It's difficult, impossible even, to present an unbiased view of a car you've actually shelled out hard cash for, so I won't bother. Instead, let's look at the cold facts.

In a little over 2 years, global sales of the Gallardo (say after me… Guy-ardo) have eclipsed those of even the mighty Diablo (in all its variants), making it the best selling Lamborghini… ever. An achievement which is made all the more impressive by the fact that the Diablo was on sale for 10 years and the iconic Countach for nearly 20! So far, so good then.

The reason for this success is harder to pin down, however. There is definitely an "old school versus new school" issue here. It doesn't require the spinal flexibility of a Jamaican limbo champion to get in and out of. The fluids don't need nursing to temperature like 30 year old Malt. All the controls operate without giving the driver the feeling they are qualifying for the arm wrestling round of 'The World's Strongest Man'. The doors open in a most un-Lambo fashion (sideways). And it's two tins short of a twelve pack!

Fortunately, for those in the "old school", the simply Herculean V12 Murciélago addresses most of the perceived shortcomings of doors, cylinder numbers, et al, leaving the Gallardo to appeal to those of us who don't know what a "bull-worker" is (ahem) or have access to a personal chiropractor.

For those in the "new school", it's precisely because of some of these things that the Gallardo has proved a popular choice (well, apart from the door thing. Scissor doors are sooooo cool!)

Incidentally, on the subject of engine configuration, the Gallardo was always destined to have a V10. The solitary 1995 "Cala" (L140 in Sant'Agata parlance) was penned by Fabrizio Guigiaro, built by ItalDesign on a Lamborghini supplied chassis, and fitted with a 4-litre 10 cylinder version of the Diablo engine. The Gallardo is the spiritual successor to the Cala so a V10 was always intended.

The appeal of this V10 engined Baby Bull lies in the fact that the performance is more accessible, more of the time. I prefer to think of it as "less hardcore" rather than "soft". Make no mistake, 500bhp and 376ft·lb of torque (did I say "baby"?) is more than enough to push your eyeballs into your frontal lobe like an invisible bear hug. The power-to-weight ratio is 324bhp per tonne, which makes this little fella a dead match for the Murci.

All this performance is achieved whilst lugging around a 4wd transmission, climate control, ABS, and a raft of other creature comforts Lamborghinis of old were bereft of. Progress doesn't slow you down so much as make the experience more comfortable.

Ah, comfort. Should this really be mentioned in an article about a Lamborghini? Well, yes, I think so. Bear with me, because this goes some way to explain why the Gallardo exists and why I chose it.

I recently managed a 900 mile round trip to Scotland and back, leaving Saturday morning and returning Sunday afternoon. A trip that included a 3 hour traffic jam on the M6, pouring rain, and resulted in a total of 7 hours in the car on the northward leg (stops were for fuel only and one toilet break, much to my wife's annoyance). I've driven many so-called luxury cars that I have been only too glad to be out of after half that time. Once off the motorway I had simply epic fun through the beautiful and under-populated countryside. My personal favourite section is the A7, from Longtown through Harwick, Selkirk and Galasheils, to Edinburgh (okay, all of it!). A 100 mile stretch of superbly surfaced road with valleys and hills, forest and moorland, rivers and lakes. No traffic to speak of and totally lacking the breed of mad sheep who wander onto the road to see what the heck all the noise is about. Readers familiar with the Cat & Fiddle road will know what I mean!

The Gallardo's steering is superbly judged for fast road work and the suspension soaks up the worst of the pot holes and bumps without sacrificing ride comfort. Similar trips charging round North Wales like a madman have yielded the same impression. The Gallardo will rampage over hill and through dale with all the character of a "proper" Lamborghini. Ultimately, it lacks the delicacy of a pure rear drive chassis like a 360 Modena, but, for me, that's all part of modern Lambo-ness. It tends to bludgeon everything in its path with all the subtlety of a charging bull in a terracotta sales emporium. No prancing involved. The badge is well justified!

And then there's the noise. Attending a friend's Supercar Experience day recently, I was pleased to discover that a Gallardo was part of the track based inventory. Until then I hadn't really heard another Gallardo being properly wound up and, always being at the helm of my own, meant I'd yet to savour it as a spectator. The V10 makes a very distinctive sound. Quite unlike anything else. A Murci and AMG SL55 were also pounding round, both sounding exactly like their respective engine configurations. The Little Lambo came belting past with a sound that combined the best of both, a complex wail with a surprisingly heavy bass. Impressed, I asked the attending technical staff which exhaust their Gallardo was running, a Tubi or possibly a Larini? "Neither. It's stock", came the reply. Crikey, does mine sound that good? From the driver's seat you don't really get the full effect. Although, in pearlescent yellow you can hear the paint coming! Since then, I have had the pleasure of listening to a friend's blue Gallardo with a sports exhaust and, though there is probably no mention of "Raging Bulls" in the Bible, the noise was indeed Biblical!

Traditionally, supercars don't work particularly well in our 'green and pleasant land', not least because of the very reason it's green (rain) and, though it can be pleasant, the traffic calming measures are becoming increasingly Draconian. The Gallardo manages to cope with all that. It provides an experience that defies the road conditions but retains everyday civility, whilst still capturing the essence of something special.

In 8,500 miles, over 13 months, my Gallardo has run like clockwork. Over the coming months I'll fill in all the gaps of how the Gallardo performs in traffic, how many bags of curry you can hang on the shift paddles and precisely which 3rd world country you'll have to bankrupt to run one of these things. Lamborghini only build about 5 of these beasts a day. And I've got one. Honestly, I have to pinch myself sometimes!