MotorWeek Retro Reviews Lamborghini Diablo
All-Wheel Drive Was Intended to Tame the Diablo. But How Well Can You Tame a Wild Animal?
Just over 20 years ago, Lamborghini introduced us to the Lamborghini Diablo VT. It was a Lamborghini of a different sort, though, aimed at making them easier to drive. Previous Lamborghinis were known to bite when you least expected it. So the Italians thought the addition of all-wheel drive would help matters. Novel at the time, but little did they know how important AWD would be for their future supercars.
Engines in Diablos always had a cylinder count of 12, with the 1996 VT displacing 5.7 liters and making just shy of 500 horsepower. Not only is that impressive today, but those were hugely stout numbers back when traction control systems were in their infancy. AWD makes a whole lot of sense then.
CHECK OUT: What Forum Members Are Saying About This Retro Review
Performance figures weren’t hurt much by the added weight, with the sprint to 60 going down in about 4.1 seconds. Wheel spin from launches is controlled by the AWD system, sending as much as 40% of power to the front wheels, and doing a fine job of keeping the car from swapping ends.
Interestingly, the Diablo seems to be holding its value quite well. In 1996, when MotorWeek reviewed the new VT in the video above, the list price was $242,000. And you’d be hard-pressed to find examples for much less than that now.
