In my view, Lamborghini was the only manufacturer that was able to create one greatest hit after another for four decades straight without missing a single beat. I am of course talking about their V12 flagship model where, beginning from the 1960’s Miura, itself a groundbreaking first-of-its-kind supercar, Lamborghini blitzed through the next four decades producing the Countach, Diablo, and Murcielago. Visually and aesthetically, each and every one of these models were in their own right as astonishing as they were iconic. And which other manufacturers have ever achieved that? Ferrari’s Daytona adopted a much more conservative approach compared to the Miura, and while the BB512 Boxer and Testarossa were worthy competitors of the Countach and Diablo, then Ferrari President Luca di’Montezemolo single-handedly ruined everything when he introduced the front-engined 550 Maranello. As beautiful as the 550 Maranello is, a front-engined grand tour good for two golf bags in the boot simply does not have the drama nor the flare of a mid-engined V12 super car.
Of the flagship Lamborghini greatest hits, the Countach was undoubtedly most successful in terms of its impact to the automotive world and beyond. The awe and wonder it had induced amongst car enthusiasts and civilians alike at its launch solidified its legendary status forever. The Countach is forever recognizable due to its dramatic and otherworldly design. In period, it was on the walls of every single teenager’s bedroom in the form of paper posters; today, it is consistently enlisted to guest star in modern big screen projects from blockbuster movies like “The Wolf of Wall Street” to Blackpink music videos. The audience’s desire to see its futuristic and angular shape never gets old – just like the car itself. This can only mean one thing – the model that came after its long production span of 17 years (1974-1990) had extremely big shoes to fill.
Introducing the Lamborghini Diablo. It was as if the car was bound to fail right at the outset. The US continued to have strict pedestrian safety regulations at the time where any cars that wanted to be Federalized and officially imported to the US had to install awful-looking plastic ‘impact bumpers’ which had already ruined a lot of beautiful Italian cars (think the Maserati Khamsin). To make matters worse, at the time, Lamborghini was owned by Chrysler, and despite legendary Italian designer Marcello Gandini having already put together the draft design for the Diablo, Chrysler shelved it as they wanted their American designers in Detroit to have a go. Imagine a flagship Lamborghini from the 90’s being designed by a Chrysler designer – what a nightmare that would have been! Fortunately, and perhaps rather unsurprisingly, that plan didn’t work out so Lamborghini went back to Gandini in the end. Fun side story to note is that after Chrysler rejected Gandini’s original design for the Diablo, Gandini sold the design to an independent car company called Cizeta for their v16t model, which Chrysler wasn’t too happy about. Gandini went back to the drawing board and redid the Diablo’s design which, to me, looks better than his original. So, everything turned out well in the end, thankfully.
The Diablo was an instant hit. It looked just as aggressive and dramatic as the Countach. Gandini’s genius was also able to hide any hint of the ugly black US-regulated impact bumpers. The Diablo is one of those rare models where it looked just as beautiful across all its iterations throughout its production life. From the original Diablo to the 6.0 Diablo, and all the special models in between, it was consistently an attractive rolling art piece. This is not an achievement to be taken for granted, as even the Countach had the 25th Anniversary version which was not well received across the board.
The car we have today is a 1999 Lamborghini Diablo Roadster. The original Diablo was released in 1990, a much rawer version compared to its successors, including being in rear-wheel-drive format and having no power steering. From 1993 onwards, Lamborghini introduced the Diablo ‘VT’, where four-wheel-drive and power steering became standard. By the time ‘our’ model came about in 1999, the Diablo range is already a lot more mature. Still with the same 5.7 V12 engine, power has now been uprated to 523hp (compared to the original’s 485hp). ABS brakes and 18-inch wheels are also standard in our car. The ‘facelift’ Diablo Roadster is a rare car, with only about 100 made. Ours being RHD makes it inevitably rarer.
As this is an open top roadster, the first thing we did was of course to take the roof off. The roof is surprisingly light and easy to remove. After the removal, we placed it on the engine bonnet, where it easily clicks into place. The entire process took less than two mins and only required two people (I suspect one person can get it done, but we didn’t want to scratch the car, of course).
Getting into the car, the first thing that impressed me was, unlike a Mclaren or a Lotus, you don’t need to be undignified when climbing into that low-slung entry point, thanks to a small side seal. The iconic scissor doors, however, is heavier than one would think. I had imagined it to be pretty light given it is all the way up in the air when opened, but no, it is a properly heavy door from a 90’s car. Looking forward in the driver’s seat, I immediately notice how long the dashboard feels – I feel like I am sitting miles behind the bottom of the front windscreen. This dash is already the improved version – the original Diablo had a ‘cliff dash’ where the instrument cluster literally sits on the dashboard like an isolated mountain. In this 1999 version, the updated instrument cluster fits on the dashboard in a much more organic form.
After making the unavoidable mistake of trying to reach for the seatbelt on the side of the driver’s door, forgetting that flagship V12 Lamborghinis have the seatbelts mounted in the middle of the cabin, I place my feet on the pedals to get a feel for them. As with most LHD-market sports cars from that era, the pedals are slanted towards the left in the RHD version, which is normal. What isn’t normal is that the clutch and brake pedals are noticeably close to each other, which is a first for me.
Time to fire up the car – the moment I turned the key, that sophisticated starter motor sound that you only get on V12 super cars reminded me what a good day this is going to be. The already warm engine comes to life, but rather than blasting into life instantaneously, it gently purrs into life in a progressive and controlled manner with a deep and solid V12 note. Pure music.
Setting off, the clutch has some weight to it but by no means uncomfortably heavy. Just right. It is also very easy to modulate, and my first time ever setting off in the car went smoothly without any surprises. It is extremely friendly and easy to drive. Driving along the road you notice how small the steering wheel is. It is not comedically small or anything, but just small enough for you to notice that it is a little bit smaller than normal. The lack of electronic steering from cars of this era makes the steering feel good and weighted. I step on the throttle at the first available straight and noticed two things immediately. First, despite its ferocious looks and large capacity engine, the engine/exhaust note is surprisingly composed and ‘neat’. It does not bark or roar – the note comes out in a deep and organized tone with a tiny hint of subtleness to it. It by no means sounds bad – no Italian V12 of such vintage ever sounds bad, but it is perhaps a little bit less theatrical than I had anticipated. Secondly – when stepping on it in full throttle, there is a power lag up until you reach 4,000rpm, then the power comes in. It is almost as if the car is turbocharged, when it is clearly not. As such, the car does not scare you with its 520hp at full throttle. I am not sure if this phenomenon is specific to this car only or is it the same on all Diablos, but it is unexpected. Other than these two observations, the car drives well with good feel. The dogleg 5-speed transmission has a much more solid feel to it than the Murcielago six-speed that I tested many years ago. This car feels exactly like how a 90’s super car should.
The Diablo is clearly not a small car, but on the roads we are on today, you don’t really feel the size. It weighs about 1,600kg; while not exactly fat, it is hardly a superleggera either, and you are reminded of this when you have to brake hard with the 90’s brakes (think urgently slowing down after having too much fun on the straight and misjudging how close the next roundabout is coming up!)
And just as I have to abruptly stop the car for the next roundabout, my review also has to come to what feels like a similarly abrupt end before I get too carried away. All in all, despite the engine and exhaust note having less theatre than I had hoped, or the mysterious ‘turbo-lag’ from when I went through the revs, the Diablo Roadster did not disappoint. It is an extremely dynamic car to drive and provides you with all the right sensations that you would expect from a 90’s flagship Lamborghini. Perhaps most impressively, is that despite all the criticism you hear on the media bout its predecessor, the Countach, the Diablo is actually a very easy and friendly car to drive. All the controls have just enough weight and feel to it without being cumbersome to operate. I can genuinely say if it were my car, I would use it quite regularly, which is exactly how the owner uses it, thankfully.
As always, I thank the owner for being incredibly generous in allowing me to review his beautiful Diablo, which is nothing short of a dream come true for me. I also thank the team for their incredible work as usual.
Alex (http://www.tiapanmedia.com)
Dave (david@lemonadeandgiggles.com)
Adhi (IG: @supercarsofhongkong)
Martin (IG: @visualspassport)
Alex C (IG: @nofishark)
Jeremy (IG: @jyy3.x)
See our review video here: