Lamborghini Murciélago LP640

Murciélago LP640

An updated 2007 model called the Murciélago LP640 replaces the 2006 Murciélago coupe. The "LP" stands for "longitudinale posteriore," which is Italian for "longitudinal rear" and indicates the position of the vehicle's massive V12 engine behind the cockpit.

The number 640 in the new moniker denotes the total hp rating of the tweaked V12 engine, up 60 hp from the outgoing Murciélago coupe's V12 thanks to a bump in displacement from 6.2 liters to 6.5 liters. Lamborghini says the added power shaves 0.4 seconds from the zero-to-62 mph sprint, bringing it down to a scant 3.4 seconds.

A convertible version of the Murciélago, introduced last year, retains the 6.2-liter 580-hp V12. It has a removable fabric top: When it’s installed, Lamborghini advises keeping the speed under 100 mph.
A more aggressive front bumper with reshaped air intakes and a large spoiler underneath distinguish the 2007 LP640 from previous Murciélagos and make the bold design of the outgoing coupe even wilder. A redesigned rear diffuser encompasses twin exhaust pipes, and the taillights are now all red.
Owners can show off the heart of their beast with a new optional glass engine cover. Archrival Ferrari has offered similar transparent paneling as standard equipment on its mid-engine models for more than two decades, starting with the 1987 F40.

The LP640 has an extra intake just ahead of the driver’s-side rear wheel that pipes cool air to the oil radiator. The 18-inch titanium wheels are new and lighter, wrapped in performance Pirelli rubber. Racing tires are optional.

Like its predecessor and the current Murciélago Roadster, the LP640 has a permanent all-wheel-drive system with electronic traction control, which doesn't just improve performance but is essential to tame this high-powered monster. Under normal conditions 70 percent of the engine's power is sent to the rear wheels. During intense driving up to 100 percent of the drive force can be sent to either the front or rear axles.
Also carried over from the previous raging bull is an electronically controlled adaptive suspension and six-speed manual transmission linked to a stronger rear differential and beefed-up axles. A paddle-shift sequential-manual transmission, which Lamborghini calls e-gear, remains optional. It offers two modes — Thrust and Sport — the latter having more aggressive shift parameters for split-second gear changes.
Massive brake discs — the front ones are roughly 15 inches in diameter — are a little larger than those on the outgoing coupe. Slightly thicker carbon-ceramic brake discs are optional and designed to reduce brake fade, where the brakes become less effective as the discs overheat from severe use, such as on a racetrack.
Eyes can distinguish the Murcielago LP640 from the car that debuted in 2001 and has since sold some 2000 copies. (LP640 represents the car's engine position-longitudinale posteriore-and its horsepower, 640.) A new front bumper, molded of carbon fiber like all the body panels except the steel roof and doors, provides more downforce. The side mirrors are resculpted, and a larger driver's-side air intake accommodates a bigger oil cooler. The rear diffuser's huge center exhaust replaces the previous quad pipes in an acknowledgement that many owners were installing similar setups via the aftermarket.

A bigger bore and a longer stroke for the 60-degree V-12 bump displacement from 6.2 to 6.5 liters and output from 580 hp to 640 hp, just in time to maintain bragging rights over the 612-hp V-12 in Ferrari's new 599GTB Fiorano. The Lamborghini's basic block design carries over, with new heads, intake and exhaust systems, and engine-control electronics. Balboni claims that the engine is "60 percent new."
The V-12 now can be served up under glass, which is a welcome development, since there is no sense in hiding the engine of one of the world's most extroverted supercars. Gear ratios for the six-speed manual or the six-speed e-gear, paddle-shift transmission also were modified. Lamborghini says that, with e-gear, the LP640 reaches 60 mph in only 3.4 seconds, an improvement of 0.4 second over the original Murcielago, and the top speed rises from 205 mph to 211 mph, a claim we had no opportunity to test. Not that Balboni would have let us, anyway.

Soon we are driving the 632-hp Lamborghini Murciélago LP640 behind Balboni, who is in his green Audi A4 diesel, and we can’t keep up. That’s because the narrow farm roads around the Lamborghini factory in Sant’Agata, Italy, have three lanes, two visible ones for routine traffic and one invisible lane just for Balboni. He darts into it frequently to pick off slowpokes, the obliging Fiats moving to the right with barely a flashed headlight of complaint. The 81.0-inch-wide LP640, in our abnormally cautious hands, snorts and burbles and falls steadily behind.-->

The windup to warp speed happens in one long, startlingly smooth blast of intoxicating bull power. Better still, the clutch engages with a light pedal and facile fluidity, the bulky all-wheel-drive powertrain as tractable and complacent as a Honda’s from stoplight to stoplight. The LP640 is still a supercar by an older definition, meaning that it pushes and pogos and feels generally gargantuan. But the Murciélago now serves horsepower every bit as civilized as that from its nearby competitors at Il Cavallino Modenese.

What happened was an engine redesign. The 572-hp, 6.2-liter dry-sump V-12 became a 6.5, going up a millimeter in bore size and 2.2mm in stroke. Everything from the crank mains up was redesigned to extract more power, flatten the delivery of the 487 pound-feet of torque, and improve emissions, starting with reshaped combustion chambers in new cylinder heads. Variable-valve-timing mechanisms on both sets of cams are now rotary-type with infinite variability; before, it was a two-step system. The multichamber intake plenum changed from a crossflow to a vertical downdraft, the air ramming through oval tubes straight into larger valves.

Lamborghini, which proudly makes its own engine computers, completely rewrote the software (no doubt with some input from parent company Audi) to accommodate the new hardware. The engineers say they also cut 60 pounds out of the engine compartment.

You’ll know the LP640 by its larger oil-cooler scoop — there are almost 13 quarts on tap — on the driver’s-side rocker panel. A chin spoiler, a rear aerodynamic undertray, and a see-through engine cover are other cues to the LP640’s newness, as are redesigned taillamps and bumpers. Inside, the leather is crisscrossed by a modish diamond-pleat stitch pattern, and the dull instrument cluster finally gets — ta-dum! — a Lamborghini logo. In a few more years it may get chrome rings, too.