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Ken Gratton14 Jul 2017
REVIEW

Lamborghini Aventador S 2017 Review

Four-wheel steering introduced to Lamborghini's even more powerful V12 sports car
Review Type
Road Test

Australian specification for the Lamborghini Aventador S was announced earlier this year, and customer deliveries start this month (July). The local media first laid hands on the car back in March and praised the enhancements included. With the howling V12 nearly 30kW more powerful, the Aventador S breaks the 3.0-second barrier for zero to 100km/h, and a new four-wheel steering system takes the drudgery out of parking.

Some years ago, the incumbent president of the United States fronted a TV show and, in the one episode I recall watching, a team of male competitors was tasked with developing an advertising campaign for Lamborghini. Full of misplaced bravado, they raced off to contrive a winning tagline.

"Smooth as silk" was one nominated and endlessly promoted by a bloke who obviously thought a Lamborghini was a low-riding Mercedes-Benz S-Class with funny doors.

That team lost. And they were deserving losers too.

Lamborghini has never been about refinement; it has been a brand wrapped around an undiluted road/race ethos which ipso facto eschews comfort and practicality.

However Audi's ownership of the brand has undeniably toned-down things somewhat, and the Aventador S recently tested by motoring.com.au was almost civilised – although still not an ideal daily driver for those of us who live in the suburbs.

Ideal package for skinny jockeys
I'm not tall, but entering through the Aventador’s scissor doors was still a carefully negotiated manoeuvre inevitably resulting in my head collecting the cant rail…every single time. Exiting was even more arduous and protracted. Few things in life make a middle-aged bloke look more like a nonagenarian than leaving the driver's seat of a Lamborghini.

Once settled behind the steering wheel, there is good and bad to report. The seats are really snug – like a bear hug from a steroidal grizzly – and there's lumbar adjustment, which is good, but I found it difficult to ascertain precisely the right increment. And there's seat heating too – winters can be chilly in both Sant’Agata Bolgnese, Italy and Melbourne, Australia.

Other ergonomic anomalies: Headroom is lacking for anyone over 175cm tall, and the two pedals are located so far to the left in the footwell you find the accelerator pedal in line with your spinal cord.

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At first, Lamborghini’s digitised instruments project data in a seemingly complex array, but you soon become accustomed to the location and format of the various displays. Fixed transmission shift paddles ('fixed' meaning they don't turn with the steering wheel) are large and easy to grab whenever you need them – which in the Aventador could be at a split second's notice. However, by virtue of the shift paddles being so large, the indicator and wiper stalks hang off the wheel at the four and eight o'clock positions. This makes them harder to reach – virtually a finger-tip operation – to say nothing of the stalks not being located where second-nature, based on years of experience, would recall.

Other controls operate similarly to their equivalents in rival brands' prestige offerings. The shift paddles are used to select first gear (one paddle) or neutral (both paddles, simultaneously). There are two buttons in the centre console to select ‘Reverse’ and ‘Manual’ modes.

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Reminiscent of aeroplanes, the engine starter button is located under a hinged, lift-up, red plastic cover on the centre console. The same button also stops the engine.

While the Lamborghini Aventador skips on music streaming, mobile phones are connected easily enough via Bluetooth.

Style and presentation are visually arresting, inside and out. The yellow coordinating colour, combined with Alcantara, leather and carbon-fibre, was startlingly attractive. And those familiar with Audi design will quickly spot both the MMI interface and the audio volume control knob have been lifted from the parts bin in Ingolstadt, Germany.

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Visceral experience flows from the ears
‘Blood-curdling’ is an appropriate way of describing the noise of Lamborghini’s V12 engine. The 6.5-litre Italian stunner comes to life with a vicious bark…and then becomes even more feral. In the 'Corsa' drive mode there is a booming harmonic, which borders on ear-shattering, from as low as 2000rpm. In any mode (‘Strada’, ‘Sport’, ‘Eco’ or ‘Corsa’) there's plenty of backfiring pops and crackles from the exhaust on the overrun, but as the engine gets into its stride – from around 3000rpm – there's just a full-house F1-style roar.

Aurally, in some ways, the V12 is a curious device. At 2000rpm in ‘Strada’ mode, it sounds busy, which is something I've also noted in the Ferrari F12. With two or three times the number of reciprocating parts and explosions of most cars for every turn of the crankshaft, the V12 sounds like it's running at 3500rpm rather than 2000.

Yet the engine is also quick to spin up and, just a quick prod of the accelerator pedal can readily whip the tacho needle to 5000rpm. Stoking the fires with a wide-open throttle delivers a burst of acceleration building from 3000rpm and really letting loose at 4000rpm – right up to the 8500rpm rev limit.

Pricing and Features
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In a brilliant piece of engine management, the V12 locks-out the redline until after some 10 minutes of operation from a cold start. Before then, the digital dashboard confirms revs are held to as 'low' as 7500rpm.

The engine is undeniably my favourite element of the Aventador. It drives through a seven-speed 'robotised' manual transmission, which conversely is my least favourite. Lamborghini apparently couldn't find the space within the Aventador package for a dual-clutch transmission, which would have been a much better choice.

Admittedly, the single-clutch transmission is generally smoother and more capable than similar transmission types from the past. But drive the Aventador S in ‘Strada’ mode on a light throttle and the transmission basically changes gear with a slow, slurring shift action which isn’t ideal. And, when driven harder – and right up to the redline – the Aventador, even in ‘Strada’, shifted up with an almighty thump.

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‘Corsa’ is exclusively manual and the shifting is fast, but less aggressive if the driver perfects lifting off at precisely the same instant as grabbing the next gear with the shift paddle. But trying to guess the point when the transmission would shift up a gear in Strada mode - and pre-empting that thump by lifting off the throttle just before the shift - is quite challenging even for experienced drivers.

While we didn't get an exact final fuel consumption figure, it certainly wouldn't have been pretty. After no more than about 160km, the Aventador had consumed about 58 litres.

Sitting at 100km/h on the freeway, the Aventador's engine ticks over at 2200rpm. Since it's located just the other side of a bulkhead directly behind the driver, it's blatantly audible. At lower speeds, however, tyre noise is more prevalent, until the engine begins to get a work-out.

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Hard-core brakes and ride
Two aspects of the Lamborghini Aventador stand out as soon as the driving commences. First-up it’s the braking system. The brake pedal is heavy and feels like there's little assistance, but without doubt this is one braking system which will not leave you in the lurch.

Huge yellow calipers clamp down on massive rotors for very strong braking when you stand on the pedal, which certainly lets you know precisely what's going on. Yet the brakes will bring the Aventador to a reasonably soft stop as well. On this point, the brakes are overkill for timid drivers, but they are fabulous – every car should have brakes this good.

The other aspect of the Aventador which stands out is its ride quality…if ‘quality’ is the right word to use. 'Comfort' certainly doesn’t spring to mind. This is a punishingly hard suspension set-up.

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But on the upside, the Aventador is completely unperturbed by lateral g forces up to the point where seemingly one eyeball is trying to join the other in the same hemisphere of the driver's skull. Around then, the Aventador is beginning to scrub the front tyres, but lifting off the throttle a touch will bring the nose back in towards the apex.

The steering is direct and responsive, also offering meaty feedback without being needlessly heavy.

Rear-wheel steering is a feature introduced with the Aventador S. It only made its presence felt on two occasions – once at higher speed through a turn, and the other time when making a U-turn. In the latter case, the Aventador did get around with plenty of room to spare.

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On the single day we tested the Lamborghini Aventador, the night drive wasn’t particularly impressive as the headlights on low beam were rather poor. The beam was yellowish and didn't cast very far ahead of the car, meaning it would be possible to outrun the reaction times of average driver who, say, spots an animal crossing the road too late.

And that’s where the Aventador S stands – flawed in some ways, but exotic and enjoyably demanding in others. In just one day, its presence has marked a wild and dramatic blip in the steady sine wave of my week.

2017 Lamborghini Aventador S pricing and specifications:
Price: $789,425 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 6.5-litre 12-cylinder petrol
Output: 544kW/690Nm
Transmission: Seven-speed single-clutch automated manual
Fuel: 16.9L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 394g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: TBA

Related reading:
>> Lamborghini Aventador S 2017 Review
>> Lamborghini Aventador S: Video Review
>> Lamborghini reveals 544kW Aventador S

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Written byKen Gratton
See all articles
Our team of independent expert car reviewers and journalistsMeet the team
Expert rating
75/100
Engine, Drivetrain & Chassis
18/20
Price, Packaging & Practicality
10/20
Safety & Technology
14/20
Behind The Wheel
15/20
X-Factor
18/20
Pros
  • Phenomenal engine
  • Unimpeachable handling
  • Menacing style
Cons
  • Robotised transmission
  • Pedal placement and headroom
  • Pulverising ride
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