Is the New Lamborghini Veneno the Most Bad-Ass Super-Car?

I'm not what you might call a "car guy" - I can't fix the damn things (other than minor things like an oil change or belt), I don't watch NASCAR, I don't go to car shows, and I don';t feel the need to own a car that costs nearly as much as my house.

But I do like a beautiful machine, like the new Corevette ZR1 (638 hp, 0-60 in 3.4 seconds, 205 mph top speed).

The Corvette ZR1 was designed, in part, to compete with some of the European heavyweights - Lamborghini, Ferrari, and McLaren. Considering it's a fraction of the price, it competes pretty well for the middle income driver who wants speed and performance.

But the European cars, especially the new Lamborghini Veneno (only three being built, at $4 million each), are still the archetype of high performance cars. Personally, the McLaren looks pretty awesome.

Is the New Lambo the Most Bad-Ass Super-Car?
By Nate Hopper

Lamborghini

There is no car that looks like it just dropped its gloves and is ready to bare-knuckle your jaw more than the newly debuted Lamborghini Veneno, a three-of-a-kind, nearly $4 million, beautiful monster of a car. Road & Track sums it up well:

Based on the Aventador [LP700-4] chassis and powertrain, the Veneno sports carbon-fiber bodywork that makes the Avantador look like a wallflower. It is all the brashness, daring, and machismo that we've mentally associated Lamborghini with since the wall-poster-era Countach, the O.G. Alpha Male Supercar. Yes, Lamborghini's newer cars are its best ever, but one look at the Veneno confirms that it has that old-school, '80s-style gunslinging swagger. The car on display in Geneva wears its Italian bravado right on its sleeve, so to speak, in the form of the tricolor stripes running across the door. Oh and yes, it's named after a fighting bull.

The car can definitely kick. The specs: L539 6.5-liter V12; 740 horsepower; seven-speed; 220 mph, at top-speed. But is it the most bad-ass super-car in this year's auto show?

 

Its two competitors for the title are the McLaren P1 and the Ferrari LaFerrari, which, between the two, comprised the bout that most auto guys looked forward to before the show began. And the breakdown is hit or miss. The Veneno's top speed is slower than the LaFerrari (about 230 mph) but faster than the P1 (217); its horsepower is below the both of them; and it also costs a ton more than the P1 (about $4 million compared to the P1's $1.15M) — though that's because there's only three of the things getting made.

But for the average man, the point of super-cars is the gazing. There's no denying the Veneno's jags and ribs over the P1's curves and the LaFerrari's classicism. It just looks angry, like it's snarling. And that's what we want for our day-dreams of escape: a testosteronic speedster. And so — with due respect to the others — we've got to raise its winged door in victory.

For reference, here is a picture of the McLaren P1:

And one of the new Ferrari LaFerrari: