Item: Used Lamborghini Gallardo Coupe 2003 - 2014
Author: Steve Huntingford

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Lamborghinis have been adorning bedroom posters since the mid-1960s. Not bad for a company whose origins lie in making tractors.

Today, Lamborghini is part of the Volkswagen Group, and as well as bolstering its core sports car portfolio, it has branched out to launch the Urus – a luxurious SUV that’s a rival to the similarly rapid Bentley Bentayga W12 and Porsche Cayenne Turbo.

LAMBORGHINI

GALLARDO

It ticks all the supercar boxes: it's got the looks, performance and handling

Used Lamborghini Gallardo Coupe 2003 - 2014

Breaking the bank is what Lamborghinis were designed to do. For people who can actually afford a Gallardo, spending a fortune on one is half the fun.

Residual values on the Gallardo are pretty good in supercar terms. After three years, buyers of new cars will still be able to sell them for well over 60% of the car's original value. Good news for new buyers, not so great for used buyers, especially when you consider that the thing cost well over £100k in the first place.

Running costs are also horrific, not that you'll care if you can afford a Gallardo in the first place. Obviously, it's in the costliest group 20 for insurance, and the fuel consumption could bankrupt you. You'll get a combined average of just 14.5mpg. Servicing will also be pricey, due to a mixture of exotic parts and 7500-mile service intervals.

It ticks all the supercar boxes: it's got the looks, performance and handling

All versions come with a 5.0-litre V10 petrol engine, and even in the standard car it develops a whopping 492bhp. The Gallardo is hurled to 60mph from a standing start in just 4.2sec and on to 192mph.

If you can, find a version with the standard manual gearbox. Many buyers specified the optional clutchless manual paddle-shift gearchange when the car was new, but this makes things too jerky and doesn't enhance the sports car experience as well as many hoped it would.

There's also an SE version that is even quicker. An extra 28bhp is squeezed out of the V10 to give a total of 520bhp. This slices two tenths off the 0-60mph time and adds 4mph to the top speed. However, it's much more expensive, and the standard car is plenty fast enough.

<h2>What we're looking for:</h2><ul><li>Ride comfort shouldn’t be sacrificed at the altar of handling sharpness</li> <li>Plenty of power from a melodic engine</li> <li>Handling that doesn’t come at the expense of a back-breaking ride​​​​​</li> <li> Practicality is not essential but nice to have </li></ul>

Driving fun is right at the top of any sports car buyer's priority list, and every one of our award candidates has backroad entertainment coded into its DNA.

The Mazda MX-5 embodies sports-car spirit without wearing an exotic price tag, and has deservedly gained a strong following over the years. Much newer to the scene is the mid-engined Alpine A110. It may carry a name from the past, but this potent, mid-engined sports car was designed with the very latest lightweight thinking.&nbsp;

Rounding off our shortlist, though, is a name that'll be familiar to even those to whom sports cars hold little interest. The Porsche 911 was born an icon in 1964, and the latest generation bridges the gap between sports car and supercar. Yet, somehow, it manages to preserve a distinctly civilised character.

Sports

There was a time when Lamborghini owners would spend as much time standing on the hard shoulder as they did sitting behind the wheel.

Lamborghini is now owned by Audi, a company famed for the solid construction of its products. The German DNA really shows in the modern Lambo. The materials are of a good quality and they're very well screwed together.

We expect this solidity to carry through to the Gallardo's mechanical parts, but at the moment we can't be completely sure. We need a certain sample size before we can accurately assess the long-term reliability of a car, and with the Gallardo costing so much when new there simply aren't enough of them around for a proper sample.

That said, with Audi's involvement, you can be confident that the Gallardo will prove less troublesome than many supercars.

When you buy a Lamborghini there are certain things you expect from your car - awesome performance, terrific handling, beautiful styling and the odd reliability headache. The good thing about the Gallardo is that it delivers on all of the good stuff and performs better than you'd expect on the bad.

There's no doubting that you'll pay for it. One of the most exotic cars comes with one of the most exotic pricetags. You might be a bit disappointed with the drabness of the interior and the dull steering, too. However, on every other count it's terrific.

A huge, snarling V10 engine provides enormous power, and standard four-wheel drive ensures decent levels of traction. The ride isn't bad, either, and refinement is also impressive for a supercar.

Used Lamborghini Gallardo Coupe 2003 - 2014 review

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