Lamborghini Aventador S review

I have a favourite thing I do when I get in a Lamborghini. I put my little finger on top of the steering wheel and span my hand to the ceiling. It’s about 4-5 inches. Yet the windscreen is about 4-5 feet deep. You’re looking out through a slot, basically. That may make it sound as if visibility is woeful, but in actual fact it’s not bad. The scuttle is low, the A-pillars plunge forwards and away, and you see enough earth and sky to get by pretty happily.

Yes, there’s a lot of metalwork and engine behind to get in the way, but while others can’t see in through the slatted back deck, the view out is… tolerable, actually. The door mirrors sit proud enough of the bodywork, too. But this is a wide, wide car and very low, too. Access is just so theatrical – the doors swing up, you step over the broad sill and then lower yourself in, down and down, until Levi's touch leather in a seat that, well, it’s OK. Lamborghini doesn’t do great seats. The ones in the Aventador SV are basically two paving slabs. These are better, but they’re mounted too high and you don’t snuggle down into them properly and the side bolsters aren’t big enough to hold you in place.

The dash layout hasn’t changed much and nor has the centre console. You’ll cope, but since we’re forever criticising Bentley for their ageing VW-sourced infotainment systems in the Conti GT, it’s only fair to have a pop at Lambo for the same thing. I vaguely remember seeing this system in an A4 about ten years ago. It really could have done with a refresh here, but I’m not going to argue with where Lambo spent its money – the driving experience is more important. And there’s Apple CarPlay as standard, so if you plug your phone in you don’t have to look at the nasty graphics anymore.

But sitting in the Aventador S is an event in itself and, seat aside, the driving position is great. The wheel pulls way out of the dash, you pull the door down to close it, stare out through the slot, flick up the cover on the start button, feel and hear this mighty beast fire up behind and well, life feels pretty good at that moment.