First Drive Review
Sorry, ZZ Top, but despite those three letters clustered together in the name, superleggera does not translate to anything directly relating to a woman's stems. Indirectly, though, you could make the argument. In English, superleggera means "superlight." What it means is that this newest Gallardo, like the Ferrari F430 Challenge Stradale, leans out a few pounds and packs on a (very) little bit more muscle, giving the car indeed a touch more leg to stretch.
Although European-spec Gallardo Superleggeras are lighter by the equivalent of a portly passenger (220 pounds), cars bound for the U.S. lose a trimmer sidekick and come in only 150 pounds lighter than more-pedestrian Gallardos. This is due to our side-impact standards, which mandate that Lamborghini leave the side airbags in the seats. We'll still get one-piece carbon-fiber sport seats, but with pinhead cushions packed and waiting in the wings. Europeans get four-point harnesses; we make do with plain old three-point belts.
The New Black: Carbon Fiber
Elsewhere in the interior, carbon fiber covers the center tunnel and the door panels, and anything that was once leather is now Alcantara. The interior door panels are sheets of carbon fiber with an Alcantara pull strap for closing. Very utilitarian and purposeful, but we'd be horrified if we were paying for it. Stitching color-matched to the exterior adorns the seats and the dash, and the same color peeks through a perforated strip of the headliner over each occupant's head. Unique gauges look cool at first glance, but on closer inspection, they might be off the clearance rack at Murray's. Their tiny, swollen text is completely illegible, further compounding the problem we had driving Euro-spec cars with km/h speedometers on American roads. Uncertain of our speed, our default behavior was to assume we were going too slowly, squish the now pedal, and zoom away. Actually, it worked out just fine.
Carbon fiber is also used to shave weight outside. The underbody tray, the rear diffuser, the engine cover, the side skirts, and the side mirrors are all replaced with carbon-fiber copies. Polycarbonate takes the place of the glass in the rear window and engine cover. Revised intake and exhaust systems play on both sides of the power-to-weight equation, cutting weight and increasing power 10 horsepower, to 523. The new exhaust system gives the Gallardo a little extra snarl, but inside, the change is magnified by the hard door panels and the loss of 12 pounds of sound-deadening material. The result is an even more stirring aural enlightenment than in the regular car.
