Showpiece of the Week: Last ever SV
The Lamborghini Aventador was always likably bonkers; the SV version made it downright brilliant.
Thus the Murcielago was vast and low and powered by the final evolution of its maker's first V12; the quad cam, 60-degree marvel which old man Lamborghini himself commissioned to blacken Enzo's eye. In 1963, this displaced 3.5-litres and developed around 280hp with carburettors. By the time the SuperVeloce version of the car rolled out over forty years later, the engine's capacity was at 6.5-litres and the output at 670hp. No question, if there is any glory in longevity, that the unit deserves to be ranked up there with Bentley's L Series V8 and Chevy's small-block when it comes to the laurel-giving.
Consequently, the decision to replace it deserves no less praise than the phenomenal job done on the Aventador's design. With unrestricted access to the Audi chocolate box, Lamborghini could easily have chosen an engine of slightly smaller scale and made up the shortfall with sticking-plaster turbochargers. But it didn't. Instead it read the writing on the wall regarding high-revving, atmospheric V12 engines, digested it amid a global financial crisis, and astutely said: we'll have another one, please - from scratch this time.
Until the SV, that is. By 2015, the SuperVeloce badge had four decades of weight behind it, and Lamborghini took the limited-run machine very seriously. Out came 50kg of superfluous kerbweight and in went 50hp of additional silliness. Magnetorheological adaptive dampers were made standard, as was an improved dynamic ratio steering rack. Elsewhere, the power-shuffling four-wheel-drive system was recalibrated and a fixed wing deployed for better downforce. The engineers even had a go at fettling the irksome single-clutch automated manual gearbox.
All of which makes the thought of the very last one built rather appealing. That's what we have here (according to DD Classics); a 2017 LP750-4 SV in Grigio Aleno with matching wheels and black callipers. Apparently that colour scheme is unique; certainly it's fabulous - which goes twice for the black and white carbon fibre seats inside. It's also the Roadster version, which does make it 50kg heavier than the coupe (although still 50kg lighter than the 'standard' open-top) but also affords your ear drums unimpeded access to the 12-cylinder salute being fired over your shoulder. Expect it to feel brand new with only 600 miles on the clock. And if the £495,000 asking price has you wincing (it should: the model originally started at £350,000), rest assured that you're buying a standout machine even by the standards of Sant'Agata Bolognese's remarkable canon.
See the original advert here
Note: With this being the last SV, does that mean the Aventador is about to be replaced (a la Murci SV being the run out version of that model)? I think I have missed that news.
10 year lifecycle for V12 Lambo, so a couple of years away yet, but headlines:
V12 to 7l and 800hp
Electrical motors on front wheels to give headline figure of 1000hp
Otherwise, chassis to be similar to Aventador S.
It's the first car developed primarily under Domenicali so he'll want it to be special.
Note: With this being the last SV, does that mean the Aventador is about to be replaced (a la Murci SV being the run out version of that model)? I think I have missed that news.
10 year lifecycle for V12 Lambo, so a couple of years away yet, but headlines:
V12 to 7l and 800hp
Electrical motors on front wheels to give headline figure of 1000hp
Otherwise, chassis to be similar to Aventador S.
It's the first car developed primarily under Domenicali so he'll want it to be special.
Note: With this being the last SV, does that mean the Aventador is about to be replaced (a la Murci SV being the run out version of that model)? I think I have missed that news.
10 year lifecycle for V12 Lambo, so a couple of years away yet, but headlines:
V12 to 7l and 800hp
Electrical motors on front wheels to give headline figure of 1000hp
Otherwise, chassis to be similar to Aventador S.
It's the first car developed primarily under Domenicali so he'll want it to be special.
Thought it was going to be called the Aventador Performante.
Note: With this being the last SV, does that mean the Aventador is about to be replaced (a la Murci SV being the run out version of that model)? I think I have missed that news.
10 year lifecycle for V12 Lambo, so a couple of years away yet, but headlines:
V12 to 7l and 800hp
Electrical motors on front wheels to give headline figure of 1000hp
Otherwise, chassis to be similar to Aventador S.
It's the first car developed primarily under Domenicali so he'll want it to be special.
If that makes sense of course? I know there have been plenty now, but to me the Aventador/Murci/Diablo are supercars, not hypercars. But in the days when hot hatches have stepped up to have 400hp and sports cars have 550hp, hypercars are coming out with 1,500hp...it stands to reason that supercars will plug the middle group in the power stakes.
If I suddenly found myself in the position of being able to drop big money on cars, I told myself I would have 'matching' (same colour scheme) Murci SV and Ave SV in the garage.
I've always thought the SV is the only Lamborghini that can't pull off bright colours, not sure why
I've always thought the SV is the only Lamborghini that can't pull off bright colours, not sure why
Believe it or not, you can have decals or painted. If you want 'SV' painted, it's a £7k option! Holy shirt balls!
Murci had the same:
Maybe not a Lotus Elise but taking 50kg off for the SV makes that 1,475kg and the initial Lotus Evora weight was 1,442kg in it's heaviest form so that's pretty amazingly close.
Seriously, Lamborghini deserves massive credit for their new emphasis on light weight. If anything, they deserve the mantle of being Colin Chapman's spiritual successors even more than Lotus for their recent love of light weight. Note that they are one of the new leaders in carbon fiber technology development with their research center at University of Washington in Seattle where they and Boeing have been the ones advancing advanced composites.
Seriously, Lamborghini deserves massive credit for their new emphasis on light weight. If anything, they deserve the mantle of being Colin Chapman's spiritual successors even more than Lotus for their recent love of light weight. Note that they are one of the new leaders in carbon fiber technology development with their research center at University of Washington in Seattle where they and Boeing have been the ones advancing advanced composites.
Plus - standard Aventador is quoted elsewhere at 1575kg dry, so that's 1525kg dry for the SV, which equates to close-to-1,700kg EU kerb weight. For comparison the hybrid-burdened P1 weighs <1,400kg dry...
i.e. Lamborghini have NO reason to claim Chapman's crown...
I drove a Gallardo for an afternoon through London and was stunned by the amount of negative attention it drew. Maybe I'm a sensitive soul, but that would really take the gloss off the ownership experience for me. Conversely, in 4 years of using the 8C extensively, I never got so much as an angry toot.
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