to buy or not to buy?
Discussion
was toying with the idea of selling some of my toys and buying a diablo, untill i read of an owner who had the gear lever snap off, a clutch go at 7000mls at a cost of £4500. he said he would never buy another. i currently drive a cerbera so i know about bad press. how does the lambo compare to the cerb on performance? clarkson said the cerb is slightly quicker, is this true? how much for an annual service from an indy? thanks.
on paper the figures are much the same, depending on the model of diablo. there was a post sometime ago here regarding a certain orange sv with cat bypass and short ratio that had a duel with a cerb, the tvr driver said he got blown away.
if i compare my lambo's with a friend that recently owned tvr's my guess would be a lambo is more reliable.
regarding maintenance, find a local specialist they are around and it shouldn't cost a mint to run.
if i compare my lambo's with a friend that recently owned tvr's my guess would be a lambo is more reliable.
regarding maintenance, find a local specialist they are around and it shouldn't cost a mint to run.
Car magazine's first Diablo test involved a moment with a snapped gear lever crossing the Alps, I recall, got the mag. somewhere here. This was possibly an early design flaw and surely, if it was going to happen on any of the earlier cars that are still around, it would have happened by now and have been replaced with one that doesn't snap so easily!
Clutch related issues have dogged the Diablo throughout it's existence - it's really, really a question of not treating the clutch like the one in your (insert name of daily everyday type car here) and remembering that's one big-ass wad o' bhp your shoving through the device! SOME Diablo clutches last a very long time and they are certainly no different to the ones that don't - go figure…
Also, at the risk of sounding like a stuck record - if you want some decent info. and gen. on any Lamborghini, then join LCUK - there, said that, contractual obligation for today now fulfilled!
Y'never know, you might get to meet some PistonHeads superstars (eh???) like SimonSpider, Boss Cerbera, CrickeyMikey, Lambochick and even Andy SV if he's thinking about rejoining this year - and there are some very good reasons why you might join in addition to the above mentioned info-feast and also some good reasons why Andy might rejoin as well, come to think of it!
DP
Clutch related issues have dogged the Diablo throughout it's existence - it's really, really a question of not treating the clutch like the one in your (insert name of daily everyday type car here) and remembering that's one big-ass wad o' bhp your shoving through the device! SOME Diablo clutches last a very long time and they are certainly no different to the ones that don't - go figure…
Also, at the risk of sounding like a stuck record - if you want some decent info. and gen. on any Lamborghini, then join LCUK - there, said that, contractual obligation for today now fulfilled!
Y'never know, you might get to meet some PistonHeads superstars (eh???) like SimonSpider, Boss Cerbera, CrickeyMikey, Lambochick and even Andy SV if he's thinking about rejoining this year - and there are some very good reasons why you might join in addition to the above mentioned info-feast and also some good reasons why Andy might rejoin as well, come to think of it!
DP
Thanks David for forgetting to mention my good self who is a current LCUK member but in cognito (99SV in Scurro
)
That said you are quite correct that some very early Diablo's did suffer from the gear lever snapping and in truth some early Murcielago's had the same problem. In saying that by now if it was going to snap it would have done so and been replaced many moons ago. The clutches life totally depends on how you abuse it. A replacement can be had from Mike Pullen for I think around 2K. Performance wise an SV is far ahead in performance stakes of the Cerbera. The orange SV mentioned belongs to a good mate. One of the other chaps on the crew used to own a Cerbera that he purchased brand new. In 18 months and 12,000 miles it had 2 engines, a gearbox and a back axle. Oh and he lost £24,000 on the car.
In eight years, a Countach, a 93 diablo and a 99 SV later, I spent about £5K on the Countach (it had been in storage for ten years and needed properly recommisioning, new oil lines, engine bay detailed, calipers refurbished etc,) and sold for £20K more than I paid for her, The 93 Diablo, £2K on servicing and half of that was for a sports exhaust with GT tailpipes,(sold for about what it owed me) and the 99SV £500 on having the car armourfended. All in all Lamborghini ownership so far has proved to be the cheapest form of motoring and one of the most enjoyable.
So my recommendation would be to buy the best you can afford and have the car inspected to make sure all is well. Do not buy a dog with a view to sorting it out over a period of time it will only end in tears. the very best of luck, Graeme
) That said you are quite correct that some very early Diablo's did suffer from the gear lever snapping and in truth some early Murcielago's had the same problem. In saying that by now if it was going to snap it would have done so and been replaced many moons ago. The clutches life totally depends on how you abuse it. A replacement can be had from Mike Pullen for I think around 2K. Performance wise an SV is far ahead in performance stakes of the Cerbera. The orange SV mentioned belongs to a good mate. One of the other chaps on the crew used to own a Cerbera that he purchased brand new. In 18 months and 12,000 miles it had 2 engines, a gearbox and a back axle. Oh and he lost £24,000 on the car.
In eight years, a Countach, a 93 diablo and a 99 SV later, I spent about £5K on the Countach (it had been in storage for ten years and needed properly recommisioning, new oil lines, engine bay detailed, calipers refurbished etc,) and sold for £20K more than I paid for her, The 93 Diablo, £2K on servicing and half of that was for a sports exhaust with GT tailpipes,(sold for about what it owed me) and the 99SV £500 on having the car armourfended. All in all Lamborghini ownership so far has proved to be the cheapest form of motoring and one of the most enjoyable.
So my recommendation would be to buy the best you can afford and have the car inspected to make sure all is well. Do not buy a dog with a view to sorting it out over a period of time it will only end in tears. the very best of luck, Graeme
verminator said:
the costs dont seem to be that much worse than the cerb. the point regarding value of the diablo holding its price was of interest to me as if i did go for a lambo the fact that it would hold its price well would be a deciding factor. thanks for the info.
A used Diablo (almost ANY Diablo) is unlikely to lose any more of it's value, which makes them a good buy in my book.
I would just give the same caution as that for any used supercar purchase. Don't ever lose sight of the fact that it was once a £140K-£150K car. And that was when the average house price was £75K, and £150K was an awfull lot of money.
You cannot run a Diablo on a budget. A £50K Beemer will cost less to run because it's a £50K car (and it's modern) not a £150K.
If it hasn't been exercised regularly it WILL suffer.
And if the previous 3 owners have run it about for a bit (just so they can lay cliam to having owned a Lambo!) and skimped on servicing, then you could have a 200mph moneypit on your hands.
Do your research, speak to the right people and you will not regret it, though. The Diablo's a strong ol' bugger if you buy the right one.
verminator said:
was toying with the idea of selling some of my toys and buying a diablo, untill i read of an owner who had the gear lever snap off, a clutch go at 7000mls at a cost of £4500. he said he would never buy another. i currently drive a cerbera so i know about bad press. how does the lambo compare to the cerb on performance? clarkson said the cerb is slightly quicker, is this true? how much for an annual service from an indy? thanks.
I used to have a 4.2 Cerbera and now own a Diablo VT (having had an F355 in between the two). The Diablo IMO is actually very similar to the Cerbera to drive, that feeling of 'all or nothing' power is very similar between to the Cerbera (nothing like the Ferrari which was very tame and easy especially at low speeds). The Diablo also 'feels' a lot quicker than the Cerbera and has the same scare factor too (for me) on corners, ie. don't accelerate or the back end will break free.
If you can afford one go for one ... you will not be dissapointed and will find every single age group of person will admire it.
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