Lamborghini LP640 Roadster

Introduction

By Keith Buglewicz

2007 Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 Roadster – Photo Gallery: The Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 is one of the fastest automobiles on the planet, with eye blink-fast acceleration and a top speed in excess of 200 mph. It is as much a feast for the sense of sight as it is for one’s sense of inertia, with its sharp-edged styling as polarizing as one would expect from this bad-boy Italian automaker. Some love the combination of hard angles that make it look like an advanced origami sculpture. Others prefer the smooth flow of Ferraris. Regardless, it’s hard to take a bad picture of the Murcielago.

Rear 3/4

Our Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 Roadster carried a base price of $351,700 including the $1,300 destination charge and $5,400 in gas-guzzler taxes.

Interior

Manually adjustable front seats clad in soft, supple leather offer a simple range of movement yet offer excellent comfort and support. The trouble with the Lamborghini Murcielago is the driving position. Taller people will likely feel that the pedals are too close even with the seat all the way back against the cabin wall.

Side View

Buy the Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 Roadster for its performance, its design, or to flaunt wealth. What other reason could there possibly be for owning one?

3/4 Front Beauty

Everywhere the Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 goes, attention follows. Police, pedestrians, and fellow motorists gawk at this car, and the brighter the paint color, the harder it is to pass undetected.

Dash

This year there’s a restyled instrument panel, new gauge graphics and slightly wider seats. A Kenwood audio system with a 6.5-inch display screen is new, and a navigation system is now optional.

Instrument Panel

Our test sample included the optional carbon fiber trim, suede steering wheel, and two-tone interior décor.

Engine Cover

Covering the powerful V-12 engine is a cover designed using sharp angular lines housing vents that allow the big powerplant to disperse heat.

3/4 Front View

To accommodate the added power and speed, Lamborghini has beefed up the drivetrain and braking systems. The suspension is also tweaked for improved high-speed stability and handling.

Engine

As the LP640 designation indicates, the 2007 Lamborghini Murcielago gets more firepower under its rear deck. Mounted amidships, the 6.5-liter V12 gets a bump from 580 horsepower at 7,500 rpm to 640 at eight grand as well as a little extra torque – 487 lb.-ft. at 6,000 revs from 480 at 5,400 rpm. Acceleration and top speed are both higher with the LP640: 3.4 seconds to 60 mph and a top speed of 211 mph.

Exhaust

Dual pipes are fed to a single outlet at the rear of the LP640 that evokes thoughts of Formula 1 race cars under hard acceleration.

Handling

Let’s see…giant low-profile Pirelli rubber front and rear, permanent 4WD, adaptive damping suspension with anti-dive and -squat geometry, ceramic brakes…yeah, the Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 Roadster can handle.

Rear 3/4

Limits are high enough that a closed track environment is the best place to explore what the Murcielago can do, and we didn’t dare push the car on public roads. Suffice to say that the LP640 handles much like a giant shifter kart, with immediate response to steering, braking, throttle, and shifting inputs.

Wheels

Hermera alloy wheels, carbon fiber trim, ceramic brakes, and the E-gear transmission accounted for the bulk of the options cost.

Open Top

Chilly days and nights require a jacket with the Roadster, but the automatic climate control does a decent job of warming the lower half of the cockpit.

Overhead View

With the introduction of the LP640 designation, the Lamborghini Murcielago gets minor exterior changes to help separate it from the original. New bumpers, more aerodynamic side mirrors, a single center exhaust outlet, and new LED taillights are key identifiers, along with asymmetrical side air inlets.

Front View

The scoop on the left is larger than the one on the right due to the location of the oil cooler.

Carbon Door Sills

Carbon fiber sill plates greet you as the scissor-style doors are raised.

Headlights

Sharp and edgy best describes the defining lines of the Lamborghini LP640 headlights and body lines.

3/4 Front Doors Up

Lamborghini offers the Murcielago LP640 in coupe and roadster, the latter equipped with nothing more than a temporary tonneau for the rare occasions that the owner has the car out during inclement weather. Each Murcielago can be custom tailored to help ensure that no two cars are exactly alike, thereby guaranteeing exclusivity.

Night View

This is a car meant for serious drivers, a beautiful automobile that should not be painted bright orange nor wasted on those more interested in being seen than in simply loving to drive.

Low Angle View

Ferruccio Lamborghini made his fortune making tractors and heating equipment. In 1962, he bought a factory in Sant’Agata, Italy, hired an engineer to spearhead design and development of a new sports car, and debuted his first prototype at the Turin Auto Show in November of 1963. The production Lamborghini 350 GT debuted in 1964 at Geneva, but it was the timeless Muira and unforgettable Countach that cemented Lamborghini in the annals of exotic car history. The Countach was also the first Lambo to wear the LP designation – in Italian, longitudinale posteriore – followed by digits representing engine displacement. On the Murcielago, the numbers refer to horsepower.

Console Controls

For an Italian exotic, the Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 offers a surprisingly logical control layout. Everything except the Kenwood audio system is easy to find, understand, and operate. The stereo and navigation systems, however, are frustrating to use. In daylight, the display washes out and the teensy lettering next to the tiny buttons is impossible to read.

E-Shift

Our test car came equipped with the optional E-gear sequential manual transmission. Tap the left steering wheel paddle to downshift, tap the right steering wheel paddle to upshift, and tap both to place the Murcielago LP640 in neutral. Reverse is activated using a button on the left side of the dashboard. To launch smoothly in traffic, the driver must roll gently into the throttle before accelerating normally because E-gear’s clutch must be gradually released just like a regular manual transmission. Or, hammer the pedal and the Murcielago instantly leaps forward. Normal shifts are slow and smooth; in Sport mode the E-gear tranny shifts hard and fast. Downshifts are automatically rev-matched, making even the most ham-handed driver look, and sound, like a pro.

Climate & Audio Controls

A Kenwood audio system with a 6.5-inch display screen is new, and a navigation system is now optional.

Embossed Seats

The Lamborghini bull is proudly displayed, embossed into the headrests of each seat in the LP640.

Brakes

Hermera wheels accent 6-piston calipers and ceramic brake package offered on the LP640 roadster.

Specifications

Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 Roadster – Specifications:
Base Price: $351,700 (including the $1,300 delivery fee and $5,400 gas guzzler tax)
Engine: 6.5-liter V-12
Horsepower: 640 at 8,000 rpm
Torque: 487 lb.-ft. at 6,000 rpm
Transmission: Six-speed E-gear sequential manual
Dry Weight: 3670.7 lbs.
Acceleration to 60 mph: 3.4 seconds
Top Speed: 211 mph
Fuel Economy: 9 mpg city/13 mpg highway
Front Tires: 245/35ZR18 Pirelli P Zero Rosso
Rear Tires: 335/30ZR18 Pirelli P Zero Rosso
Ceramic Rotor Size: 380mm x 38mm
Most Frequent Utterance Behind the Wheel: Holy God Almighty!

Photos courtesy of Ron Perry