Video: 2012 Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4 at Roebling Road Raceway

Where Aventador is the name of a particularly courageous, ferocious bull from the bull fighting world, and LP700-4 is an inkjet printer. Actually the 700 stands for 700 horsepower, and the four is for all wheel drive. But if you stumbled upon this video shopping for an inkjet printer, know that for the same amount of money you could have about 4,300 printers. That's right. The car you see here as equipped is more than $433,000. The exterior of this car is spectacular. Even if it weren't a car, people would stop and stare at it. Inspired, as you might guess, by things like fighter aircraft. I would expect this car to have a very low radar signature, but I wouldn't test that with the local sheriff. We'll take a look at the wheels here. We have 19 inch front wheels with 16 inch carbon ceramic rotors. Good for managing heat. Six piston front calipers. The rear rotors are 15 inches and four piston calipers. Now the doors, they alone are special. (door slamming) Throw a door up, young kids everywhere will come flocking thinking that's pretty cool in and of itself. These giant scoops on the side are functional. They feed cooling air to the V12 engine. This is a mid-engine design. And at high temperatures, not necessarily at high speeds, vents open, these panels raise up and allow the air to flow through more efficiently for better cooling. As is usually the case with high-performance cars, there's also an automated motorized spoiler in the back that goes up to two different positions, based on speed to give you more down force. Even though a car that looks like this doesn't have to perform, this one performs. Zero to 60 is less than three seconds. Well less than three seconds. Having all wheel drive makes sure all the power gets to the ground. The 700 horsepower comes at a very high 8250 RPM. That's actually the red line. The torque rating is 509 pounds feet, also pretty high up the range, over 5,000 RPM. (engine revving) So, even though it takes off like a shot, throws you back in the seat, you still continue to gain acceleration as the tachometer needle climbs. Now the transmission in this car is a single clutch automated manual. It is not the more popular dual clutch that's available now, known for their quick shifting and a little bit more refinement. As a result, this one bucks a little bit more when it's shifting, but it does shift quickly. Actually more than twice as fast as the Gallardo, which has a similar version of this transmission. This one is the ISR, for independent shifting rods. Now you can adjust the way that it behaves by choosing different settings. There's Strada, Sport, and Corsa. Strada means street, Sport means sport, and Corsa is for the track. Each of these settings varies the sensitivity of the accelerator, the shift points of the transmission, the behavior of the all wheel drive system. And it all starts by pushing this guarded switch, which doesn't have to be guarded, but it's cool. (upbeat music) (engine starting) Ah. (engine humming) Out on the racetrack, the Aventador is a monster. In the good wave. It takes off like a shot. And the brakes are so good, they give you the confidence to stand on that gas all the time. Now it's also a bit of a monster in ways I didn't expect. (engine revving) The shift quality is actually pretty rough. Now in the Strada street mode, it's a little bit softer, but you still get some bucking. In the Corsa mode, a little bit harder, but very quick. You feel the bang. Now this being a single clutch automated manual, that's a hallmark of that type. Now Lamborghini says they use it partly because it's lighter and it's smaller, but frankly, automakers will always tell you what's good about something they use. And then two or three years later, they say, hey, now we have dual clutch. It's better, yay. (upbeat music) I'm a little bit sad that this car doesn't offer a manual transmission, but what's great about it is it does have an automatic modes, so you can let it do the shipping for you. If you want to do the shifting yourself, you've got big paddles here fixed to the column. So you always know where they are. That's good. (upbeat music) Now, frankly, when I see things like all wheel drive, mid engine design, I actually think a car might be kind of tame, despite the specifications. Maybe something like a 911 with all wheel drive, which in some cases can feel kind of boring. Not the case with this one. Out on the track there's a lot of work. I really had to manage this car. It's easy to rotate it. The throttle's extremely sensitive. It's the kind of car you have to learn. And actually, I think that's a pretty good thing. You don't want it to do everything for you. Yeah, it's a lot of money. I wouldn't spend my money on it. But if I had the money, would I spend it on this as opposed to 4,300 inkjet printers? Absolutely. (upbeat music) (engine revving)