Yahoo Autos The Original Lamborghini Gallardo Deserves More Credit Than It Gets
The Gallardo saved Lamborghini. Before the Italian supercar maker was acquired by the VW Group, it spent decades teetering on insolvency, bouncing between owners that couldn’t guarantee a fruitful future. Things quickly turned around when the Germans got involved, reviving an aging lineup with the V-12-powered Murcielago in 2001 and then the Gallardo in 2003.
It was the “baby Lamborghini.” With a starting price of $165,900, the Gallardo undercut the Murcielago by more then $100,000 while delivering similarly exotic looks, sounds, and performance. It was an instant hit. Lamborghini sold 14,022 units before production ended in 2013. When it was replaced by the Huracán, the Gallardo was the best and fastest selling Lambo of all time, and, most importantly, it finally gave Lamborghini the solid financial footing it always needed.
Fast forward to 2023, 10 years after the final Gallardo rolled off Lamborghini’s assembly line and 20 years since the car’s debut, and I’m behind the wheel for the first time. This one comes straight from the company’s Polo Storico heritage collection, and it’s an absolute delight.
Early Gallardos like this one can still attract a crowd. Its sharp lines and powerful mid-engine proportions can’t be dulled with age. Long, slender vertical headlights lead to a windshield that appears to be laid flat, along with tight door glass and gloss black wheels that perfectly fill out the fenders. It also helps that this example is painted Giallo Evros, the yellow that became the Gallardo’s defining color.
Once inside you begin to realize the scope of Volkswagen’s influence. Ignore the fighting bull on the steering wheel and this could be a funky Audi sports car, with switchgear largely taken from the German company’s luxury offerings of the mid Aughts. The center screen, the climate control, and much of the gauge cluster feels like it came out of your dermatologist's old A6.
None of that matters once you turn the key. Ignite the starter and the Gallardo’s signature V-10 roar erupts into the cabin, settling into a rumbly idle. This 2004 Gallardo uses the purely Lamborghini-engineered 5.0-liter version of the epic powertrain, rated at 493 hp and 376 lb-ft of torque when new. Even without any revs you can tell this V-10 is brutish and gruff, a monster of a thing. A sign of the excitement to come.
Just pulling away in the Gallardo is more complex than you’d think, as this one is equipped with the dreaded E-Gear transmission. Like most early electronically operated manual transmission of the Nineties and Aughts, it uses a single clutch to go up and down the gears with paddles mounted to the steering column. There’s no Park position, only gears 1 through 6, neutral, or reverse (activated through a button on the dash left of the wheel). Setting off means putting the handbrake down and pulling the paddle to put the transmission in 1st.
It doesn’t take long to spot signs the Gallardo designed two decades ago, some charming, some not. The steering exhibits far more feel than in a modern Lambo like the Huracán, but the rack is slower, making the front end feel less pointy. I also scraped the nose within a few feet of setting off, as this car has no front axle lift. The red-on-red display stuffed into the middle of the gauge cluster delivers a pixelated rush of nostalgia every time you glance down, and the door-open chimes take me back to a world where Apple CarPlay was little more than a glimmer in Steve Jobs’ eye.
One thing that’s remained consistent over the past 20 years of Lamborghini is how the engine comes to elevate the experience. The 5.0 is rowdy, with a brilliant, raspy sound that culminates in a wonderfully familiar V-10 bark. It’s far less refined than the Audi-derived 5.2-liter engine that you find in the Huracán, and makes a distinctly different noise. There’s a wonderful linearity to the power delivery, making it addicting to fly up and down the rev range.
The E-gear transmission doesn’t elevate the Gallardo’s experience, it dominates it. Everything you’ve heard about these transmissions is true. At full throttle, it’s excellent. Upshifts are quick, the computer cutting the throttle and slamming into the next gear in a ferocious, absolute manner. It’s addictive. But in any other situation, it’s clunky, slow, and at times, infuriating. A pull of the upshift paddle at half throttle will cause the Gallardo to lurch as it slowly maneuvers into the next gear, as if there’s a little human in the bellhousing learning how to drive stick. Downshifts are even worse. They’re slow and upset the car’s balance in the process—not fun in high-g braking or turning situations.
It’s possible to warm up to the E-gear, though. I found lifting the throttle between shifts made it operate far more smoothly, taking away a lot of the frustration. Once you train yourself to do that, you can enjoy the rest of the Gallardo. And there’s plenty to enjoy. In addition to the fantastic steering, you appreciate the car’s slightly smaller footprint and road-tuned suspension. It never crashes over bumps, and provides bundles of feedback. Visibility out the front is fantastic, and the seats are the most comfortable I’ve used in any exotic, ever. In some ways, the Gallardo is far more compelling than the Huracán that replaced it.
The Huracán isn’t a bad car, obviously. It’s one of the best exotics on sale. But the Gallardo peels back that layer of synthetic newness to reveal a more analog machine that speaks to you in more ways, like how the brakes deliver progressive, linear stopping power or how the throttle provides an instant, snappy response. The standard all-wheel-drive means sure-footed grip through corners, and gobs of traction on exit. And it all feels totally natural. It also helps that the Gallardo was very much designed as a road car first, with plenty of sound-deadening—something no Huracán I’ve driven has had.
History should be kind to the Lamborghini Gallardo. It may not have been perfect, but the baby Lambo succeeded at propelling Lamborghini into the modern age. After driving one, it’s easy to see why it was such a hit. The show-stopping looks and epic powertrain are enough to get any enthusiast excited. Factor in the surprisingly livable cabin and usable Audi electronics, and you have an excellent, desirable, capable mid-engine supercar, even 20 years later.
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