traction, steering and suspension within the Strada, Sport and Corsa settings,” according to the company.
Apple CarPlay is standard tech on the Aventador S, but after the wonderful auditory violence I’d heard a few minutes earlier, I had no interest in using it to play a song.
Lawrence mentions that the first Aventador S customer deliveries will start rolling out in the U.S. in June. In the meantime, we’ll try to get access to Lamborghini’s press vehicle fleet. The sky above may be the limit when an Aventador’s door is up, but we want to tell you what it’s like to pull it down and charge toward the horizon ahead.
Chime in with your thoughts on the forum. >>
