The Lamborghini Gallardo surprised us in a number of ways, but mostly in terms of its refinement and quality.The Gallardo is a bit intimidating initially, due to its radical styling, its dimensions, the sound of its highly tuned Italian V10, and advanced features such as its available E-gear electronic gearbox.

The Lamborghini Gallardo is lust on wheels — combining hot, look-at-me styling with mind-numbing performance capabilities.

Gallardo comes in coupe and roadster versions, plus a lighter, more powerful Superleggera model.

Lamborghini bored the Gallardo’s V-10 to 5.2 liters (from 5.0) and blessed it with direct injection, bumping output to 552 horsepower (up 40) and 398 pound-feet of torque (up 22).

We think the Lamborghini Gallardo was a very special sports car as it was, easy to drive, dramatic to look at, an all-around sexy beast.

But with the advent of the Superleggera version, the Gallardo becomes even more exciting and more special.Only about 350 of these cars will be available worldwide, making them instant collector’s items.