2004 Lamborghini Gallardo from UK and Ireland - Comments

I have owned the car only a couple of weeks.

Delivered with minor faults - one touch up on the passenger window faulty, indicators sometimes refused to switch off.

After 450 miles the clutch has gone. I tried a mega takeoff at the lights and left a mass of smoke - clutch smoke. Bit disappointing as it is supposed to be performance car. Apparently about 15% of Gallardo's have had new clutches!!!

It is an awesome car - looks great, not too big to get in the garage and goes like stink.

Very firm ride means you tend to feel sick after a couple of hours on our great roads.

I like the cabin - lots of Audi bits, but I like Audi's.

The handling is unbelievable. It has so much grip I have yet to find the limit (or even close to it) - Mega fun.

Shouldn't have been trying a burnout with only 450 miles on the car. Be happy nothing else happened. I'd wait until you got over 1000 miles or more before trying that, even with a Lambo.

You didn't even give the car a chance to break in before you beat the crap out of it. No wonder the clutch is shot. Give it a few thousand miles to break in before you thrash it!

As far as I knew, burnouts in all wheel drive vehicles were not recommended at any mileage.

I'm intrigued, the car must have cost over £130,000. So how much was a new clutch because I'm sure the warranty would not cover the bill. Something as highly tuned as a Gallardo needs breaking in gently with TLC. I offer my assistance in this field, and promise to return your car with plenty of miles clocked up.

You should not have tried a racing start in that car. The four wheel drive Diablo VT I owned cooked its clutch on the way to Gaydon supercar sunday. I tried to burn off a golf GTI in Leicester and ended up with a £1200 bill and a red face instead! Gallardo uses the same VT system so a standing drop clutch start would have been forbidden, it should say so in your owners manual if you bothered to read it! (who does?)

Hmmm...I'm a Lambo owner, but not a gallardo. I did however go to the launch at the factory and have since driven several. No 4wheel drive vehicle will last long if you drop the clutch, especially if it is new. That said however, these cars do not need running in, they are delivered already run in at the factory.

Perhaps someone can help out. I currently own a Porsche 996 turbo and will be looking to change in the next year or so. My eyes or on the Gallardo, my heart is on the Gallardo, but my brain is telling me that being from Scotland, the nearest service centre is Manchester which poses a problem for fixing niggling faults. I have also heard rumours of struggling residuals and heavy depreciation. Can someone tell me if this car can be used almost everyday, does it hold it's value and is it as reliable as a Porsche? finally would a second hand low mileage buy be a safe one, all this talk about burnt out clutches is causing my wallet to reach for medication. Thanks.

No surprise at all. I have my G-car (e-gear) clutch burned at 2,600miles. I think the problem is the e-gear itself. I used to drive a 360 and clutch can last for at least 9,000mile +.

I have driven my Gallardo six speed stick shift 2,176 miles in two months and the clutch feels as good as day one, no problems of any kind with my car. It really is more fun than my ex 996 Twin Turbo Porsche.

Residuals will be a problem. You will have to sell to a dealer for 15k less than its worth. Same with all exotics. 575M and Vanquish even worse.

I have a 6 month old Gallardo with 5,600 miles on the clock.

It is just about to have it's 4th 'C' type clutch fitted.

If anyone else has experienced a similar scenario then please contact me : markbright@lodgecrest.co.uk.

I just bought mine on the 8th of August and the car is impressive. The original (MSRP) was 197,990 because it has every single option i.e. E-gear, glass bonnet, coming home function, on board, Suede Interior, and the Sports Setup.

Anyways, I also tried to rev it up to the max at takeoff with the odometer reading 300 but the engine kind of strained, and I heard it, so I relaxed. I called Naples Motor Sports and my salesperson indicated that going speed is not a problem, but to keep the RPM below 3500. Thank god nothing happened and I will take it easy until it hits 1000 miles.

It is a high performance and high maintenance car if any little thing goes wrong its all going to go wrong trust me I own a high maintenance lambo too its not easy to take care off, but you just have to treat it with care.

OK, so I am still not clear from all these comments. I too, have owned porsche 996s in the past, and have been contemplating Gallardo for the future. But this is absolutely ridiculous - seems like there are owners that are happy to have 9000 miles on it without a clutch change? Are you serious? Should I be sticking to the porsche? My last one had 60,000 miles, and I wasn't even aware that it had a clutch! I would drop the clutch any way I liked it, launch it in tire smoke, and go sideways whenever I wanted to, with my only concern beeing not to hit a tree. :) So is that not the case with Gallardo? I would consider getting one, if I can drive it normally (6speed manual) without worrying until at least 50,000 miles. If there is even remote chance of things happening to it and to its clutch from normal operation before 50,000 miles, I would not buy the car out of pure principle. I don't care if it only costs $1,000 to fix it, or $100,000 to fix it. It's 2007, and I am not buying a car that can't make it 3 months without a new clutch, that's retarded. Someone, please help me and make it clear for me! Let's say I drove it as a daily driver, never abused it, went fast in it, but never launched it and played dumb in it - Can the car honestly last me $20,000 or 30,000 miles or more without issues? Thank you.

My girlfriend's dad just traded in his 996 gt3 for a gallardo. It has 11,000 miles and had its clutch replaced at 10,000 miles. His sales rep. said that you generally will have to replace it every 10,000 miles. So far it is worth the extra money for the gallardo because there is no comparison between 996's and the gallardo.