Gallardo... Is it worth the money?

I am thinking about getting a Gallardo...

Gallardo owners, is it all that it's pumped up to be? Or is it just a gloryfied Audi TT? Please give me your personal experiances...

Drive one!!! :)

Also have a look at the Top Gear review (can find it on Kazaa) of it ;) It beats a Porsche GT3 around a track!!!!

Driving a car for 1 hour will never give you full insight in what kind of car it is...

Top Gear change their mind about cars AFTER they've shot the bit with them... Go from being good to bad and so on and so forth...

Holy crap people actually own expensive cars on these forums lol.. bludnik u sicken me lol jk.. hmm audi tt? are you kidding? :p

Top gear what they noticed/said (new test driver other quit although they made it like he died or something.. maybe he did i dont know), so its the new white stig as opposed to black one... hmm the car is lighter, rwd, and actually outperformed the heavier more powerful awd murcielago.. supposingly.... its suppose to be a ferrari as opposed to lambo.

The controls are as mushy easy (good thing) as the murcielago, at least that's whats all been claimed by top gear guys...

I haven't even seen one in real life so what do I know..

it didnt outperform it, it was slightly slower on 0-60, and farther, the murcielago is better, but it is supposably almost close to the murcie all the way up to 150mph! and btw its not rwd its awd, but that helped lamborghini be excellent on handling,and trust me i dont think you will be depressed with this great car, and the looks, and power, and crowd attraction of it :P.
p.s. it is no where near the slow and horrible audi tt!

i dont think you guys understood the whole "gloryfied audi tt" concept...

I like how its been described as a big lotus elise. Kind of says a lot for the handling, and the power is no slouch either

Well I've driven the Gallardo and it's a blast!!! :) I've driven a few cars in the last year... Boxster S, S2000, Mazza 4200 ... I will be driving a 360 next week which will give me a great comparo with the Gallardo :)

Ok well i can say for a fact that the Gallardo is no glorifed TT. I dirve then on a dayily basis and they are AMAZING. I might actually think of getting one over the Merci.

Come wheck out my work site www.weissach.com. We are now the BC Canada dealer for Lambos, as well as Lotus and RUF tuned Porsche's. Drop on by and have a look at our inventory. Great cars.

first of all, it is a lambo, it is worth it. second, it is a really fast and good looking car, but you are kind of paying for the logo.

Have you driven one ferrari adidas5? You are most deffinetly not just paying for a logo. Most deffinetly not.

Not just paying for the logo, but yes, you have to admit that there is a certain "price of admission"

i think that this car a serious contender in its market segment and of course it is a lambo so it has great handling and power. i just hope that this is as cheap as lambo gets. i hope they dont start making lambo TT's or A8's lol

The murcie is a pretty impressive car, and its little brother should kick ass too. I think a battle between the gallardo and gt-40 (perfomance wise) would be very interesting.

Roger that Lamborsari, but they did once make the SUV LM002. Hopefully that was a one time thing and that yes, they don't become an Italian Porsche, a sports car company with a few super exotics.

btw, not bashing porsche (I like them if you can tell by my name)

Just got my egear yellow yesterday, had a 360 spider, 996 twin turbo and 355f. Love the car!!!

I got my Black one with 6 speed in Dec. and have been driving it almost everyday. It is fantastic!! Gettin another one, blue one with eGear, next week and can't wait!

Very good question indeed....I'm in the same seat to and l'm looking at a Gallardo purchase in the next 6 months myself.
l'm in the process of getting a 3 car garage built between now and mid summer
I just dropped this thread in this morning about leasing or buying a Gallardo.
http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=190539
If you do get one make sure you get back to us all.
SA

I got eGear one yesterday. eGear one is also very good. I prefer 6 speed one though.

How come? have you been able to try both cars on a closed track? It may be that there lies the advantage of the e-gear.

I dont care which one is faster on a track. All I care is how much fun I have in a daily use...

Ah, hence the preference for the 6-gear. Though I don't own a gallardo or any car close to its caliber I can't say this from first hand experience, but yes, that makes sense since to me it would seem as though the 6-speed manual would be more engaging to the driver.

I was lucky enough to drive a 6speed Gallardo yesterday for a few hours and l was very impressed:iceslolan BIG time!
Points l loved in no particular order.
1...Easy to drive and comfortable seating.
2...Vision of other traffic once mirrors were set properly was great.
3...Function of interior was easy to use. Thanks Audi
4...Aural engine sounds insane at any rpm....higher RPM equals bigger:eek:
5...Smooth power delivery..awesome from 4,000-7,000rpm:evillol:
6...6 speed not a hard to use as l expected it was going to be.
7...Balance of the car was suction like with all 4 corners pulling away.
8...Brakes will cause you're vision to blur for a split second when hitting them hard at speeds over 100mph.
9...Firm ride but not rock like and it was tested on plenty of holes.
10..Finally it has looks that no other car on the road has...very fresh and new from a company that usually builds slap in the face cars that have a huge look at me factor....The Gallardo is slightly like that but it's a very functional Lambo...a 1st for them.
Styling is in the eye of the beholder.... Every body's opinion is right about it's looks...no flames here ok, right to state opinion.

The power this car makes is awesome...full stop, the word brutal comes to mind. The way it claws at the road at full throttle on the change ups is so addictive and snappy. There's no bog down or lag at all when the next cog has been selected it's just BAM in 1st gear then put clutch in, change gear let clutch out and BAM it slams you again into the seat in 2nd, do it again and it's that way even into 5th:lol2:
The center of gravity on the car is 14inches (350mm) off the ground and it's very evident in the first corner that this thing loves to be driven and it's suction like grip is very easy to exploit, at even 6-10ths this cars asks for more, but gives so much even there.
It does get a fair amount of attention from other road users, as l was driving along one guy in the HOV lane pulled up next to me and just sat right by my side of a few miles blocking the traffic behind...l didn't look over as l was pretty much concentrating on what l was doing with plenty of cars surrounding me. That truck looked like it was 10 feet tall compared to how high l felt.
You don't want to be a weight challenged person with this car because you'll never get into or out of this mini monster...it a bit tricky with it being so low.
The sound it makes is fantastic and it's great at any RPM, but it's a must to keep the car in the 3,500rpm zone as thats when you're ears are picking up the high rev potential of this motor.
If/when l get one the first things l'll do is get a custom exhaust built, and then a custom PC software built to utilize the exhaust.
If l've forgotten any details l will repost later
SA


SA

SA, great review. How are you going with finding a car? I picked up my yellow e-gear (in Adelaide, Australia) after only a 3 week wait which seems pretty lucky. I've only done 400km (250miles) so far, but the comfort of the car - which you mention- is one huge surprise to me. The longer you drive, the more cosy it gets. It passes the "keep on driving" test - you just don't want to stop.

Despite being pretty wide, the car shrinks nicely on a winding road. It is also fun to drive at a moderate pace.

The Audi radio/CD is OK, but I can't imagine ever using it. I think I'll take the CD's out of the stacker and put them back in my other car as they just ain't getting played!

Sounds like you had the opportunity to get into it. I need to find some quiet roads this weekend, I think.

mhh

Geezz you're a lucky bugger getting a Lambo that quick!!!!!

You can't find a place to drive....are you stupid...don't answer that in you're head?? You live in Adelaide, so head out into the hills...(sorry bout the stupid call...but you can't see the forest coz of the trees l think on this one!!)
l've driven those hills twice over the past 5 years and their awesome.
I know when l 1st drove them it was pretty quiet and a blast.
I didn't drink much on the wine tour, as l wanted to be ready for the return drive back into town.
I stayed at the Radisson Playford, what a awesome hotel...one of my top 10 l've stayed in...I love Adelaide, a great big country town.
I was actually fishing and pig hunting about 4 hours from you in a remote part of the Murray river, just a bit over a month ago with some friends (Mildura/Wentworth).

Back to the topic of the Gallardo....
The place l drove the Gallardo (Symbolic Motors in CA) really wants to sell me a Gallardo...full stop
When l went back to Orlando the dealer in my home town, he said he had a guy there that was stalling on paying for a car l could have driven out the door with (Pearl yellow, yellow stitching, but black calipers..wanted yellow) but l had to wait another 4 days to see if this guy was going to bail out or not.
The Orlando dealer rang me and said that the guy WAS going to pay for it on Thursday but the dealer had been thrown that story before, so l told him to call me, if Friday goes by with no payment, as l'm still in. (as l type this if 6:30am Friday morning)
Now if this falls through then l'm back into ordering one, and thats a very unknown thing once you're dealing with Lambo.
I want a car now, even though the 3-4 car garage l'm building won't be ready till July-Aug, l got a place next door to keep it if need be.
There's a fair chance l could get a car delivered to me by around the time the garage is completed, but l need to find a way to get one quicker.
Now back to the place l test drove the Lambo in CA...they called me and said they would match the offer by the Orlando guy. The Orlando guys are going to do it at MSRP, l'm not sure what the Symbolic team had there's for on the floor.....but there was a problem!!! He said that Lambo have a company rule that you're not to poach into a another dealers area if you live within a cretin distance of a dealer. If he sold 50 cars a year, but 20 got sold interstate within the distance near enough to a local dealer, in the next year he would get delivered 20 less cars to sell. So he's telling me if there's a way l could register the car in CA then l could transfer the rego to FL and that would be a way to get around the whole problem for both Symbolic and myself. Dealing with the Olando would be smarter for relations if the prices are going to be the same...but who is going to be quicker with the car l want. The Symbolic team are asking for $15,000 deposit, but l haven't asked the Orlando shop yet.
My cousin said "when you buy cars you're not out to make friends" so he said l shouldn't feel bad if l don't go with the guys in Orlando, just because they gave you a long term drive at Symbolic.
I will see how the next few weeks goes....and let you know.

BTW whats a Gallado cost in OZ...my guess AUD$450-550K ??
SA

SA
Re finding a place to drive - I meant where I could try the high speeds you achieved. The Adelaide Hills are superb in the car, but if you try 100 mph too often, the police would lock you up. I mean I plan to go sneaking out a little further into the back blocks where the speed cameras don't go. At sane speeds, though, the Adelaide Hills with their light traffic and beautiful roads are a great place to drive a sportscar.

Re buying, my experience was lucky. My local dealer is just getting fully accredited to sell Lambos - currently he has Audi, VW, Bentley,Aston Martin and Jaguar - and he got the car from the Melbourne dealer (who is the importer) for me. Helped him (proved he could sell a car, I guess), and good for me. I was ready to buy from Melb when I discovered I could deal local. Melbourne preferred to let me deal locally as they wanted to do the right thing by a new dealer. The only disappointed person was the Melbourne sales guy, but he was very professional about it.

Retail for Gallardo is $400K for base manual, $425 for e-gear. I got non-metallic yellow with anti-theft and heated seats (do they all have them?) The car was supposed to have painted calipers, but not there on delivery so I negotiated a car cover instead. I'm very happy with it. I preferred no yellow calipers actually, as it looks too much yellow (I thought - might be talking myself into that one). The last two car I got I ordered from the factory (AMG Benz and BMW) in just my spec and waited 6 months for my car. This time I got the colour I wanted almost straight away on a brand new model - I couldn't believe my luck. Although I would like to have played with the options a little, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to have it now. Seems like Australia must have ordered more cars than they needed - or we Aussies are a bit slow to pick up something new.

Re which dealer to buy from - remember you will need servicing and warranty support so I would try to find a way to make a local purchase if you can. Picture this - you break down at 2 in the morning. If you bought from the dealer, you can ring him. If you didn't, you can't.

mhh

powerchip,

I put $15k down on a Gallardo at Ultimate in Orlando about a month ago. The vehicle is supposed to be here sometime in May/June. I'm like you though, I don't like to wait...for anything. The problem for me was that Ultimate basically had nothing to sell me at the time, and the out-of-state dealers wouldn't sell me anything because I had a local lambo dealer 20 minutes down the road from my house. So I ended up ordering one, which was good in a way since I'm getting the car exactly as I want it.

The only problem I see with getting one from out-of-state is that you will end up having to get the car serviced locally, and so the relationship with Ultimate may be problematic at that point when they discover that you bought your car from somebody else and now you want Ultimate to handle the warranty problems.

Let us know how your situation turns out!!

MHH....Just take the car for a long drive through the guts of the outback. Hit the NT border and see if you can crack 300kph...Dont know if thay have 98octane out there. It's so damm tight for speeding in OZ, it's a joke.
I was reding not to lnog ago that a survey from the SA showed that only a very small % of accidents involved high speed driving and thats all they winge about in Vicoria.
Over here on a freeway most drivers are going 20-30kph over the speed limit. The policing in the US is so much softer then at home.
The Victoian Gov are looking at making AUD$500 mil this year in spedd cameras.

You both make good points on purchasing a car locally.
I'm will have to use that with my Symbolic dealer and just say that is all well and fine once the deals done, but l'm the one looking for help at 2:00am.

MHH..If you want to get a chip done on the Gallardo once she's all broken in, there's a guy that works with/for Powerchip in Adelaide (Sam) that is one hell of a programer and R&D expert for ECU's...You would be the first Gallardo in OZ, and l would make sure they cut you some slack on the price.
SA

Thanks guys

SA

Yes, a trip to NT sound good. Victoria is certainly tough on speeding - I got caught doing 64 in a 60 zone in Ararat last year.

Re Powerchip - I reckon I remember a guy called Sam at Fueltronics on Magill Road did a Powerchip for my BMW about 10 years back - must be the same guy. I'll see whether I need more power after running-in. Right now I feel I have enough.

MHH1....Yep thats the same guy. I watched him tune a 996tt if Florida last year, so as soon as my Lambo's ran in l'm getting the PC guys in CA over to my place for a tune up on all the cars.

I had a bit of a chuckel when you said you're happy with the Gallardo's power.....I wonder how long that will last.
Keep driving the car as offten as you can, l know l would love to here you're comments in the future of how the first few thousand K's go....fast l hope
SA

powerchip,

I put $15k down on a Gallardo at Ultimate in Orlando about a month ago. The vehicle is supposed to be here sometime in May/June. I'm like you though, I don't like to wait...for anything. The problem for me was that Ultimate basically had nothing to sell me at the time, and the out-of-state dealers wouldn't sell me anything because I had a local lambo dealer 20 minutes down the road from my house. So I ended up ordering one, which was good in a way since I'm getting the car exactly as I want it.

The only problem I see with getting one from out-of-state is that you will end up having to get the car serviced locally, and so the relationship with Ultimate may be problematic at that point when they discover that you bought your car from somebody else and now you want Ultimate to handle the warranty problems.

Let us know how your situation turns out!!

A guy in Tampa did not like the deal Ultimate gave him on a new Murci so he bought it in Atlanta. If Ultimate gives him any trouble he know several of the executives with Lamborghini and they are ready to support him. Ultimate thought they could dictate price to him. He walked and they lost the deal.

I don't know what the BIG BULL runs for, but the Gallardo is at MSRP at Ultimate, so l will chatting to them about getting an order in next week.
What if l approached them and said l would pay 5-10K over sticker if they would chase one down in the next few weeks from other dealers. They could give the extra over MSRP to the dealer they source it from or keep it them selves...l don't care, l just need them to push the issue in finding me the right car...more gravy to them.
SA