Conventional wisdom states that in order to have the distinction of being referred to as a supercar, the car in question must have outlandish (but seductive) looks, an insane amount of power, and the resulting ability to kill you at a moments notice. After all, a supercar should bark at you, it should intimidate you, and, if you get it wrong, it should rip your head off. Or should it?

What if you could have all the looks and power along with some creature comforts to help with everyday usability? You see, modern supercars are clearly tamer versions of their former selves. They’re quicker no doubt, but they’re also far more usable. Electronic safety nets, an automatic transmission, and four-wheel drive all mean that you can now jump into a Lamborghini and drive it without fear of wrapping a few crores worth of (precious) metal around the nearest lamppost.

But, is the thrill still there? And, to that end, which should you choose – the two-wheel drive Gallardo LP 550-2 or the four-wheel drive LP 560-4? Well, we went to the Lamborghini Driving Experience at the Beijing Goldenport circuit in China to find out.

Just to give you some background, it was really thanks to Lamborghini that the term ‘supercar’ was coined. When the Miura was unveiled in the mid-60’s, it was unlike anything the world had ever seen before. Yes, it didn’t really have any brakes, and it did catch fire every now and then without warning, but it was far sexier and faster than anything else on the streets at the time. The Countach of the 70’s was even more outlandish, but it required biceps the size of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s to turn the steering wheel. Visibility in the Diablo of the 90’s, meanwhile, was so bad that it needed extra sensory powers just to figure out where you were headed. But, then came Audi in the late 90’s, and Lamborghini’s no longer went out of their way to maim the driver.

The Murcealago had four-wheel drive and Audi quality, so neither did it self-combust, nor did it try and spit you off the road for no reason. Nevertheless, it did have Lamborghini’s most powerful street legal V12 powerplant till that point, producing 570 horsepower. And, to give you some indication of just how far we’ve come since, the two cars here have 550 and 560 horsepower for the two and four-wheel drive versions respectively, as their nomenclature suggests. What this means is that they accelerate from 0-100km/h in 3.9 and 3.7 seconds respectively – now that’s pure supercar territory!

The Gallardo is the baby Lambo, and a very successful one at that – having sold almost 10,000 units since its introduction in 2003. And to keep the Gallardo cutting edge, and competitive against the V8 Ferrari’s built a stone’s throw away in the Italian countryside, Lamborghini has given it regular facelifts and increasingly powerful engines. The two-wheel drive was previously only available as a special edition, but you can now have one in regular trim as well – if anything to do with a Lamborghini can be termed as being regular. Both cars share menacing looks and sharp angles, an aluminium (spaceframe) chassis and body, a direct injection 5.2 litre mid-mounted V10 heart, and a paddle-shift transmission.

Beijing Goldenport Circuit is a 2.4 kilometer long winding track just outside the Chinese capital. It’s got a number of flowing bends, but not much run off on either side of the track if you happen to attack a corner too hard and get it wrong as a result. So, the Lamborghini instructors felt it would be wise to start with some handling exercises on a wet parking lot on the other side of the pit building. Two sets of exercises were laid out using cones and a lot of wet pavement with plenty of runoff. Both the two and four-wheel drive cars were on hand to really experience the difference between the chassis dynamics of the two. The first exercise was a plain and simple drift – you simply enter the sequence of cones, turn in sharply, give it a bootful of throttle, and then attempt to showboat through the slide. But, believe me, in a Lamborghini, this is easier said than done!

Nevertheless, my first attempt in the LP 560-4 was near perfect. And this meant that the weight of expectation kicked in thereafter, and, for the life of me, I couldn’t hold another slide to satisfaction. Being mid-engined, the Gallardo’s stick to the pavement like glue under normal circumstances, but get them unstuck and the effects of inertia kick in very quickly indeed. Factor in extremely powerful engines, ESP (Electronic Stability Program) disengaged, as well as wet pavement, and it was near impossible to control these raging bulls. Still, the four-wheel drive was the easier of the two to control. Yes, it required a bigger shove of the accelerator pedal to initiate the slide, but it was far easier to manage thereafter. Conversely, with the intense power going only to the rear wheels in the LP 550-2, it would simply rotate a full 180-degrees as soon as you attempted to modulate the throttle to maintain the slide. My only advice would be – do not try this at home. Yes, these cars may be far easier to drive than their predecessors, but they still require an element of skill that I couldn’t quite muster in order to slide them at will on a wet surface with all the electronic aids turned off.

The second exercise was even more difficult, requiring you to perform a pendulum turn, which meant sliding the car one way and then immediately the other. With enough practise it would have been possible to get the hang of it, but with three runs in each car, it was simply impossible to get it right. Instead, I chose to enjoy a few full 360-degree spins in an attempt to at least appear as though I knew what I was doing. After all, the chassis is extremely responsive, as is the rack and pinion steering – it’s just managing the 550-plus horses under your right foot in the middle of a slide that’s the tricky part.

Right, exercises over, it was now time to hit the track in earnest. And the contrast in the behaviour of the Gallardo between the skid-pad and the track couldn’t have been more stark. As difficult as the Gallardo was to hold in a four wheel drift on a wet surface with the traction control turned off, it was incredibly easy to jump into the driver’s seat and find the limit on a dry track with the ESP turned on.

The steering is a little heavy at low speeds, but brimming with feedback. The grip from the Pirelli Pzero’s (235/35 ZR19’s in front, and a mammoth 295/30 ZR19’s at the rear) is absolutely immense. Yet, when they do begin to give way, they’re incredibly progressive, and the LP 560-4 simply begins to run wide – requiring you only to lift your foot off the accelerator pedal to bring the car back in line. It doesn’t snap at you in response. And even the traction control cuts in only gently, so as to provide an element of control without seriously impeding forward momentum. This is a supercar that actually allows you to safely explore its limits – and yours. And that’s what makes if fun – that’s the thrill, which is to say that you can push to the absolute limit of this immensely powerful and capable machine without having a near-death experience in the process. In fact, it actually makes you a better driver than you really are – and that’s worth paying for. Isn’t it?

Now, ideally we should have driven both cars on the track back-to-back, but we drove only the four-wheel drive on the full circuit. For starters, track time was limited, and, more than that, the walls around the circuit were really quite close – not to mention quite solid. Plus, we really did begin to push towards the end of the day, and were able to do so only thanks to the safety net that was ever present with the four-wheel drive. The rear-wheel drive Gallardo would certainly have been a bit more of a handful on a circuit as tight and twisting as this one. Yes, it would have likely been a bit more fun as a result, but at the risk of jeopardizing some very expensive metal indeed.

So, what you have to ask yourself at the end of the day is – do you really want to risk endangering the life of your precious machine while driving it how it was intended? The answer to that question is easy – NO! In the LP 560-4, you can have 90% of the fun, and be much safer while you’re at it.

Me, I would still take the LP 550-2 though. After all, since when did buying a supercar become a rational decision. It’s all heart, all emotion – something that the Gallardo, sensible supercar or not, still has in spades!

Lamborghini Gallardo LP 550-2 Lamborghini Gallardo LP 560-4 Engine 5.2 litres / V10 / 40 valves / Direct Injection 5.2 litres / V10 / 40 valves / Direct Injection Fuel Petrol Petrol Transmission 6-speed sequential automatic / Rear-Wheel Drive 6-speed sequential automatic / All-Wheel Drive Power 550bhp @ 8000rpm 560bhp @ 8000rpm Torque 540Nm @ 6500rpm 540Nm @ 6500rpm Acceleration 0-100km/h – 3.9 seconds 0-100km/h – 3.7 seconds Price Rs. 2.25 Crores (Ex-showroom, Delhi) Rs. 2.25 Crores (Ex-showroom, Delhi)

See on-board action of the Gallardo’s on track at www.youtube.com/autoxtv