Who wants a Lamborghini for everyday use? It’s gonna cost you $380,000
Pumping 700 horsepower through a Formula One-style gearbox, the new Lamborghini Aventador is not just the Italian carmaker’s most powerful model, it’s also the fastest. It’s capable of launching from 0 to 60 mph in just 2.9 seconds, “equal to what you do when you go bungee jumping or skydiving,”according to the company’s CEO Stefan Winkelmann.
But don’t let that stop you from thinking about this new supercar for your daily commute, assuming you can handle the expected $380,000 price tag.
Unlike the brand’s traditional extreme machines, the Aventador — like so many Lamborghinis, named after a legendary fighting bull — is designed “for everyday use,” Winkelmann insists.
Despite an automotive arms race that has made 400-horsepower exotics seem almost wimpy, and top speeds of 200 mph nearly the norm, manufacturers recognize that “buyers also want to know they can take cars to work every day, and not just pull them out of the garage every other weekend,” said Rob Allen, U.S. product planner for Fiat’s Maserati brand.
Indeed, earlier Lamborghini models, such as the legendary Countach, were finicky beasts generally expected to clock, at most, just a few thousand miles of driving annually, and even then requiring extensive — read costly — maintenance.
But automakers are taking steps to improve the reliability and ease of use of vehicles like the Aventador, which among other things features a hydraulic lifting system that can add two extra inches of ground clearance for the front end, a definite relief to owners of older Lambos who have scraped their front spoilers going over speed bumps and parking ramps.
With the introduction of the California roadster in 2009, Ferrari addressed one of the most frustrating issues for owners of high-line luxury makers — maintenance. The Italian automaker slashed the required maintenance to about 11 hours of labor during the first 50,000 miles. That still isn’t cheap, of course, considering labor rates for mechanics specializing in exotics, but it’s not all that much more time in the shop than you might expect for a Ford Mustang GT, whose top speed is a good 50 mph slower.
Ferrari, meanwhile, shocked purists this month by lifting the covers on the all-new FF, which CEO Luca di Montezemolo describes as a “daily driver” despite its estimated $359,000 price tag.
Of course, Ferrari insists that the car comes without sacrifice — the 651-horsepower FF is capable of racing to 208 mph in case you’re late for work.