I was at Sonoma Raceway in usually beautiful Napa Valley, California yesterday to drive the new Lamborghini Temerario, the 907-horsepower plug-in-hybrid replacement for the ultra-successful Huracán. I say usually beautiful because yesterday, like other parts of California, Sonoma was hit by an atmospheric river, putting a bit of a damper on our track day aspirations. You’ll have to wait until Monday to find out what I think of that new supercar, but you don’t have to wait to find out which Lamborghinis your fellow Jalops love the most.
On Wednesday I asked our audience to tell me about their favorite Lamborghinis, and I even decided to allow limited-run models and concepts, as Lamborghini hasn’t made that many cars in its 62-year existence. Your answers ran the gamut from the most bedroom poster–worthy supercars to some of the more obscure Lambos, which I always appreciate. Without further ado, these are my favorite answers to the question, “What’s your favorite Lamborghini?”
Miura
The Miura. Why? One evening back in 1970 I was walking with a French girlfriend in a small town in France. We heard a screaming car approaching, down shifting into town with tongues of flames shooting out of the exhaust at each blip of the throttle. We immediately walked back into town and spotted the car parked at a cafe. I don’t remember the color but I certainly remember the make and model. After all these years, the Miura is still the most desirable Lamborghini for me. By far.
Lamborghini Miura. Because that’s the story you want to tell your kids. Three under 25 year old engineers working in their spare time to create the fastest production car in the world, all while going against the original wishes of the company founder and eventually convincing everyone that it was a worthy endeavor. It’s also a beautiful car. Can’t mistake it for anything else.
All the great looking modern Lambos only exist because of how good the Miura looked.
Submitted by: Don LeChat, jalopyJames, Dean Ferro
It should come as no surprise that many of you picked the Miura, which has the distinction of being the first real supercar.
Countach
The first car I ever saw that made me say “Wow, that is cool as hell” was the Countach. Nothing has ever wowed me like that, even 35 years later.
Child of the 1980s here and there’s only one correct answer. The one that hung on our walls and we told ourselves “one day…” well before we totally figured out what a mortgage, medical bills, and a family costs! It’s loud. It’s brash. It’s gaudy. It’s covered in so much useless and overdone crap that it took the original design and farted on it. But, if there’s one vehicle that summed up the overdone excess, cocaine fueled, the big pants, shoulder pads, White Rain fluffed, glam rock, Miami Vice days, it’s the 25th Anniversary Countach.
Submitted by: Give Me Tacos Or Give Me Death, Xavier96
It should also come as no surprise that a lot of you picked the Countach. Personally, I love the laters ones with the wild bodykits the most.
Diablo 6.0 VT
Only answer is Diablo 6.0 VT. It was the pinnacle of Diablo, and the golden yellow color that it came with and was plastered across magazines of the era would look ridiculous on pretty much any other vehicle, but fit the design oh-so-well.
The late 90’s Diablo VT Roadster is my only answer. I love the new bodies coming down, but that model is what put the brand in Celestial car territory for my childhood.
Submitted by: TschaaaRiiight, Jarrett Bartlett
That gold launch spec is iconic.
LM002
It’s the LM002. Come on it’s the only real Lambo SUV. Its what happens when you lambo a hummer
The LM002 for me, too. It’s not the best Lamborghini, and by today’s standards, it’s not even a great super SUV. But it is TRULY deranged, as a Lamborghini should be. Lamborghini started out making tractors, then added supercars. When you combine the peanut butter of tractors to the chocolate of supercars, what do you get? The LM002, a V12 powered off-roader with a leather lined cockpit.
Submitted by: Patrick Neff, stillnotatony
I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t like the LM002.
Diablo SE30
The purple SE30 Diablo from the Cosmic Girl music video is peak
Submitted by: Austin Erving
Correct.
Gallardo Balboni Edition
Lamborghini Gallardo Valentino Balboni edition. Rear wheel drive gated transmission with the V10. If I had stupid money, that’s the one I would try to track down. Only 250 were made.
The Balboni is also my favorite Lamborghini for the same reason. What I would do, realistically, instead of trying to hunt down a Balboni, is just yank the front differential, drive shaft, and half shafts off a regular Gallardo. Gets you 99.9% of the way there. I don’t remember clearly, but I think the AWD system is completely mechanical, so you don’t even have to mess with any electronics.
Submitted by: Kevin Stough, MrMcGeeIn3D
“Gallardo Balboni” is just so fun to say, too.
Jarama
I am a fan of the forgotten oddballs in their lineup. The Jarama is a particular favorite of mine.
Submitted by: Poorsche
The Jarama might be the strangest-looking production Lambo.
Jalpa
Jalpa Forever…..
Submitted by: OldGuy55
The Jalpa is one of my favorites, too.
Diablo SV
Diablo SV… the extra aero parts were amazing, the black wheels with the machined lip looked incredible 15 years before black wheels became in vogue, and who would have thought the letters SV plastered on the side of a car could look so cool? Plus it had not 1 but 2 roof scoops. How cool to a kid.
Not to mention I had a scale model as a kid that was my favorite to play with, I may or may not constantly give that one to my nephew to play with.
Special shout out to the Diablo GTR, that’s about perfection.
Diablo SV, based almost entirely on the fact that Need For Speed III was quite possibly the first racing game I ever played and was incredibly formative.
Submitted by: cintocrunch1, Frosteeman
The Diablo SV has one of the best factory graphics packages of all time.
Murciélago SV
I think searching my soul, it has to be the LP-670SV.
The final and best iteration of the Murcielago. Back before Lamborghini went WAY off the deep end with superfluous scoops and angles. When a special edition meant something for Lamborghini, and not every car sported some special name or limited production. Initially only 350 cars were planned but even that number was cut short as production of the Aventador took over priority and the run was ended prematurely. So far only 261 cars are known to exist.
I almost picked the Diablo GT for similar reasons, and the manual transmission. But the murcielago is just aging better than the diablo and I think the 670SV is my pick.
Submitted by: Atomic
My favorite SV, I think.
Espada
1972 Espada series 3, because I’m a strange person and love the way it looks like an Italian version of a muscle car and a CRX mashed together.
Submitted by: bb1313
More cars should be shaped like this.
350GT/400GT
I’m probably in the minority here but (one of) my favorite is the original 350/400GT, the cars that started it all. Hear me out…
Elegantly drawn, beautifully proportioned, and driven by what I can only imagine was a howling small-displacement V-12, but my young brain couldn’t quite comprehend that shape at time after growing up with images of Countach, Miura, and other wedge-y Italian exotics. Now that I’m older, that achingly gorgeous design just speaks to me in a way no modern Lambo does.
That said with, I also love the Gallardo LP550-2 with the gated manual. Just so you don’t think I’m some modern car-hating troglodyte.
Submitted by: LarriveeC05
A truly stunning vehicle.
Islero
The Miura is right up there, but as I get older, I lean more toward something simple. Give me the Islero. It’s clean, elegant, and still as fast as I’d ever want to go, with room for luggage.
Submitted by: Eric Stockton
Another awesome oddball.
Asterion concept
I think the Asterion is one of the biggest what-ifs in automotive history. It was quite restrained for a Lamborghini, and I loved it for that. But they didn’t build it and instead went further down the road of hyper-aggresive, hyper-angular design which has done nothing to hold my interest.
Submitted by: HakosukaDreaming
This really was an awesome concept, though if I’m wishing for one Lambo show car to have been produced, it would be the Estoque.
R8 270 DCR
The R8 270 DCR, this brought me more joy than any Lambo sport cars combined…while watching the TV…
Clarkson drove every single model they make, but purchased only one: the R8 270 DCR. I have to go with his expert recomendation.
Submitted by: towman, DTEL77
It makes me so happy that Lamborghini still makes tractors.
