Diablo SV Buyer's Guide

Hi everyone,

I'm looking to trade in my tuned-up 964 turbo for a Diablo SV in Europe. A yellow pre-99 Diablo SV has been my poster car since I was a kid, and I'm in love with the looks.

I like putting miles on my cars and enjoying the experience, so I'm trying to avoid the amateur mistakes at the buying stage to save me from future headaches. I'm looking at cars around the 40,000km mark.

What should I be looking out for? Any key points to check when inspecting the car?

Cheers,

François

They aren’t very easy to come by, so I would think that anything you can find that is a good running car is a good idea. They are excellent cars and I would just get a ppi done to verify compression in the engine. A good test drive even in the passenger seat is a good idea. 

Thanks megachad. I'll keep the compression test in mind.

At this point, I found a car in decent exterior condition, but worried by the fact it hasn't driven much at all in the past 4 years. ABS and airbag lights are on too... Not sure if I should run away or schedule a PPI with my local dealer.

8 hours ago, Francois said:

Thanks megachad. I'll keep the compression test in mind.

At this point, I found a car in decent exterior condition, but worried by the fact it hasn't driven much at all in the past 4 years. ABS and airbag lights are on too... Not sure if I should run away or schedule a PPI with my local dealer.

Do the PPI, worst case you are out a few hundred for it, and you'll know whether or not it's something you want to dive into. 

Most cars out there are going to have something like that. ABS air bag whatever.. just find out what it is and make sure engine and trans feel good. these are 20+ year old cars that are just not going to be perfect.. If it is a perfect car that had a complete restoration then it would be a ton more money anyways. Luckily these cars don't really need restorations yet. Most were well taken care of and can be a good driver car or garage queen.

you're chasing a fairly rare  hand built car - 346 made In total.

See here.. https://www.lp112.com/Lamborghini/Results.asp?Model=Diablo&Version=SV

It isn't as well put together as contemporary prancing horse cars, more hand built with not much thought on maintenance.

ABS is pretty straight forward to troubleshoot, had 2 faulty Hall effect sensors on my MY99 - took me about 3 hours to solve and replace one. Other was just connector issue.

Airbag is more difficult - easy to cause - steering column likely has been moved with ignition on. You need a Tech with access to the LARA/LDAS software unfortunately to clear it.

check for rust on the frame underneath, particularly around suspension if used in wet climates.

apart from that drive it - check engine lights in a MY99 are often due to MAP sensor failure - cheap to fix, but hard to get it to do it.

Windows generally slow to go up and may stall - lightly sand runners and they may get better. Or replace runners if no improvement.

Only probably with driving it, is you will be hooked - they are an incredible car to drive. No longer the fastest but really enjoyable even at slow speeds.