I had to join to offer my thirding of the thought you gentlemen offered.

I own an lp-560/4 with E-Gear and a 2013 GT-R. My Lambo has had the software upgrades related to shifting at the dealer.

The GT-R's tranny, being dual clutch, shifts in basically zero time, from what I understand, if you are accelerating hard. And that shows on a 0-100 run, in the GT-R you don't really feel an upshift. In the Lambo you get, as mentioned above, a "kick in the back". I think Lamborghini made the right choice keeping single clutch in the Aventador. The current E-Gear is awesome, its the most fun paddle shifted transmission that I've ever drive. Incredible CRACKS on downshifts, nice kick on upshifts, instant response.

The GT-R on downshifts ... imagine you are driving in 4th, and decide to grab second and hit the gas, so you hit the downshift paddle twice. It first shifts to 3rd, then it waits a good long while, and then grabs 2nd. If you go from 5th to 2nd, you have two good-long-waits. It completely shifts one time, pauses briefly, then downshifts again. In the LP-560 if I'm rolling up to a corner at 70 (near my house exists such a corner) and decide to have some fun, I can stand on the brakes, jerk the downshift paddle 3 times, and I just get a massive CAAARRRRACK and the car is in second, and I take the corner.

The real advantage of the dual clutch system seems to be those zero-time upshifts under high acceleration. In my experience, the current E-Gear in the Gallardo is the best single clutch system I've ever driven. Its awesome.

I love manuals also, as many above have offered. In a Boxster, I would without a doubt get a manual. If I ever bought another F430 or 360, I would only get a manual. But in the current Gallardo, the E-Gear is so good, that I would get it. Its truly a thrill, a different but not lesser thrill, than rowing the gears. It gets everything right (assuming the software updates are installed), it responds at once, it makes the most wonderful crack of noise on a downshift, its awesome (fast, but still lets you know its shifting) on upshifts. Its nearly perfect.

I would offer that if you drive the car for, say, a couple hours at a time, the shifts start to feel more clunky, which leads me to believe that its time to put the car in the garage and grab a different one.

Its my all time favorite paddle shifted tranny. I'd get it.

For the 2wd to 4wd question, I've never driven a 2wd Gallardo. But compared to an F430 the LP-560/4 has heavier, harder steering, less steering feel, but its still a great steering setup. Take a corner in the Ferrari and the wheel just jumps around over every bump, which lets you know what to do. In the LP-560/4 it just weights up, you pull harder the harder you want to turn, and in the (extremely rare) situation where the car starts to slide, the wheel suddenly goes light, and just like the Ferrari with its constant stream of twitches and jerks, you just instinctively react.

Different, but equal. But the LP-560 sounds FAR better, goes faster, draws 5x as much attention, and also, if I forgot to mention it, sounds FAR better. The Ferrari's leather smells better, but both smell great (the Ferrari's being the best smelling leather I've ever smelled), the rest of the Lambo'sinterior I prefer. I love the snug cockpit feel, the Ferrari is very roomy inside. The Lambo seems to be by far a more solid piece, the Ferrari shakes and vibrates and has several mechanical rattles. The Lambo seems as perfectly milled as a musical instrument, save a rattle from the passengers side front thats always been there, and a rattly CD changer. Both cars insult their owners with ridiculously subpar sound systems. The Lambo is much more comfortable on a road trip and I rarely fail to be amazed at the rate that Ferrari can drink fuel while making significantly less power. Both cars are fun, but my all time favorite sports car is the LP-560. I'm not a guy who has had everything, just the F430, the LP560, a 360 briefly, some Vettes, some Porsches, an S2k here and there, GT-R etc. But Its hard for me to imagine a sports car I'd like better than the E-Gear LP-560/4.

Don't know if the 2wd Gallardo drives more like a Ferrari or more like an LP-560. Happy hunting.

My feeling about the downshifts on the GTR was the same as you described until I tried the R mode on the tranny. In R mode the downshifts are more like the Egear where you can hit the paddles twice and go from 4th to 2nd immediately.

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2013 GTR Pearl White
2012 LP550-2 Bianco Monocerus
2011 GT3 RS Carrera White
2003 S2000 Track Car

I don't know that I've ever driven the GT-R in R mode, aside from launches, I'll give that a try tomorrow.

The 550 dances on top of the road surface more like a Ferrari, it's very light & agile on its feet, the chassis balance & dynamic compared to the 4wd is completely different, you can also rotate the chassis mid corner unlike the 4wd which basically has perpetual push understeer mid corner.

With that said, the 430 is no where near the newer Gallardos, having driven one recently, I have never been so disappointed in an exotic car in my entire lifetime. I am shocked anyone would buy them period. They really don't feel any different than the 360s. Still zero torque, still terrible Ferrari build quality, lackluster performance, terrible interior design, bad ergonomics....

Other than the flashy factory, the 430 really has ZERO to offer period. It should not even be mentioned in the same breathe as the newer LP Gallardos ... Period.

I agree with most of your opinions. The 430 WAS a step up over the 360, and in 2005 was substancially better than the 1st gen Gallardo. By 2009 however, the LP cars radically changed the game.

In all fairness, I think Ferrari quickly realized what was on the horizon and put all efforts into the Scud and 458, both of which are epic rides. You can tell what they were thinking because the 430 had ZERO updates over their 5 year lifespan. It was just a cash cow to finance other platforms.

Think you are a little harsh on interior design (which I prefer Ferrari) and build quality (which is about equal for me).

Hey Gridg: Tell us how you really feel about the 430/560 comparison!

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Owning a Lamborghini transcends the banality of economics.

Haha, just being honest... Ferrari build quality is not even remotely close where it counts most. I have never been to a track day where a Ferrari did not break down (most of the time exhaust manifolds fail, you think after 20 years of this problem they would have finally figured it out). If its not that, somethting else will break on them. The are too fragile and weakly engineered. Lambos on the other hand are bulletproof on track no matter how hard you push them. You could enter the 24 hours of LeMans in a stock gallardo and make it to the end with ease, they are that rock solid.

You cannot help but notice the German engineering infused into the Gallardos, the Ferraris are still Italian engineered (and that's not a good thing). With the Gallardos you really do get the best of both worlds.

OK, what you're describing is not build quality, but Engineering, fabrication, and reliability. Build quality is stuff like panel fit, paint application quality, how the parts are assembled, etc. Ferrari does fine there.

I would say Ferrari has the superior Engineering, but poor fabrication, poor customer service (they don't seem to care about chronic issues like headers....and fires...except they will let you buy an extinguisher from them...LOL), and poor management over sub-contractors.

I agree with Grigio Bicolore. Italian design and German engineering is the winning combo.