Im in the market for an 05-07 Gallardo....mostly because I keep hearing, "stay away from the 04's." Why is that?Is It just the standard new model 1st year stuff or is more than that? There are a lot of 04's for sale and I dont want to cross them off my list if I don't have to. Im only looking for a 6 speed manual so the e gear issues dont phase me. Im also not looking for any car over 15K miles and prefer under 10k.
There seems to be very little info on model year differences..Wikipedia is a joke... The only real differnces I know of are the no front end lift offered and the taller trans gears. Also....there is almost no chance it will ever have a TT.
Thanks for the help all!

 

Many 04 has alcantera seat inserts which I am not a fan of. Besides that, lift is the main difference. Gear ratio changed in 06 , which usually comes w nav, clear bonnet and callisto wheels

 

Are you selling the 997tt allready ?

 

I might....not 100% sure. Right now im making some major changes to the set-up.

 

I'm also interested in a Gallardo but I hear they break all the time :-/ is that true at all?

I will be driving it maybe 7000 miles per year...

 

I bought my Gallardo with 6600 miles on it, drove it home 700 miles in one day. Continuted to put about 6000 miles on it over the next 7 mos, and the only issue it had was a hose that leaked slightly, but was replaced. Car is a lot of fun to own!

 

Gallardo is a very reliable exotic. It is more reliable than f360 and f430 thanks to Audi

The only exotics more reliable would be 458 and mclaren mp4 12c. Both of those are better due to newer age.

 

Well im seriously looking at an 04 tomorrow. Super low mile and slightly modded (rims, exhaust, SL parts) Im pretty excited to say the least...

 

I think I'm doing the same... I love the Porsche but the Gallardo is just soooo much aggressive

 

Wow Leo you just got that car didnt you? ...and put a lot of nice parts on it? Keep me up to date about what you got going on!

 

I bought it in January... And I sold the parts

I like the 997TT but I got bored...I still miss my Z06 lol

 

I bought my '04 last June '12 with 9k miles on it. It now has almost 18k miles and I have done nothing but routine maint. Not even one hiccup! It's a late VIN number for '04 which is recommended. Stay away from the first 400 VIN's...Other than that, get one and enjoy! They're amazing!

 

As long as you keep up with scheduled maintenance, they have proven to be very reliable!

 

Is the maintenance very expensive? How often you need to replace the clutch?

 

An early 04 will probably have a clutch that wears in 10-20k depending on usage. There were several revisions to the clutch since the Gallardo came out, and on a manual car, you should get a lot more mileage. If you buy an e-gear car, especially an 04-05, you probably won't get a lot of miles before needing to replace it. Using reverse a lot in an early e-gear car will also cause a lot of clutch wear.

OEM clutches are ~$5k, and can be had cheaper, or you can convert them to a kevlar clutch with 2-3x better wear. Labor costs will be based on where you take it, and the engine doesn't have to come out like in the Murcielago's, but it's not an easy job. I would budget $7k for a clutch change if you have to do it, but you could probably get out cheaper.

That being said, there are people with unusually high miles on their original clutch, probably due to extended highway use.

The oil filter is placed under the intake manifold which can make oil changes tricky, but I never had it done at the dealership. Thankfully, Dallas Performance is in my back yard, and knows the Gallardo's very well