I found this nasty little article over at Garage419.
Lamborghini An Enthusiasts Car? I Think Not.
As the headline states, Lamborghini is definitely not an enthusiasts car. A tool of marketing genius in the past decade? Yes. A playboy’s ultimate accessory? Yes. A rap moguls car? Definitely.But to actually call Lamborghini’s something an automotive enthusiast would enjoy is utterly absurd. That would be like saying Gigli is something any movie buff would have in their collection. But wait Walter, it just looks so damn good! And with that I have to agree with you, but it stops there.
This guy must have never been a kid (or was born sometime during the 1950s). Most of–if not ALL of–my enthusiasm for Lamborghinis was sparked during my childhood (I was born in 1984). Call it marketing genius or not, but there was something about the absurdity of Lamborghini that spoke to me from the first time I saw one. Day dreaming of the Lamborghini Diablo was nothing short of a daily routine for me. I can still remember the day I first stood next to a Diablo SV at a Corvette dealership in Houston. I swear I must’ve stood there for twenty minutes just trying to visually absorb as much of it as I could.
As for the story of Lamborghini being formed to spite Enzo Ferrari? That probably had as much to do with my Lambo love affair as anything. There is nothing unremarkable about being told to piss off by Mr. Ferrari, and, in an act of revenge, building a cultural icon to rival Ferrari’s cherished namesake. That sort of grandiose and rebellious behavior was something I could easily relate to at a young age.
It wasn’t until I grew up and started to understand the real workings of a car that I was able to form a slightly less subjective opinion of Lamborghini. This eventually led me to the realization that Ferraris weren’t the horrible anti-Lamborghinis that I made them out to be. They were in fact pure bred sports car with a remarkable history in the automotive world. However, even now, I would still gladly take a Lamborghini over a Ferrari any day of the week.
As for Lamborghinis just looking good? How about some quick performance figures:
Nurburgring Lap times: Ferrari Vs Lamborghini
7:40 - Lamborghini Murcielago LP640
7:46 - Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera
7:47 - Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano
7:55 - Ferrari F430 F1
7:56 – Lamborghini Gallardo SE
Both the Murcielago LP640 and Gallardo Supperleggera beat the 599 GTB and F430 around a track. Surprising eh?
So is Lamborghini an enthusiasts car? Absolutely. Is it a car for elitists who get off on the idea of driving something vaguely similar to what Michael Schumacher drove? No. But don’t mind me, just listen to Jeremy Clarkson (an avid Ferrari nut in his own right) rage on about Lamborghini.
You drive a Ferrari with a rather serious expression on your face. You drive one of these [a Lamborghini Gallardo] gerning you may technically be an idiot. I think it’s absolutely tremendous. …Its the lunacy I love most of all. - Clarkson.
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