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.

Although it’s probably difficult for most people to think of a nearly $200,000 automobile as “affordable,” that’s the position the Lamborghini Gallardo finds itself in within the Lambo product lineup.

In a similar vein you wouldn’t use a racehorse to hack out, and you wouldn’t use a pearl-handled butter knife to pick a lock. So it’s faintly ridiculous to suppose a supercar can co-exist in the real world alongside young men from Kazakhstan in Nissan Laurels and even younger men from Albania on pizza-delivery mopeds.

A five-litre V10 with around 520bhp and 376lb ft of torque mean that the Gallardo has the go to match the show; 0-62mph in just 3.9 seconds and a close enough 197mph top speed. Even better is the fact that these figures are achievable reliably thanks to that four-wheel drive system and strong mechanicals.

Lamborghini’s market ambitions dictated an ambitious car. This is a durable and lovable long-term sports car, backed by a three-year warranty. It is also a $165,900 object of not inconsiderable lust, one whose allure no photograph can properly depict. Yet the car on these pages makes one thing clear: After years in the wilderness, Lamborghini is back.