So go ahead and buy a Lamborghini. The new one. A Huracán. More precisely, the 2015 Huracán LP610-4. And go to a steakhouse and order extra creamed spinach. That’s a 602-horsepower Italian supercar, and 1,690-calorie steak dinner.

Related: The Lamborghini Huracán LP610-4, reviewed.

The Huracán is the mid-engine, V10-powered, all-wheel-drive successor to the Gallardo, the “small” mid-engine, V10 powered, (usually) all-wheel drive supercar that Lamborghini built more than 14,000 examples of during a 10-year production run. In fact, the Gallardo is the best-selling Lamborghini of all time, and the bedrock on which the company’s financial stability has been built. The Huracán is following a tough, brilliant act.

Inventory the Huracán’s substance, however, and it exceeds the Gallardo in every specific and general way. The Gallardo’s structural space frame was mostly aluminium, but the Huracán’s goes a step further by adding carbon fibre elements that knock out, Lamborghini claims, 54lbs (25kg) of weight. The 6.2-litre V10 engine is up 49hp over the most powerful version of the Gallardo’s, and is backed by an astonishingly effective seven-speed, dual-clutch automated manual transmission swiped from corporate cousin Audi. And the V10 is so smart it will shut down half its cylinders when the car is cruising under light loads, and shut down altogether when the Huracán is stopped at an intersection. Yes, this is a 202mph exotic that can, according to the US EPA, achieve 20mpg on the highway.

Screaming to its 8,500rpm redline, the Huracán will slam past 60mph in about 2.5 seconds and blitz through the quarter mile in under 10.5 seconds at about 135 mph. That’s not only quicker – a lot quicker – than the Gallardo, it’s also quicker than the 700hp, $400,000 Aventador.

With its skin faceted like the surface of a diamond and a doorstop profile that looks like it could be wedged under your fingernail, the Huracán is high drama even when it’s parked. The 20in wheels could be displayed at the Guggenheim Bilbao with or without their 245/30ZR20 front or 305/30ZR20 rear Pirelli P-Zero tires. But you want the tires; they make the car better.

Maybe it would be best to not even think of the Huracán’s Pirellis as tires, but as claws. They dig into the pavement with such ferocity that the car feels as if it’s climbing a long, continuous asphalt wall. The Huracán will pull more than the full force of gravity on a skidpad, and applying the massive, ceramic brakes feels as if all of history has hit a brick wall.

Objectively, the Huracán is the best Lamborghini the company has ever built. Subjectively, it’s up there alongside the Countach and Miura for all-time lusciousness. But let’s admit that this stiff-riding, ridiculously high-profile, hardcore attention getter may not be the easiest car to live with every day. Beyond that, while you can easily afford the $241,945 base price, you didn’t get rich by spending money.

Then try…

Chevrolet’s new 2015 Corvette Z06 is a mind-boggling, 650hp, supercharged bargain. It runs with Ferraris, Lamborghinis and various turbocharged Porsches for half, or a third, or a quarter of their price tags. It’s a heady mix of high-tech components like magnetorheological shock absorbers, thermoplastic body panels, and an aluminum space frame with some truck parts.

Related: The 2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06, reviewed.

The Z06 coupe starts at “only” $79,990, inclusive of $995 destination charge, in the US. You’ll want some options such as the Z07 Performance Package at $7,995, visible carbon fibre ground effects for $3,995 and competition sport seats for $2,495. But even ladling on the goodies, it still takes a determined effort to break into six figures on a new Z06.

Previous Z06 versions of the Corvette have been built around powerful but normally aspirated – that is with no forced induction of air – V8 engines. This new one, however, uses a supercharged version of General Motors’ latest 6.2-litre small-block V8. It is similar to the 638hp, 6.2-litre V8 that was used in the 2009-2013 Corvette ZR1, but that engine lacked the direct fuel injection and variable valve timing that makes this new one both more powerful and friendly in daily driving.

Let’s not go overboard praising this all-aluminium engine’s avant garde technology, however. It still has but a single cam buried deep in its block, and that stick operates a mere 16 valves through 16 matching pushrods. You know, just like the V8s in GM’s pickups and just like the first Chevrolet small block that entered production 60 years ago.

The Z06 is rear-drive only, so it doesn’t launch with the killer traction of the all-wheel drive Huracán. But it roars back, rips out and still makes it 60mph in about 2.9 seconds. And it obliterates the quarter-mile in roughly 11 seconds flat, at just under 130mph. It is, without doubt, the fleetest production Corvette ever built.

It also stops the best, handles the best and has a higher top speed –200mph – than any previous Corvette. It will pull well over 1.0g on any skidpad that is not underwater, practically ignite racetrack tarmac and it sounds like an earthquake. This car is bad.

And if you don’t like bad with a hard roof, the Z06 can be ordered as convertible. And if you don’t want to shift the seven-speed manual transmission, opt for the eight-speed automatic. The manual transmission makes for a more engaging drive, but the automatic is more civilised. Which means it’s barely civilised.

A Lamborghini needs to be serviced by specially trained technicians using expensive tools, and parts need to be flown in from Italy. But a Corvette is a Chevy, serviceable by any of the more than 3,000 Chevrolet dealerships across the US.

Of course, as a Chevrolet, the Z06 simply doesn’t pack the cultural clout or retinal wallop of a Lamborghini. And while the Z06 looks meaner than other - Corvettes, it still looks a lot like a Corvette.

As impressive as the Corvette Z06 is, it still isn’t a Lamborghini.

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