Lamborghini Gallardo

The Lamborghini Gallardo is a sports car built by Lamborghini. The Gallardo is Lamborghini's most-produced model to date, with over 5000 built in its first three years of production. Each car costs about $180,000 to $210,000. The car is named after a famous breed of fighting bull. The Spanish word Gallardo translates into "Gallant," and from Italian into "Striking".

The Gallardo offers two choices of transmissions, a conventional (H-Box) six-speed manual transmission, and an advanced six-speed electro-hydraulically controlled semi-automatic robotized manual, which Lamborghini abbreviates to "E-gear". The "E-gear" allows the driver to make shifts much faster than a manual transmission would. The driver shifts up and down via paddles behind the steering wheel, but has also the automatic mode.

For the 2006 (launched in late 2005) Lamborghini introduced many changes to the car to counter some criticisms garnered by the press and owners. These were derived from the limited edition Gallardo SE. The exhaust system was changed to a more sporty one (including a flap to make it quieter around town), the suspension was revised and a new steering rack was fitted, the engine power was increased by 20 bhp to a maximum of 512 brake horsepower (382 kW), the biggest change was an overall lowering of the gearing especially in 1st to 5th. The result was a much improved car, it handled and turned in better, sounded better under full throttle and the extra power and lower gearing turned an already fast car into a seriously quick one.