Lamborghini Reviews - Lamborghini Cars

During World War II, company founder Ferruccio Lamborghini served with the Italian Air Force's mechanics corps, where he became proficient at working with engines. After the war, Italy was plagued with scarcity; one such shortage involved tractors. Sensing an opportunity, Lamborghini purchased surplus military machines and reconfigured them as tractors. It was a canny move that resulted in a thriving business for the young entrepreneur, one that quickly made him a very wealthy man. By the 1950s, Lamborghini's business had become even more successful, expanding to include heaters and air-conditioning units. As a car enthusiast, Lamborghini drove the best sports cars of the day. Somewhat disappointed with the Ferraris, he vowed to build a better car. Armed with millions of lira in investment money, he retreated to the small village of Sant'Agata to build a state-of-the-art automotive factory. On his payroll was noted automotive engineer Giotto Bizzarrini, who'd previously worked at Ferrari.

Automobili Lamborghini SpA. was officially founded in 1963. That same year, the very first Lamborghini, the 350GT, debuted at the Turin Motor Show. The car's name came from its engine size, a 3.5-liter four-cam V12. Then came the 400GT, which was produced until 1968. But it was the stunning midengine Miura, produced from 1967-'73, that catapulted Lamborghini to worldwide acclaim. Lamborghini's tractor business suffered hard times in the early '70s, which led him to sell a controlling interest of Automobili Lamborghini SpA to a Swiss industrialist. The Italian's problems were worsened by that decade's oil crisis, and he wound up selling the remaining amount of his shares. Still, Lamborghini had found the wherewithal to bring out the Miura's replacement, the iconic Countach, for 1974. The company also invested millions in the development of a new vehicle, the military truck-style Cheetah, but its sales were disappointing. By the end of the decade, the automaker had declared bankruptcy. The company got back on its feet in the 1980s. The key was Lamborghini's over-the-top Countach.

Though introduced previously, the Countach was now fully styled with outlandish vents, aggressive fender flares and a huge rear wing that made it the perfect exotic car for that's decade's brash mentality. The '90s started out with the debut of the Countach's successor, the Diablo. Not long after, though, another change of ownership took place in 1994, when Lamborghini was acquired by three Far Eastern companies. Megatech was the largest of the trio and the primary shareholder. By the late 1990s, Lamborghini was in financial hot water once again. As before, the lack of a diversified product lineup was hurting the company's ability to compete globally. The new millennium saw the debut of the Murcielago, which replaced the Diablo, and the (relatively) more affordable Gallardo. Today, the current German/Italian marriage seems to be quite stable, and the rise in quality and refinement of Lamborghini's vehicles leaves no doubt as to its benefit.

Much like last year鈥檚 911 Carrera T, Porsche has applied the same pared-back ethos to the 718 range, picking some of the tastiest chassis options and applying them to the most basic model. So what do you get over the standard Boxster? Most importantly, the T gets the full PASM sport chassis - which drops ride height by 20mm - as well as the Sport Chrono package, Porsche鈥檚 torque vectoring differential, sports exhaust and active drivetrain mounts. Dark grey 20-inch Carrera S wheels are also standard, with matching mirror caps and 鈥楤oxster 718 T鈥?logos and stripes along the sides. Fabric door releases, as used on a few previous special Porsche variants, appear inside, and the T gets Sport-Tex fabric-trimmed sports seats. To add a touch of vibrancy, there are optional colour packs to bring in contrasting stitching to any leather stitching, accents on seats and coloured seat belts to match for no extra cost. Although the standard leather sports steering wheel is almost perfect in size and shape, the optional Alcantara wheel and gear knob in our test car (拢531.00) made it feel considerably more special.

Porsche鈥檚 PCM infotainment system has also been removed in the name of weight saving, replaced by a useful storage cubby in the centre console. Reinstating the system is a no-cost option, something most sensible buyers are likely to do. On the road, the chassis changes are immediately apparent. Dropping the body by 20mm means the Boxster T feels even more purposeful from the outset. It鈥檚 noticeably firmer at low speed, although not to the point of being uncomfortable, but as the pace rises the quality of the damping shines through. It shrugs off larger compressions the and lumps, and it feels controlled and inspiring huge confidence. The overall balance of of the Boxster remains as excellent as the base car, but it turns-in with more precision and exits corners with more vigour thanks to that mechanical torque-vectoring differential. A rotary dial on the steering wheel is used to flick through the four driving modes, starting with Normal mode, moving through progressively more aggressive Sport and Sport Plus modes to Individual, which is fully configurable.