Speaker A
I've actually sold my Lamborghini Murciélago SV, the orange beast, but it's allowed me to buy another SV, arguably an even more iconic, a proper poster car, the Lamborghini Diablo SV.
Matt Jones buys a rare 1997 Lamborghini Diablo SV, exploring its specs, history, and driving experience of this iconic poster car.
Ask about this video. Answers come from its transcript only — with the timestamp, so you can check them.
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Key Takeaways
- The Lamborghini Diablo SV is a rare and iconic 1990s supercar with a unique design and powerful V12 engine.
- Its manual transmission and rear-wheel drive provide a pure and engaging driving experience.
- Low mileage and rare color/spec make this particular car highly valuable and collectible.
- Matt prefers the driving feel of the Diablo SV over the newer Murciélago SV despite the latter's higher performance.
- Owning a poster car like the Diablo SV offers a unique opportunity to connect with automotive history and childhood dreams.
What the video covers
- Matt Jones sold his Lamborghini Murciélago SV to buy a more iconic Lamborghini Diablo SV from 1997.
- The Diablo SV is a rare poster car with only 346 units made globally and just 11 in the unique viola color.
- This model features a naturally aspirated 5.7L V12 engine producing 530 horsepower and a top speed of 204 mph.
- It has a manual dog-leg 5-speed gearbox, rear-wheel drive, and weighs about 1,500 kg, making it fun and engaging to drive.
- The car has extremely low mileage, only 7,000 miles in 30 years, and a stunning, well-preserved engine bay and interior.
- Matt compares the Diablo SV favorably to the Murciélago SV, appreciating its smoother driving experience and iconic design.
- He highlights the unique viola paint, rare right-hand drive configuration, and the car’s historical significance in the 1990s supercar market.
- The video includes detailed observations on the car’s handling, gearbox, pedal box, and exhaust note.
- Matt expresses excitement about owning and driving a true poster car from his childhood era and plans to use it on road trips.
- He mentions the increasing value of such cars and his intention to keep this pristine example for a long time.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction and purchase of the Lamborghini Diablo SV
- 00:41Overview of the Diablo SV specs and features
- 01:34Transmission, drivetrain, and driving dynamics
- 02:14Engine bay and mechanical details
- 02:50Comparison with Murciélago SV and market context
- 03:39Garage update and first impressions
- 04:18Excitement about ownership and driving plans
- 05:22Driving experience and handling insights
- 06:03Gearbox details and driving techniques
- 08:17Final thoughts and future plans with the car
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
Diablo translating to the devil, SV superveloce, super fast. This is a proper poster car from my childhood era.
Speaker A
I was born in 1994. The Diablo SV started its production, I think, in '95, and this later model, 1997.
Speaker A
They only made 346 units of this car globally, which is insane. The later ones did 204 mph. In the '90s, that was insane. This did 0 to 60, or still does, in 3.9 seconds. Again, in the '90s, that's unbelievable. But my
Speaker A
favorite things about the SV, we'll get to the color, the spec, why I sold the Murciélago, what else I've bought, but this car is such, such an icon. 530 horsepower from a naturally aspirated 5.7 L V12. It sounds insane. It looks
Speaker A
insane. I can't think of another car that has such an iconic silhouette and shape than this. And I think the SV, for me, is the greatest of them all. This color, viola, they only made 11 SVs in that color, and only two in the whole
Speaker A
world in right-hand drive. So, I absolutely leapt on the opportunity to buy this. That opportunity is never going to come up again. This is a super low mileage model. It's only done 7,000 miles in 30 years. And to be this paint
Speaker A
combo, the interior looks stunning. All of that Alcantara. I mean, it's not even Alcantara, is it? It looks like a strip club with purple piping to match the viola paint. It's a manual, dog leg manual with only five gears, and fifth
Speaker A
gear goes past 200 mph. So, they're really long gears. Dog leg feels insane. Rear-wheel drive, rather than four-wheel drive like the Diablo VT, which I think puts the power down better. When you've got a manual box, so pulling away, I
Speaker A
don't think you need four-wheel drive. I think rear wheel's more fun. There's barely any assist. You've got these massive 335 profile tires at the back.
Speaker A
Come around the rear of the car, where they added two amazing air intakes on the roof on the SV. I think the rear end's ridiculous on this. They were doing bonkers crazy stuff in the '90s and the fact that these cars have been
Speaker A
so, so well preserved, so well loved, unfortunately not driven enough, but I now get to own such a blue chip pristine prime one. Let me show you the engine.
Speaker A
There it is. That's probably the best condition engine bay of any car I've ever owned and it's 30 years old. It's absolutely beautiful. 5.7 L V12 NA. There's the firing order of the cylinders. This thing puts out insane
Speaker A
modern-day power from NA cars and it was doing it 30 years ago. It's mid-engine.
Speaker A
It feels really fun to drive. I've only driven it three times. I'm a bit scared of it, but absolutely love it, okay?
Speaker A
We're going to go driving in a minute and you can listen to it and understand why I'm so excited. So, the Murciélago, I mean, it's pretty much hypercar category followed on from this. So, I've sort of gone back in time. I had an
Speaker A
ultra-rare amazing V12 supercar hypercar from the V12 lineage from Lamborghini. This was the predecessor to the Murciélago SV, but I've always wanted one of these. The prices were starting to get out of control. If you follow the supercar market, the last 12 months has
Speaker A
been stupid, especially Ferraris, but the Murciélago SV was definitely one that was trending like probably towards a million pounds. My one had slightly higher mileage, not the perfect history, and although I absolutely loved it, I did a 700-mile road trip across Portugal
Speaker A
and Spain in it. And it was a guy I met on that road trip that said to me, "Matt, if you ever want to sell that car, I'm your man." And the time came where I wanted to change. I'm still
Speaker A
young. I want to scratch all the itches. I wanted one of these and that car and the amount it had gone up in value unlocked this as well as another couple of cars, which I'll get to. So, the
Speaker A
garage is looking pretty full and I'm as much of a petrolhead as I've ever been, but this thing is totally insane. It's the first high-performance manual car I've ever owned actually other than the Ariel Nomad. Having a manual with a tiny
Speaker A
pedal box where you sat, offset, like this thing is just like such a delight.
Speaker A
I love the wheels. I love the paint. I think this is the spec. It's the color that they launched, I think, for the SE30. Like the one from the Jamiroquai music video is quite famous. Which is why so few SVs are made in this color.
Speaker A
It's literally called paint number 30, I think, after the SE30. And it's an absolute treat to look at. And the headlights pop up. It's a different looking car when they come up. Let me show you now.
Speaker A
Yeah, boy! I can't believe I've got one, and I definitely want to use it. I want to take it on road trips. I want to learn it. I want to master it. Although it's such a perfect example, I think
Speaker A
it's criminal that it's only got 7,000 miles on it. Let's see how long I keep this one, I suppose. So, let's go and drive it.
Speaker A
So, the Diablo SV, for me, it takes all the boxes of what a poster car needs to be, you know? It's a Lamborghini. It's got the fold-up scissor doors. It's purple. It's got a V12 in it. Its silhouette is insane. The shape of the
Speaker A
body is crazy. It's got a wing. It's got big air intakes. I mean, even this piece of glass here, look at the shape of that. That huge bit of glass that curves downwards. All the looks so iconic. But,
Speaker A
the experience I didn't think I'd get is taking something as a poster car off your wall, and then actually getting the chance to drive it, right? That's the unique opportunity I found myself in.
Speaker A
And every time I get in a car like this, like the Murciélago was absolutely not what I thought. It was I yeah, I really had to master it. I had to understand the gearbox and all of that stuff.
Speaker A
The suspension was a bit clunky. It was enormous. And it lacked visibility. I think the Diablo, even though it came before, it's actually so smooth to drive. I think having such a low mileage well-preserved one helps that, but I
Speaker A
honestly prefer it to the Murciélago, and I don't know why. It's not quite as quick.
Speaker A
You can't do huge heavy downshifts. You can't pull away as hard, but I think it being rear-wheel drive, I mean it for a car in the mid-90s being only 1,500 kilos, that's not that's not like crazy heavy for a massive 5.7 L V12, you
Speaker A
know? And it it's fun. It genuinely is really fun, and just so exquisite. And I do have to look at the gearbox quite a bit, the pattern, it being dogleg. I just don't want to stick it in reverse.
Speaker A
I don't want to ram it in first thinking it's second, all of those things. It's got three pedals, which I love. Like I say, I haven't driven actually a great deal of manual high-performance cars.
Speaker A
The pedal box is tight. You're sat slightly on the angle. There's not that much space up here. I'd really struggle to drive this in a helmet, and they didn't make a roadster SV.
Speaker A
The gears are so long. Look, this is second. And now whoa, now we're in the power.
Speaker A
That wasn't even close to redline. I thought that car was coming out. Mate! Manuals are sick. That exhaust note up towards seven. You get peak power at 7,100 rpm.
Speaker A
Less power than, you know, Ferraris and things like that or a Porsche, less rpm peak power, but there's so much delivery all the way up to that, and these huge long gears that take you up to 200 miles an hour in fifth. There's
Speaker A
only five gears, and that fifth gear can go over 200 miles an hour. So, you can imagine how long each one is, and doing all the work with my arm sat on this massive like strip club couch, just slamming it through gears is just
Speaker A
so sick. The pedal box is perfectly sort of arranged to heel-and-toe, but I'm just not that great at it. Let's try brake.
Speaker A
Got that one. I need to learn that. That wasn't too bad. The seats are amazing, by the way. They're so soft. They're like almost a bit. It's too comfy, isn't it?
Speaker A
You don't You wouldn't think an SV from the '90s, where they stripped all that weight out, added more power, would be this comfortable to drive.
Speaker A
I'm so in awe of it. I love the dials, cuz I've got the fold-up headlights up.
Speaker A
There, you can drop them down. That dims it. When they come up, it lights up the dash. The white dash dials look sick.
Speaker A
It's just so basic and so pure and so visceral. I think Lamborghini in the '90s weren't all that bothered about adding buttons to a steering wheel. There's not even I mean, the horn's there.
Speaker A
It's like It's like right driving a digger, looking around for the horn. Yeah, there's nothing on the steering wheel. I don't think they were that bothered about that, cuz they were just making badass engines that made enough power to break the 200 mph barrier,
Speaker A
sound amazing, and this one they painted purple. So, if I ever invite you for a ride in my purple missile, you now know what I mean. It's this thing, the devil, the Diablo Super Veloce.
Speaker A
There's not a great deal to talk about. You just have to drive it and fall in love with it. I can't believe this hasn't been driven more. It's so sick. I I genuinely prefer it to the Murciélago.
Speaker A
The Yeah, the Murci was faster, it was less raw and more I The The Murciélago always confused me a bit, but as like an adrenaline junkie, somebody who rides bikes for a living, I'm looking for that thing that makes my hair stand on end. I
Speaker A
think the manual helps. I think the lack of assist helps. I think the really long gears that just get scarier and scarier help.
Speaker A
This is a true driving experience that someone from my background is I'm going to be addicted to.
Speaker A
I think maybe I don't know what it was about the Mercy. Maybe it was too fast. This is perfect.
Speaker A
And it still rips, man. I'm so lucky. This is sick. Wow. Right, let's go and have a walk around it again cuz there's something else I wanted to discuss and ask the audience. That was really bad. I just blipped it to try and
Speaker A
rev-match, but I failed. I'll learn it. Second time I've driven it. That was all right.
Speaker A
Nice overrun, too. Yeah, really nice. Yeah, lovely bit of overrun. Electric windows. All the mod cons in a 997, baby. That added weight. What were they thinking?
Speaker A
I'd have happily rolled one down. Right, let's go and find somewhere to have a look.
Speaker A
This is an insane device. I love it. I think it's so cool, so iconic. It's just started to rain. I don't think we've had rain in the UK in nearly 8 weeks. And when I was driving that then on like
Speaker A
bone-dry roads, hot tires, that amount of power and the weight and the tires it could you can just feel that it's the point it wants to let go and spin up is like peak peak power. So, I've got to be really careful with this
Speaker A
in the wet. I definitely want to take it on a road trip. I'd love to do like the North Coast Is it called the 500?
Speaker A
Yeah. I really want to do that in a car and I think this would be a pretty special one to do it in. Now, the dilemma is the SV, the Super Veloce. On my Murciélago I had the big SV stickers in black. Now, the
Speaker A
Diablo SV did come option with that. I guess this one originally didn't have them on unless one of the previous owners, I think there's two previous owners, has taken them off. I personally think SVs look really cool with the big
Speaker A
stickers, but this one in like the SE30 color, the style, it might not work. So, I want to ask you guys whether to add the big black SV and own it or keep it a bit understated. They're literally on
Speaker A
order, but I don't know what to do. It's not original. It might be, I need to check. I'm not going to dwell on this.
Speaker A
I'm so lucky. This thing's ridiculous. Preposterous that I own one. And I'm going to keep it for a very long time cuz I think that's going to be in a million pound of thing that people fight over, to be honest. And I want to
Speaker A
put miles on it as it gets there. That's like Yeah, couldn't be luckier in life than getting to enjoy that and drive it. And hopefully I get to pick up a lot of people along the way and take them for a
Speaker A
rip. So, yeah. Onwards and upwards. Look at this poor thing just that. Yeah. I love cars.
Speaker A
And I don't know whether or not this will go in cuz I'm thinking of starting a car channel. But if I've collaborate collabed Matt Jones and Matt Jones Cars, then now my car channel exists. And you can go and subscribe to that, please,
Speaker A
cuz I'm going to probably move car channel car stuff over to car channel stuff legends.
Topics:Lamborghini Diablo SVsupercarmanual transmissionV12 engine1990s carsposter carMatt Jonescar reviewrare carscar enthusiast
