FirstDrive/Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder: Lamborghini's Gallardo Spyder is a soft-top capable of almost 200mph and near rocket-ship motion through every bend. And that's a problem, because who wants to go that fast when they look this good? And who wants to go slow when the car is this much fun?
The coupé was already stunning, but by whipping off this stunner's top, Lamborghini has distilled the essence of automotive beauty. Angular it may be, but it's easily a match for the more organic Ferrari F430 Spyder that forms its most natural competition and lives just down the road from Lamborghini's Sant'Agata base in Modena, Italy.
This blows the Prancing Horse off the road in terms of pure presence, spy one of the red cars in your rear view and you might mutter something about rich boys and question their parentage. When this things howls up behind on the likes of the German autobahn, it's just a case of moving out the way and watching in awe.
Just 10 years ago the war with Ferrari was a lost cause. The Countach and Diablo are iconic cars of years gone by, but for those who drove and owned them it was inevitably a fraught experience.
When Audi took over the company in 1998, everything changed. The Murcielago was the first car to emerge from the new regime and was simply amazing, but always designed for relatively limited numbers. This, 'baby' Lambo introduced to move en masse, carries the company's hopes on its shoulders. So far, it's going rather well.
You can feel the calming influence of Audi on the reckless wild-child that was Lamborghini. Gone are the scissor doors that have long been a company trademark on more expensive models and the interior is now a logical, well-engineered and intelligent layout, rather than the eccentricities of yesteryear. It's a little muted on the inside, with the splashes of carbon-fibre keeping it just the right side of bland, but everything works and the Lamborghini has German-style build quality.
There are no flamboyant wings either; instead the Gallardo looks like a pared down, pent-up racer - with those squat and square haunches exuding power. It's a more conservative approach to the traditional wedge-shaped firebreathers, but it works. This collection of angles, vents and ducts marries together into a magnificent design and the side profile of this car is simply amongst the very best on the market right now.
It's still aggressive, but effortlessly so. Whereas older models generally came with the musk of overpowering aftershave and the glint of medallion, this car strikes the right balance between bravado and style. It goes well too, better than the hard-top in fact.
Lamborghini haven't just spent a year working out how to make the fabric roof disappear under the rear engine cover in less than 18 seconds. By the way, this is a major improvement over the rickety, manually constructed emergency cover offered for the more expensive Murcielago Roadster and a deeply satisfying thing to watch in its own right.
The Italian firm knows that chopping off the roof can destroy a car dynamically, as the chassis begins to flex without the extra support. So they have strengthened the chassis and taken advantage of the chance to correct a number of tiny flaws in the original Gallardo.
The suspension has been revised completely, the six-speed gear ratios have been shortened for improved acceleration, and Lamborghini boosted the power of its 5-litre V10 up to an epic 520bhp. And all of that power is available all of the time thanks to the Gallardo's stunning four-wheel-drive system.
So drop the clutch from a standing start with 3,000 revs spooled up directly behind your head - underneath a lovingly crafter carbon-fibre cover - and the Gallardo Spyder takes off like a stabbed rat.
By the time the rear wheels have started to spin, the car is already feeding power to the front to keep the car on the straight and narrow and howling towards the sunset at a ferocious rate of knots.
Of course the V10 is slightly more subdued than the V12 in the Murcielago, but it will still raise every hair on your neck, every single time the loud pedal goes down. For more than half the customers, who will opt for the semi-automatic paddle-shift e-gear system, on the upshift simply pull the paddle behind the wheel, and the car will match the revs with a seductive blip on the throttle.
On an isolated winding road, the aural effect is sheer magic, in town it might draw unnecessary attention - but shrinking violets aren't likely to buy Lamborghinis in the first place.
And wringing this car's neck is an addictive, heart-pounding experience for all the right reasons this time. The car storms to 100km/h in 4.3secs, with just a simple flick on the right paddle required to unleash the next ferocious wave of acceleration.
It will corner hard, flat and true as well, defying the laws of physics that should be attached to its 1,570kg kerb weight. On the track and with a touch of provocation and a hefty dose of throttle, this car will slide through the apex at 45 degrees with only marginal skill required to prevent the eventual spin.
It's even more fun than the Murcielago, thanks in part to its smaller proportions and increased ability to withstand being thrown into a corner.
That, too, is a sign of Audi's influence and expertise on four-wheel-drive and other technology that festoons the Gallardo under the skin. Anti-dive, anti-pitch, and anti-lock brakes that were strong enough to punch the air from my lungs have all bridled this raging bull and made it a car for just about anyone.
The Ferrari F430 is potentially purer, but this car is easier to control and devastatingly fast in even average hands and for the vast majority that will buy the Spyder that is a good, good thing.
So if your summer bonus money is burning a hole in the pocket, you're after a sportscar and you don't want the ubiquitous Porsche 911 Turbo, bypass the Ferrari showroom and head for Lamborghini. The Gallardo Spyder is a truly sensational car.
Factfile:
5-litre engine developing 520bhp and 510Nm
Weight: 1,570kg
0-100kmh: 4.3s
Top speed: 314km/h
Price: £131,000 UK