Yahoo Autos You Can Run but Not Hide in a Roofless Aventador S
Upon its introduction as a 2012 model, the 217-mph Lamborghini Aventador became the most advanced flagship supercar the Italian maker has ever offered. The wedgy exotic got even better after its 2017 update, at which time it was rechristened Aventador S and bestowed with befanged front-end styling, modified air intakes, an active steering rack, rear-wheel steering, and 39 more horsepower, bringing its naturally aspirated V-12’s output to 730 ponies. As we experienced during our stint behind the wheel, driving the Aventador S coupe is finally commensurate to the experience of looking at it, which is to say awe-inspiring.
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Now, after experiencing the Aventador S “roadster”-its two-piece removable roof makes it a targa despite Lambo’s naming convention-there are two ways this version provides a more complete supercar experience to justify its $42,597 upcharge. First is the heightened sensory experience delivered by the open-air model vis-à-vis the more cossetting coupe, which is a pretty intense experience already. Second, and perhaps more important to anyone buying an Aventador, is the roadster’s ability to make its highly exposed occupants part of the spectacle, thus delivering its driver an unmitigated ego boost. Whether that’s a good thing very much depends on the driver, but chances are that if they’re in an Aventador, they’re probably not afraid of a little attention.
For us, the ego boost occurred immediately upon walking up to an example coated in Arancio Atlas Pearl Effect (Lambo-speak for $4900 retina-searing orange paint). The onlookers assembled around the half-dozen Lamborghinis parked in the driveway of the Viceroy Hotel in Santa Monica excitedly raised their phone cameras as we swung open the scissor doors. We couldn’t break it to them how not rich and not famous we actually were or that the cars weren’t really ours; we just smiled and waved as we dropped ourselves inside-a much easier process in the roofless model. We revved the prewarmed V-12s to the onlookers’ great delight, and with the cameras still on us, our multicolored convoy departed the hotel.
As our procession noisily made its way in tight formation up toward Malibu along a moderately congested Pacific Coast Highway, tourists in rented Mustangs and carpooling moms in SUVs picked right up where the pedestrians at the Viceroy left off, all smiles and waves, cameras in hand to add some literal and figurative color to their social-media posts for the day. More than a few lowered their windows to verbalize their appreciation. Few cars invite as much engagement with fellow motorists as does a roofless Lamborghini.
It’s Corner-Hunting Time
There was less waving but a lot more smiling once we turned off PCH and onto the legendary canyon roads snaking through the Santa Monica Mountains. There, we dipped deeper and deeper into the V-12’s seemingly endless reserves of power. Knowing that most of the V-12’s 39 additional horses were hiding way up near the engine’s stratospheric 8500-rpm redline, we looked for every opportunity to put them to work. Unleashing all 730 horsepower is intense enough in the S coupe, but with the windows lowered and no roof in place, the aural experience becomes almost supernatural. At full song, the V-12’s inebriating symphony flows in from the sides, from above, and-when the vestigial rear window is lowered-from behind. And the Aventador is spectacularly quick, of course. We expect the roadster will catapult from zero to 60 mph in three seconds flat when we test it, placing it a trivial 0.1 second behind the coupe, which is 110 pounds lighter, according to Lamborghini. Both cars share the same 217-mph stated top speed.
Unsurprisingly, the big Lambo traverses the chutes between corners like a six-and-a-half-foot-wide bolt of orange lightning, but the big roadster’s ability to track through even the tightest corners was a revelation. We also reveled in the pan-flat cornering attitude and telepathic turn-in response, the latter made quicker in Sport mode and quicker still in Corsa (“Race”) mode, with Corsa adding a sense of genuine eagerness without becoming twitchy or unpredictable. And even in full attack mode, the roadster didn’t betray its decrease in torsional rigidity, even though it’s said to be 37 percent lower than that of the coupe.
The new rear-wheel-steering system was largely sidelined for much of the squiggly stuff. That’s because it’s operational only at parking-lot speeds, where the rear wheels turn opposite to the front wheels to help maneuver in tight spaces, and above 65 to 80 mph (depending on conditions and driving mode), where the rear wheels turn in phase with the front wheels to add stability and hone turn-in response in high-speed sweepers. It was along one particularly scenic stretch of PCH that hugs the rocky coastal cliffs just east of Point Mugu where the four-wheel steering was the most conspicuously effective, working brilliantly to turn the Aventador into a scalpel that we used to slice through a series of high-speed corners with utterly ludicrous speed.
With gorgeous scenery above, below, and all around us and the siren song of a V-12 wailing away, few settings may be more flattering to a vehicle. Yet neither perfect weather nor perfect scenery can mask various imperfections that, considering the Aventador S roadster’s $467,442 base price, we feel compelled to call out. The car’s single-clutch automated-manual transmission remains a brutal, graceless thing that takes some time to come to terms with. The Audi MMI–based infotainment system dates back to a version from at least a decade ago and features a small, non-TFT screen and unceremonious switchgear. The cabin suffers an utter dearth of stowage space-there’s only the glovebox, a small net between the two seatbacks, and a covered bin under the center armrest barely large enough to hold a pack of gum. And the front trunk-or “frunk”-holds either five cubic feet of stuff or the roof panels, but not both.
To be fair, most of those criticisms apply to the hardtop as well, although the roadster rectifies one of the coupe’s chief shortcomings: headroom. This car has plenty of that. And for those with the means, the Aventador S roadster makes a strong case for its premium, awakening the senses and engaging the world around you as only a topless Lamborghini can.
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