Don’t be fooled by the familiar, though still deeply seductive, looks of the 560-4.
Visually it may have undergone the mildest of rethinks – the nose vents are bigger, the rear lights are smaller and more elegant, while the interior has been ‘rationalised’ to make it easier to interact with, says Lamborghini –but beneath the skin this is mostly a brand new car.
For starters, it has an all-new 5.2-litre V10 engine which not only has a different firing order from the previous 5.0-litre V10 but also more power (552bhp at 8000rpm) and more torque (398lb ft at 6500rpm).
It’s cleaner, too, thanks mainly to a new Bosch direct injection fuel system, allowing Lamborghini to claim that this is the highest-revving direction injection engine in the world right now; the limiter doesn’t call stumps until an ear-splitting 8200rpm.
Also new is most of the four-wheel drive chassis (there are bigger anti-roll bars front and rear, uprated dampers, and significant changes to the steering and rear suspension geometry) and both the hardware and software for the e-gear paddle-shift gearbox.
Lamborghini claims that over 90 per cent of Gallardos are bought with the optional paddle-shift ’box and has therefore gone to a lot of effort to improve the system.
Shifts in the new Corsa mode occur 40 per cent faster now, and even in regular and Sport modes the changes happen faster and more smoothly, says Lamborghini.
As before, carbon-ceramic brakes are optional and were fitted to the test car, even though the regular steel brakes have also been uprated.
The 560-4 isn’t just cleaner on emissions; it’s also smoother through the air thanks to improved aerodynamics and is more efficient mechanically thanks to a reduction in friction throughout the car.
Intriguingly, the 560-4 is lighter than the stripped-out Superleggera version of the previous model, providing it with a thumping power-to-weight ratio of 391bhp per tonne.
