- Doors and Seats
2 doors, 2 seats
- Engine
6.5i, 12 cyl.
- Engine Power
471kW, 660Nm
- Fuel
Petrol 21.3L/100KM
- Manufacturer
4WD
- Transmission
Manual
- Warranty
NA
- Ancap Safety
NA
Lamborghini Murcielago Review
Before I start, we took lots of photos and you can find them in the Lamborghini Murcielago Gallery. Also there is a Video of the car on the 2nd page.
Before Anthony writes up the Road Test on this beast, I decided to write a less technical article from a car enthusiasts point of view - A day in a Lamborghini Murcielago.
It was 5am in the morning, every single cell in my body begged me to forget everything and sleep for another 2 hours, but alas, I had to get my self to the airport, there was a Lamborghini waiting for me in Sydney.
I had picked my seat away from the wing the day before, knowing that I'd be half asleep on the way so any down time was a bonus, however the bloke next to me had other ideas.
Wearing a Holden Monaro shirt with a mullet that could almost be fashionable and shoes that hadn't been washed in 47 years, I knew he was either a genuine car nut, or a he was going to bore me to death about Holdens and Fords and how a push rod engine is still cutting edge technology.
I had decided to pack Jeremy Clarkson's "On Cars" with me and the second I pulled it out for a quick glance, my Holden loving friend started going on about Top Gear. It was obvious, I wasn't going to get any sleep.
After a 20 minute discussion arguing the finer points of brute force vs handling was sorted out, he asked me the question I was hoping he wouldn't ask. Why you going to Sydney mate?
"Just visiting my folks...", I thought in my head, just say that, then you can sleep, oh but how can you lie when the reality is just so much better?
After about 0.037 seconds of thought, with a massive smile on my face, I told him exactly what it takes for me to get up at 5am in the morning and catch a plane to a city I frankly don't like all that much.
"I am going to Sydney to road test a Lamborghini Murcielago!".
45 mins of car talk ensued and as most people do, the usual questions of "How does one go at getting a job at your work" followed. Sometimes I think to my self, how can you spend your days doing a job you hate, whilst your passion is begging for your attention.
I arrived, finally, said my goodbyes to my new friend and waited outside the terminal, sitting patiently for my ride to arrive. It was a surreal few minutes, it wasn't just sheer excitement, it was madness - I felt like a school girl about to meet Justine Timberlake... and get to spend the day with him.
A few minutes passed and I heard it coming.. all 12 cylinders of raw Italian power roaring towards me, I wish I was lying, but every single person at the terminal stopped in their tracks, as if God had pressed pause, parents forgot about their children, birds fell out of the sky, guide dogs stopped guiding, elderly folks reached for their glasses. Here she comes...
It pulled up next to me and sat there in all its beauty, but my brain was frozen in a fit of sheer esctacy and everything that mattered stopped mattering for a brief second.... I was about to get in a Lamborghini Murcielago... (click here to read more)
I moved slowly towards the passenger door, I pressed the little lever and it popped up, I pulled it up and the scissor doors opened up and I quickly glanced at Anthony who was happily sitting in the drivers seat with a permanent smile on his face (I think he is still smiling).
As I sat (rear end in first) inside the Lamborghini's all leather and carbon fiber interior, my brain was releasing as much excitement hormones as it possibly could. I found a cure for the drug epidemic. It takes a Lamborghini to make you realise just how far mankind has come since the stone age.
Here is a low quality video I took as we fueled up.
All the Global Warming critics need just to take a ride in a car like this to realize that we can suffer sun burn and hotter temperatures if it means cars like the Murcielago continue to exist.
So what do two car nuts do when they have a Lamborghini Murcielago and 9hrs to test it? Head up to the Blue Mountains of course. As we roared away, one thing became clear, God was not on our side, with light drizzle and a cloudy sky, the further up the mountain we went, the worse the weather got, we finally pulled over when the fog made it unsafe to drive.
We took the opportunity to take a few photos. It really doesn't matter where you take this car, or how bad of a photographer you are, it still looks beautiful. I am going to go out on a limb here and say this is the most beautiful car you can buy, admittedly I would buy a different colour (say yellow?) but that wasn't an issue because I don't have ~$700,000 to spare.
Lamborghini were kind, they had given us the best Lamborghini you can buy, the LP640, with Ceramic brakes ($30,000 option). So we had to test it one way or another so the weather wasn't going to deter us, a u-turn and onwards to woollongong.
This is the kind of car that causes accidents, not because its fast, not because its hard to drive, but because drivers takes their eyes of the road to admire the beast. Multiple times during the day we witnessed near accidents when drivers tried to either keep up with is (at legal speeds of course) or spent far to much time drooling on themselves and not watching the car infront.
Speaking of legal speeds, the speedo in the lambo is definitely not license friendly, without a digital speedometer, the Lambo is quite a challenge to keep at legal speeds (a challenge which we overcame...), with read out bars at 60-90-150- and all the way to 360. You just know this car wasn't made for our draconian roads and road rules.
With a top speed of 339km/hr, the Murcielago is the type of car you'd take on European highways where slow (and elderly - or is the same word?) drivers stay in the left lane, where the men in blue are not hiding behind a bush, in a bin with an air hole, where the road doesn't have a 20 degree camber forcing you into a ditch.
Driving the Lamborghini around Sydney felt like talking to Einstein through two paper cups and a string, it had so much more potential, but with no where to truly unwind its legs, the Lamborghini felt like just another car, the sort of car that you could almost drive everyday.
There were some problems however...
Unlike the Pagani Zonda, the Murcielago tends to attract some negative energy (perhaps due to its size and its beautifully evil style), mostly from those who are more concerned about global warming than their own personal hygiene.
There is also the problem that perhaps every supercar driver has to deal with. Every single performance car on the road will want to race, regardless of the situation - there may be 20 police cars in the left lane, but the second car enthusiasts see the Murcielago, they have to know just how much faster is a $700,000 car?
Through out the day, the WRX/STi drivers of Sydney gave us a good show of trying their best to keep up with us. But alas a 2.5/2.0 Litre Turbo against a finely tuned 6.5L V12? The odds are slightly in our favour.
There was also an odd problem (that I am sure you'd get used to after a while) that the cabin has some rather odd reflective properties. When one tries to do a shoulder check before a merge, you instantly feel as though your about to have an accident.
Not only is there no point in shoulder-checking due to lack of visibility, but everytime you try, the reflective properties of the cabin give you a scare as the car next to you looks as though its about to smash into your passenger door. Nevertheless, the sideview mirrors of the Lamborghini are indeed a work of art, as Anthony said on the day, you can almost take them, put them in your living room and admire them over dinner.
But who needs to shoulder-check in a Lamborghini anyway? Not only are the mirrors sufficient, but when the car behind sees a Lamborghini indicating, they nearly pull over in the fear that they might scratch it.
So what about the performance? Surely we didn't take this car for the whole day and spent our time sipping Italian coffee at a trendy cafe admiring the mirrors! I won't go too much into the performance and handling part of the Lambo, I'll leave that for Anthony who is writing up the actual road test in the next few days.
We didn't go to an Italian cafe, that would have been just too cliche, we decided however to see how the McDonalds demographic felt about a Lamborghini in the car park.
It doesn't matter where you go, every young teenager that has enough testosterone to know what your driving will beg you to "spin her up". Of course, being an All Wheel Drive, spinning her up would involve turning off the traction control, and doing a hard launch, not exactly a license friendly maneuver.
So to the specifications:
- Engine 6496 cc V12
- Power 471 kW (633 bhp) at 8000 rpm
- Torque 660 Nm (487 ft lbf) at 6000 rpm
- Top Speed 339 km/h (211 mph)
- 0-100 3.4 s
- 0-200 10.2 s
- 0-300 31.5 s
- Quarter mile ~ 11 seconds
Admittedly, the car doesn't feel that fast, not because its not, but because of the way in which it delivers the power. In the lambo when your body tells you your going 60km/h, in reality its closer to 200km/h. At one stage we became so disorientated with this problem that we had to confirm our speed with other drivers on the highway.
I don't think you can live with this car as an everyday car, it would be insane to imagine yourself leaving this work of art in a shopping centre car park on a thursday night. Not only can it potentially be damaged by brainless citizens, but also you have absolutely no where to put your shopping.
Sure the bonnet opens so you can store roughly 2 shopping bags, but who on earth wants to put a 2 litre bottle of milk and some bread inside a bonnet of a $700,000 car and hear it smash from side to side around every corner?
As for the interior, well, its not exactly a 7 Series BMW.
The leather seats felt fantastic, and the gear stick and the carbon fiber centre console were a delight, however the centre roof compartment gave way as we drove the car, but nothing a bit of sticky tape wouldn't fix.
The driving position is a little cramped, this surely is not a car for the weight-challenged members of society, I was finding it a tad uncomfortable behind the wheel, and I am only 180cms tall. Speaking of the steering wheel, the suede covered wheel, was a highlight of the whole car. Giving the car that "racing" feeling, it still felt unbelievably comfortable to hold.
The stereo system is a let down with the Kenwood head unit being a pain to use and the speakers, well, nothing to write home about. Even so I can only imagine of one instance where you would even consider turning the stereo on, when you have a lady in the car.
The Lamborghini Murcielago has the lowest fuel economy of ANY new car sold this year (US Government Stats). Before I drove this car I might have thought that was a big deal, but having spent the greater part of a $100 to fill up when the car was half full (100L fuel tank), the issue is irrelevant, if you can afford this car, you can afford the fuel.
If your interested in purchasing the Murcielago, contact Lamborghini Australia.
There was a time when Ferraris might have occupied the walls of young teenagers, however these days, the Murcielago takes centre stage as the most beautiful and one of the most powerful cars money can buy. If you buy this car, you are not just buying a Lamborghini Murcielago, you are buying a piece of engineering genius that has taken mankind thousands of years to perfect.
A day in a Lamborghini Murcielago?
If the devil had created a car to take over the world, this would be it.
By Alborz Fallah