Imagine this: you’re taking a holiday around Italy. Rustic back alleys, old buildings, Trattorias making awesome smelling pizza and bread. And then you hear something, the deafening howl similar to an F1 car. You look around and find a bright orange looking car, the glossy paint shining from the sun’s rays, the sexy little curves…… and an egg? There’s one, then there’s a few and then the car is getting pelted with eggs with people shouting “SCREW YOU RICH KID” In Italian.
Nah.. i’m exaggerating but having this car is literally one of the biggest flexes in the world, even more so if you get the SV (SuperVeloce) or the SVJ version. This is the Lamborghini Aventador. A car so good that at the time (2011) Car and Driver claimed this car was “the best car ever” and Motortrend claiming it “probably is the friendliest sports car in the world”. It beat some of the best of the best of sports cars in the Top Gear track with a time of 1 minute 16.5 seconds.
The car comes in many many versions, you have the original Aventador which stopped production in 2016, the Aventador S which is still in production, the SV, the SVJ and the Roadster. There’s way too many models to count so for today I’ll only be covering the base model and the Aventador S. The SV and SVJ deserve separate posts altogether.
What do I think of this car? Is it just a car specifically to show off your status? Or is this super high price tag worth it?
Looks:10/10
This car is by far the most beautiful Lamborghini ever made. Period. The Huracan doesn’t even come close
Overall the Lamborghini Aventador has a sleek streamlined design made for performance. But what Lamborghini got right this time was balancing car performance with looks.
Starting from the back we can already see the signature curves and hexagonal patterns. The small sleek taillights make the car look more ferocious, like a back of a bull ready to gore a matador. It looks beautiful and honestly it grates people if they lose in a race against this. And honestly that’s a feat to do if you have an unmodded car. At high speeds, the groove at the back makes a spoiler pop out to keep the car planted on the ground. This car was one of the first few cars to implement this and since then cars like the McLaren Senna, the Bugatti Veyron and other later Lamborghinis use this.
From the side you can see just how low to the ground the car is. You can see how sleek it is, how it cuts through the air like butter. The designers really did a good job in the aerodynamics sector of the car. You can also see the huge vents sucking in air into the twin turbo V12. They don’t look out of place like the recent Civic Type R with all the fake vents and really blend in well with the design.
Fun fact, the doors; typical of Lamborghini are scissor doors. Not only do they look cool, they save space when parking. Pretty neat.
Moving to the front you can already see the width of this car. I mean, it isn’t called the widest car in the world for nothing. But how is that important? Looks wise you can see from the front, again, just how streamlined it is. It’s also important because of parking, it’s tough to park a very wide car. This combined with the low ride of the car will probably cause some clearance issues. But on the bright side, the extra diffuser on the front generates more downforce for the car to stay planted in addition to that pop-up wing so you can expect massive grip when going fast.
In terms of looks the only big difference between the Aventador LP700 vs the LP740 roadster is that the roadster has a soft top. Neat.
The introduction of the Aventador S added a small carbon fiber wing.
The Aventador and the S have essentially the same interior with some weight saving measures.
One look at the interior and you can already tell Lamborghini wanted that Aston Martin feel to it. It’s racey but at the same time it has the luxurious premium feel to it. The interior, Lamborghini claims, is made of “materials of the highest quality and present an infinite array of possibilities” and it really shows. Personalisation is key when talking about the interior. Not only does Lamborghini pick only the finest of leather when styling the interior, they give the customer various choices in terms of the type of leather and the colour of the overall interior in fact, so this is a plus.
You can also see that the Lamborghini steering wheel is almost like your standard sportier grocery getter. Some toggles on the wheel itself and a paddle shifter.
I’d also like to take a moment to talk about the centre panel
The centre panel looks intimidating at first but it has everything you need, the Start engine button, the radio toggles, mode changer and even a fine tuner when you want to change the brake balance of the car. It has an LED screen that gives you Satellite Navigation, the functions increase with the S and the SVJ ranging till Bluetooth and Apple CarPlay. I like that it’s made out of carbon fiber, a good departure from wood used in a lot of other cars.
The gauge cluster of the Lamborghini is probably one of the cooler ones I’ve seen next to the Dodge Demon. It’s all digital and is really appealing to look at. The tachometer is the most prominent one with the speed confined to a little box below the 9000 rpm number, great to measure precise shifts when racing.
Although the looks do impede with practicality, you can still say that it’s all worth the head turns when you pull up in this whip.
Modifications: 6/10
Honestly, not a lot of options when it comes to modding unless you want to spend an exhorbitant amount of money.
The usual go-to for a Lamborghini or any high performance sports car for that matter is body kits. Rarely do you find Lamborghinis with the same variety of mods like the Lancer Evo VIII or any JDM car.
What this means is that variety and freedom for modding has been stifled significantly. You only get mods specific to said body kit and whether you like the part or not, you have to deal with it. However you do occasionally find Lamborghinis, especially Aventadors with a wing, a splitter, a diffuser and maybe some vinyls with maybe a wrap. Many brands like Enkei, BBS, Yokohama, Advan or Rocketbunny don’t make mods for Lamborghinis (as far as i know, please correct me if i’m wrong) so you have to stick to the more expensive brands like Libertywalk or Mansory.
Even taking the engine apart and modding it is tough. One wrong step and you’re gonna have to pay a hefty price, hundreds of thousands of dollars to be a bit more precise.
That doesn’t stop the Aventador from looking cool as all hell though
That said, due to the sheer lack of variety i’m gonna keep the score pretty low.
Engine:8/10
This is why it’s rated a high score.
Before i delve in any further i have to talk about the sound. THIS is the sound people miss from F1. If i have to rank the sound of the engine of any car whatsoever, this would be my number 1.
Now for the engine itself
Oh, can’t see?
Ahh.. better.
This engine is a beast. Lamborghini at the time tried their hardest to fit a whopping 690 bhp into a 5.2L V12 and it really shows. The top speed of this car is fast by modern standards, about 350kph, or for those in the USA, about 217mph. It’s not as fast as, say a Pagani Huarya but it’s still pretty fast. Put that with a 0-100kph (0-60mph) time of 2.9 seconds and 509 lb ft of torque and you have a monster in terms of acceleration and cornering. As for the Aventador S it producer way more power, a whopping 729 bhp and is lighter though with the same amount of torque. this has led to sub 7 minute lap times on the Nurburgring which is an achievement in and of itself. The 9,000 rpm range shows that the Aventador probably won’t break at particularly high revs though you still need to be careful.
The best and the worst thing about this is that the engine is all handbuilt by Lamborghini themselves. While this might hold some prestige do note that if you happen to crash or break a Lamborghini Aventador, parts will be very hard to find. The block by itself is a few tens of thousands of US dollars, not to mention gaskets, bolts, the flywheel, the turbochargers, the headers, the cylinders…. yeah. That’s gonna leave a huge hole in your wallet.
Price: 7/10
Considering the amount of work Lamborghini put into making the car, the power output, aerodynamic gimmicks, the gauge cluster, the steering wheel and the awesome interior you would probably think the Aventador will cost a fortune, like more than a million USD.
At least in Singapore it does.
New, the Lamborghini Aventador or an Aventador S in Singapore can cost anywhere from $1,300,000 to almost $2,000,000
I really don’t think it’s worth the jump of $400,000 for the same engine, a few lightweight mods and a soft top. It just does not make sense. Plus again there’s the issue of having no space for what the Lamborghini was designed to do; go fast
In the UK and the USA it’s still pretty pricey but it’s not as bad as Singapore’s price.
It costs around USD 200,000 to 300,000 for a used Aventador depending on the condition. New it costs around $450,000 to $500,000. Not many Americans can afford this but if you’re well off you might have a chance to get your hands on a used one.
Used, an Aventador in the UK can cost from as cheap as 120,000 British pounds to about 400,000 pounds for an SV or an SVJ which is to say almost as expensive as a new one which is about 500,000 pounds. It’s the same case with America, if you’re lucky you can get a used one for cheap but get a new one only if you’re well off.
Overall: 8/10
Besides the price and of course the practicality, if you’re living anywhere other than Singapore you’re getting your money’s worth buying an Aventador. It has everything you’ll ever want in a supercar, mindnumbingly fast performance, a comfortable luxurious yet racey interior, a good reliable engine and a reasonable price.
Overall it’s a good car for daredevils and rich kids alike. If you wanna go fast, this car has the power and aerodynamics to do it. If you want to roll down the windows and your soft top the Aventador Roadster has both the looks and the soft top to do it.
It’s a plus if you have racetracks holding regular car meets and trackdays near you but it’s also a plus if you live in a country that’s NOT the 6th smallest country in the world and have the space to let loose a little bit.
*COUGH* Singapore *COUGH*
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