The Murcielago Coupe (2001-2006) was Lamborghini's V12 flagship for the new millennium and the first all-new car it built after Audi took over in 1998. It replaced the Diablo. Luc Donckerwolke penned a hard-edged wedge with scissor doors over a tubular steel spaceframe and carbon-fiber body panels, with a naturally aspirated 6.2-liter V12 mounted longitudinally behind the cabin and permanent all-wheel drive.
It's the most analog Murcielago. A six-speed manual was standard, with the single-clutch E-Gear automated manual offered from 2004. The active rear wing and side intakes deploy with speed. Next to the later LP640 it's a little softer and slower, and it's the one to have for the gated shifter and the earlier, cleaner styling.
It's named after a 19th-century fighting bull that survived its 1879 fight in Cordoba and was spared. The word is also Spanish for "bat." It fits Lamborghini's tradition of naming cars after fighting bulls.
The six-speed manual is the purist's pick and sidesteps the E-Gear's biggest weakness, its appetite for clutches. E-Gear is a single-clutch automated manual, quicker to bang through gears but harder on the clutch and prone to hydraulic niggles. Many buyers seek out the manual, but there's a big price difference.
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