For car enthusiasts, one of Hollywood’s most glaring gaffes is the Lamborghini Aventador in Dallas Buyers Club. The movie is set in 1985, but when drug-dealing anti-hero Matthew McConaughey sits at his desk, a poster of an Aventador LP700-4 ‒ a car launched in 2011 – is clearly visible on the wall behind him.
In hindsight, it’s easy to see how the mistake could happen. The Aventador is somehow both futuristic and defiantly old-school – a wedge of pure, undiluted supercar, with a design lineage that can be traced back to the Lamborghini Countach of 1974.
However, while its outrageous styling hasn’t aged, the car underneath was starting to feel old.
‘A perfect finale’
Enter the Aventador Ultimae, a ‘perfect finale’ for this flamboyant flagship before its successor arrives in 2023. With a 780hp 6.5-litre V12 that revs to 8,700rpm, it’s the most powerful naturally aspirated Lamborghini ever. And probably the closest you’ll get to time travel without Hollywood’s help.
Ultimae production is limited to 600 cars, split into 350 coupes and 250 targa-top Roadsters. And yes, before you ask, they are all sold. Thankfully, the company has retained one Roadster for its Italian press fleet and I’ve arrived in sunny Sant’Agata – the home of Lamborghini since 1963 – to drive it. As days at work go, this one ranks above average.
Unlike the track-focused Aventador SVJ – which previously held the production car lap record at the Nürburgring – the Ultimae isn’t covered in cartoonish active aero devices. Yet it’s still unfeasibly exotic in the metal, with an arrowhead nose and huge haunches that wrap around ravenous air intakes. Lamborghini’s theatrical scissor doors are the pièce de résistance.
Giving in to temptation
Drop down into the low-slung seat and the Ultimae feels like a fighter jet. There’s even a flip-up ‘bomb switch’ to ignite the engine. The cluttered dashboard looks dated, although its 2011-spec CD changer is now complemented by Apple CarPlay connectivity.
I plug Lamborghini’s ‘extended test drive’ route into Google Maps, then edge gingerly out of the car park. Even having driven Aventadors in the past, these first few moments are always intimidating.
In truth, I don’t ever fully relax in the three hours I spend with the Ultimae. The preposterously potent V12 feels like a malign presence behind your back, constantly goading you to go faster. Give in to temptation and the four-wheel-drive Lamborghini hits 62mph in 2.9 seconds and keeps on accelerating until 220mph. Even the famously lenient local police might baulk at that.
Power and precision
The Aventador’s sheer girth demands your attention, too. On some hillside switchbacks, I involuntarily breathe in whenever a battered Fiat Panda comes the other way. This car feels happiest on flowing A-roads, where its monstrous speed, huge carbon-ceramic brakes and superb stability – enhanced by rear-wheel steering – can be best exploited.
With space to unleash its talents, the Ultimae offers a blend of finely honed precision and gobsmacking brute force.
Then there’s the noise: more bassy and bombastic than the Huracan’s razor-sharp V10, with a fusillade of sizzling pops and crackles from the bazooka tailpipes every time you change gear. A Tesla Model S might be as rapid in a straight line, but it can’t hold an LED to the Lamborghini for sense of occasion.
The V12 lives on
As ever, a clunky single-clutch transmission is the Aventador’s weakest link. In automatic mode, it lurches like a drunken dad at a Christmas party, although the shifts sharpen up if you use the long, tactile paddles.
Corsa mode also makes the pushrod suspension too stiff for Emilia-Romagna’s lumpy roads (and UK roads, no doubt), while over-the-shoulder visibility is non-existent – unless you remove the roof.
The final Aventador has now left the line in Sant’Agata, as the factory gears up for its plug-in hybrid replacement. However, while batteries are included, the bulk of power will be derived from a big-capacity V12. Futuristic and old-school at the same time? Let’s hope so.
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