2012 Lamborghini Aventador

The 2012 Lamborghini Aventador is intimidating. It's not the wild paint or the razor-sharp styling. It's not the 690-horsepower V12 lurking behind your shoulder or the Lamborghini lore of punishing overzealous drivers. It's not even the sky-high price. No, it's the indisputably alien nature of the Aventador. One must maneuver around the scissor door into the low-slung cockpit. The windshield is raked to an absurd degree. The side windows are dominated by angular, wide mirrors mounted to tall stalks and the view rearward is like spying on someone through an air vent. The car is enormously wide, which makes the visibility all the more intimidating. The starter button is hidden under a little red panel as if it launches a bomb; the paddle shifters look like a ninja's weapon. The Aventador isn't so much a car as it is an alien spacecraft.