BULL STEAM AHEAD; With a more powerful V12, the latest Murcielago is more of a thrill than ever.(News)(Product/service evaluation)

Byline: ADAM TOWLER

The courtyard lies at the top of a gentle slope. As we approach, the evening sun sweeps across the Tuscan hillside and lights up its archway.

Inside sits a Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 looking menacing in military green. It is a new color, a sort of mossy, watery metallic. Up front, just inches from the stones, juts a more prominent splitter than before; at the rear there is an enormous funnel-in fact it's a Veyron-style exhaust protruding below the new taillights. The sides are now asymmetrical; the right features a small vent slash, the left a gaping hole where the new oil cooler inhales.

Two thoughts spring to mind. One, the Murcielago is still a beautiful car. And two, this is one midlife makeover that has actually improved on the original. It is a spellbinding moment-a glorious reaffirmation of the term "supercar.''

While the old Murcielago was hardly a bad car to begin with, it was starting to feel the heat from the opposition. Suddenly, having "just'' 580 hp looked rather inadequate. To combat its pesky rivals, the raging bull has been poked in the eye to make it a little bit angrier.

Just when you thought the venerable V12 had been stretched to the point of snapping its connecting rods, capacity rises from 6.2 to 6.5 liters. The cylinder head, crankshaft, camshafts, intake and exhaust systems have all had attention paid; the oil-cooling system is much larger (hence the bodywork revisions on one side), and there is an electronic throttle. Controlling all this is an improved electronic brain that oversees the production of 631 hp at a screaming 8000 rpm and 487 lb-ft of torque at 6000 rpm.

After such a visual barrage of supercar excess, opening up the scissors door and contorting down into the wide, low cockpit is reassuringly familiar, though it's as intimidating as ever.