Can you believe that next year, the Lamborghini will be celebrating 20 years since the first Gallardo left the Sant'Agata Bolognese factory? It may be that we don't perceive it as a two-decade-old vehicle because the last one was built less than 10 years ago. The Gallardo played an important role in the grand scheme of things, as the Italian supercar manufacturer sold a record 14,000 units during its lifespan.
The car that the guys at Autotop.nl are testing today happens to be a 2005 Gallardo. This should be one of the slowest ones ever made, as it's using the original 5.0-liter V10 engine. Back in the day, this was rated at 493-hp and 376 lb-ft (510 Nm) of torque.
According to official information released by Lamborghini, this should be capable of hitting 192 mph (309 kph). It's a good thing that the Autobahn happens to be nearby. Depending on how old you are, you might be surprised that this Gallardo is using a six-speed manual transmission.
Granted, it might not be as fast as the modern-day automatic transmissions, but it's more engaging. Gallardo prices have been going up these past few years, as you would expect. If you're not too picky, you might be able to buy one for less than $100,000.
And by "too picky" we mean: a 2003 to 2005 model, with a manual gearbox, and at least 50,000 miles (80,467 km) on the odometer. But seeing that this car was developed under the supervision of Audi, that shouldn't be too worrisome.
Photo: AutoTopNL
The Audi heritage is visible on the inside, and the Gallardo is nowhere nearly as exciting to sit in as a modern-day Lamborghini is. Hitting 61 mph (99 kph) in 1st gear is not something you'll see every day, but shifting to 2nd gear takes up a bit of time.
As a result, going from 0 to 62 mph (100 kph) takes 4.78 seconds. An extra 8.8 seconds is required for the "old school" supercar to hit 124 mph (200 kph). Looking at a list of times posted by over 500 different cars, the Gallardo is the 207th fastest one there.
By comparison, it's 0.08 seconds faster than a 2017 Shelby GT350: but that might be due to a mix of different factors. A 2022 Audi RS 3 Sedan is almost half a second slower going from 62 mph to 124 mph, and so is a 2013 BMW M3 GTS E92.
But the Gallardo is slower than quite a few modern-day sports cars, including a 2019 Audi RS6 C8, a 2017 Porsche 997 Turbo with a manual transmission, and even a 2021 BMW M3 Competition. In case you were curious about the quarter-mile (402 meters) performance: it would require 12.3 seconds to cross the finish line.
Photo: AutoTopNL
The driver keeps pushing the car to its limit, trying to see how fast it can go. While the speedometer reads just over 200 mph (321 kph), the GPS recorded speed is slightly lower at 186 mph (300 kph). Either way, this car has been around for 17 years.
How many supercar odometers have you seen that have gone past the 56,000 miles (90,123 km) mark? Sure, there are faster cars on the market for less money. But at the end of the day, are you going to buy a car based on pure math alone?
The things Dragos enjoys the most in life are, in no particular order: cars, motorcycles, diecast cars, and drifting. He's seen (and driven) many vehicles since he started his writing career back in 2009, but his garage currently houses a 1991 Mazda RX-7 FC3S Turbo II and a 1999 Suzuki SV650-S. Full profile
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