Lambo unleashes a faster, lighter Gallardo; LAMBORGHINI GALLARDO LP560/4.(News)(Automobili Lamborghini USA Inc.)

Byline: MICHAEL TAYLOR

Lamborghini is upgrading its Gallardo supercar. The rear end, which Lamborghini always has considered a bit messy, now has a neater, more horizontal look. Lambo also has thrown away just about everything under the skin, including the engine, the chassis and the suspension.

The result is the Gallardo LP560/4, with 560 hp from a higher-revving, naturally aspirated, 5.2-liter V10 plus a lighter all-wheel-drive system, a heavily reengineered rear chassis and a completely new suspension.

There are so many new parts in this car that they surpass the old in volume, weight, cost and whatever other measure you might use.

It will sprint from 0 to 62 mph in 3.7 seconds-0.3 second faster than the Gallardo and matching, to the tenth, Ferrari's F430 Scuderia. It will also streak through 124 mph in 11.8 seconds (half a second quicker) and will hit a 201-mph top speed.

But while the rev limiter cuts in 200 rpm higher at 8500 and there's an additional 40 hp, Lamborghini has set out to impress in the midrange, where the Gallardo could be found wanting. Torque is 398 lb-ft but arrives 2250 rpm later, at 6500 rpm. Lambo insists that the adoption of iniezione diretta stratificata (identical to Audi's FSI direct injection) gives it a fatter curve and more torque at 4000 revs than the old car had at its peak.

But don't think that this is simply a bigger version of the old 5.0-liter. It's not. It's an all-new engine. Expect more menace in the engine note everywhere, even at idle, because the new flat-plane crankshaft has discarded the 18-degree pin split in a chase for rigidity. The engine will sound lumpier and angrier, with more of a coarse aural threat under-lying everything it does.