Here’s What Worries Me About The Lamborghini Aventador S

Before you start cracking jokes, no, it isn’t the moderately ridiculous speed of the new Lamborghini that worries me. I’ve driven the non-S car a couple of times in anger, and it’s every bit as mighty as you’d hope. News of a faster, better, even more exciting one certainly caught my attention.

I love this brand. It’s like a no-strings relationship; you know what you’re in for and there’s nothing to muddy the waters. Power, speed and some of the most outrageously stunning styling anywhere in cardom.

Travel back through the company’s 53 years to the brutal Murcielago, the multi-talented Gallardo, the Diablo and Countach and you see the same things. There’s nothing more complicated than the magnificent V12s and V10s hugging the backs of the cabin’s two seats. Sometimes there’s four-wheel drive, sometimes not, but one thing Lamborghini has always steered clear of is making its cars over-technical.

They are simpler, on paper at least, because they don’t need to waste their breath on active aerodynamics, lap time-chasing gearbox tunes or everyday usability. These things already belong to the likes of Porsche and Ferrari, and we like it that way because it separates the brand images.

Want to drive your supercar every day and be comfortable? Get a Porsche or McLaren. Want Italian passion? It’s a Ferrari. And for the supercar with the most raw desirability? That’s Lamborghini. They are poster cars; the cars you drooled over as a kid and that gave you the biggest ‘wow’ when you first saw one. Cars whose remit is to batter the road into submission with rude power.

But a fly has just landed in my metaphorical soup. Reading about the new technology in the Aventador S, some of it just felt wrong. Magneto-rheological suspension has already debuted on the Aventador SV, so that’s already out there, but four-wheel steering? Hmmm. That’s not very Lamborghini. That’s very… Porsche.

Volkswagen owns Audi, and Audi owns Lamborghini. We’re never quite sure whether Volkswagen also owns Porsche or it’s the other way around – with tongue firmly in cheek it seems to depend who’s on the board of directors at the time. But ultimately the result is the same: parts sharing.

Those of you who are more familiar with the Volkswagen Group will know that both the fancy magneto-rheological suspension and the four-wheel steering already exist. At Porsche and Audi. It seems parts are being shared, but this techy way of making cars faster is owned, morally and historically at least, by the Germans. Likewise, adding downforce and an adjustable rear wing is, well, a bit Ferrari-ish.

The Stuttgart, Ingolstadt and Maranello brands will add active this and adjustable that all day long if it shaves a tenth off their lap times or adds extra refinement, but that’s not what Lamborghini is about. I love Lamborghini for what it is; for how it has always done things differently, and the Aventador S takes a step towards the ethos of brands it was actually founded to frustrate.

Hopefully this is just a one-off, or at most a sign that the company will make more technological S-badged versions of its future cars. I can’t be the only one hoping Lamborghini sticks to its own path, doing its own things and sticking two fingers up to the establishment for another 53 years.