When you were a penniless pre-pubescent pistonhead, a poster of a white Lamborghini Countach poster held pride of place on your bedroom wall, right next to the soft core porn shot of Cheryl Ladd in a bikini. Even though you eventually learned to see the Italian be-winged behemoth as a foul-handling, garish pimpmobile, you never got quite over the desire to nullify feelings of self-doubt by driving a Lambo (although Cheryl's recent appearance on NBC's "Las Vegas" has cured your onanistic affliction).

So now that you're made of money but still have to be somewhat careful (thank you first wife), buying a Gallardo (instead of a Murcielago) makes some kind of sense — even if the e-gear is e-gregious engineering and the brakes fade faster than your pre-teen's interest in Brittany Spears. In other words, the Gallardo is something you have to go through.

Your left testicle isn't willing to sacrifice itself for the design, the cabin offers less of a sense of occasion than Caesar Chavez Day, there's not enough bottom-end grunt, the brakes fade, the e-gear ain't DSG, the Porsche Turbo exists, the Corvette Z06 exists, the Audi R8 is on its way and equivalently priced "pre-owned" F360s are out there (somewhere).

· Speed Merchants:

· Fashion Victims:

· Treehuggers: No

· Mack Daddies:

· Tuner Crowd: No

· Hairdressers: No

· Penny Pinchers: No

· Euro Snobs:

· Working Stiffs: No

· Technogeeks: No

· Poseurs:

· Soccer Moms: No

· Nascar Dads: No

· Golfing Grandparents: No

· Manufacturer: Lamborghini

· Model tested: Gallardo SE

· Model year: '06

· Price as Tested: $194,850

· Engine type: 5.0-liter V-10, DOHC 40-valve aluminum

· Horsepower: 512 hp @ 8000 rpm

· Torque: 376 lb-ft @ 4500 rpm

· Redline: 8100rpm

· Wheels and Tires: Pirelli P-Zeros 235/35 ZR 19 (front), 295/30 ZR 19 (rear)

· Drive type: AWD

· 0 - 60: 4 secs. (est.)

· 1/4 mile: 12 secs. (est.)

· Top speed: 195mph

· Fuel economy city/highway: 9 / 15

· NHTSA crash test rating front/side/rollover: NA

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