2014 Lamborghini Aventador: Top Up, Or Top Down?

The Lamborghini Aventador Coupé followed in the tradition of super-sports cars such as Countach, Diablo and Murciélago. One departure for Aventador was the realization that top speed, a long-standing Lamborghini highlight, isn't really all that relevant today. But acceleration and handling are. OK, 0 - 100 km/h in 2.9 seconds might not be something you can use every day and not draw way too much attention to yourself. Likewise, race-car cornering power. But you can almost never come close to the 350 km/h top end this car is capable of.

One thing you can use every day is stunning styling, and Aventador delivers. Scissor doors are another Lambo tradition - accept that you will bash your head on them now and again as you enter or exit the car, and that backing up will always be a challenge. Another useful attribute at least when the weather is favourable is top-down capability. The new Aventador Roadster adds that to the coupé's skill set. It also means you are less likely to bash your head, which is a good thing.

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Filippo Perini, Chief Designer for Lamborghini, said the main issue for the development of the Roadster was - where to put the roof? "Proportion is everything," he said. "Aventador's silhouette is iconic and we needed to keep the roadster the same - maybe better."

Given the carbon fibre structure, there was no way to fold a roof in behind the seats. So he came up with a twin removable panel concept. Each carbon fibre panel weighs just 6 kg, but must be removed and stored in the front trunk in a precise sequence in order for it all to fit. And when it does, your luggage space is reduced to near-zero. It's part of the price you pay for the wind rushing through your hair.

Aventador's interior shows off the unmatched skill of Lamborghini's parent company Audi. The switchgear requires some acclimatization, but is beautifully fabricated and functions with elegant precision. Two TFT (Thin-Film Transistor) liquid-crystal screens - one in front of the driver for speedo, tach and other critical data, the other in the centre console for Climate, Audio, SatNav and other functions - are bright, colourful and legible. The seats, once you get nestled into them, are comfortable and very supportive.

In addition to the joys of open-air motoring, roof-off also allows you to better hear the magical exhaust note of the 6.5 litre 60-degree, four-cam, four-valve, all-aluminum V12 engine. Lamborghini's head of Research and Development Maurizio Reggiani is proud that unlike baby brother Gallardo's V10, this is an all-Lambo design, with no input from Audi. It produces 700 horsepower and a peak of 509 lb.-ft. of torque at 5,500 r.p.m.

New in the Roadster and also added to the coupé is software-driven cylinder deactivation which can be applied to either bank of six cylinders, so as to spread the changes in wear pattern around. Stop-start technology, utilizing a super-capacitor to feed the starter for quicker restarts, reduces fuel consumption and emissions in stop-and-go traffic by as much as 25 percent. While 17.2 litres per 100 km (European combined cycle) won't win you any Environmentalist of the Year awards, Aventador is some 20 percent better than the Murciélago it replaced. The transmission is an electro-hydraulically-shifted single-clutch seven-speed which gives much of the shift-speed advantage of a dual-clutch gearbox (as low as 50 milliseconds) without the associated packaging and weight penalties.

A dual-clutch transmission would make shifting smoother when driving gently. But Reggiani feels that for a super-sports car, an 'emotional' shift character is more appropriate, letting the driver know the car is built for speed, not for comfort. Five driving modes, three in manual - 'Strada' (road), 'Sport' and 'Corsa' (race) - and two in automatic - 'Strada' and 'Sport' - allow the driver to select how emotional (s)he wants the transmission to be. The selected mode also impacts the response of the steering, electronic differential, throttle and Electronic Stability Control systems.

The full-time four-wheel drive system incorporates a Haldex centre differential which can predict which axle will need more torque based on road speed, throttle position and steering wheel angle. It combines with self-locking rear and viscous-coupled front differentials to optimize grip. A race-car-inspired push-rod suspension has the  double-wishbones, springs and dampers rigidly attached to the aluminum sub-frames, which are in turn bonded to the carbon fibre monocoque, instead of bouncing up and down with the wheels. Thus, the bits can be lighter, the forces acting on the dampers are lower and can be better controlled, and both geometry and packaging are improved.

No electronics here; the damper settings remain fixed. The front end does have a hydraulic lift system which eases access to filling stations and such. Huge carbon-ceramic brakes keep all this power under control. The suspension is Aventador's biggest improvement over its predecessors. It not only gives the top-end Lamborghini better ride than ever, but better handling too. You feel more in control, less like you're on a carnival ride. The performance is predictably prodigious, although the throttle response is very abrupt; you will have to develop a very sensitive right foot to proceed smoothly.

Your only decisions then - Coupé or Roadster, and which colour would you like?