First Drive Review
In the seven years since our first Lamborghini Gallardo test, the factory has produced some 10,000 copies. Compared with, say, a Honda Accord—about 6000 sold last week—that number is paltry enough to qualify each Gallardo as special.
But in the world of handmade Italian baubles, 10,000 is a large number. So, to keep away ennui, the factory periodically releases even special-er editions. We’ve already tested a Gallardo Spyder, a Gallardo Superleggera, and a rear-drive Gallardo Balboni. Surely a Hurst Edition and an Indy pace-car replica are on the boards.
While we await those, check out two more catalog thickeners that will be around for model year 2011 only. The Gallardo LP550-2 Bicolore (say “bee-co-lor-ay”) is—you guessed it—a two-tone Lambo, base price of $196,995. It’s available in white, yellow, blue, gray, and orange, with a contrasting black roof and tail. That’s not the good part.
The good part is that the Bee-co-lor-ay is basically a continuation of the 250-copy rear-drive Balboni without the body stripe or Signor Balboni’s autograph on the interior. The Bicolore is also $28,800 cheaper, though only the paddle-shifted e-gear transmission gets fitted (Balbonis could be had with sticks). Also included are a transparent engine cover, a push-button nose jack to avoid those nasty driveway and speed-bump scrapes, and a leather-upgrade pack. If you missed out on the experience of jockeying 542 horsepower through a Gallardo’s rear wheels, the Bicolore awaits. And if a two-tone Lambo exceeds your flamboyance limit, a slightly subtler, one-color LP550-2 is also available in 2011 with a stick (for slightly less money than the Bicolore) or e-gear (for slightly more).
Secondly, please welcome the Spyder Performante. What we have here is an all-wheel-drive Gallardo LP570-4 Superleggera in convertible form. That means yards of carbon fiber were unrolled, cut, drenched in resin, and baked into wings, chin spoilers, seat buckets, and interior trim, which—along with the substitution of synthetic suede for heavier leather—cuts 143 pounds from the base Gallardo Spyder.
Larger nostrils denote the horsepower rise to 562; carbon-ceramic brakes are optional. In our few allowed laps around New York’s private Monticello Motor Club, the Performante, with its stiff, non-reclining carbon-fiber seats, proved more approachable and easier to manhandle through the corners than the Bicolore, which offers heavier steering and, despite its rear-drive configuration, a greater tendency toward understeer.
Both cars will slam you back in the seats with acceleration and forward against the belts with braking. Despite the excellent bona fides, however, the Performante looks like an errand runner for the Minsk mafia, especially in white. Only the mightiest of egos will want to be seen in a white Lamborghini convertible with a little wing on the back.
In orange and black, the Bicolore positively smolders. Given its lower price and greater potential for hooliganism, it would be our choice.
