Why you should buy the Lamborghini Aventador SVJ

...Provided you have the dough of course.

The SVJ is Lamborghini's last ever fully conventional engine car. Yep, after this, every single Italian Bull will have an electric kick up its growling ass. This alone should be reason enough to buy the SVJ cause this will probably will be the maddest loudest and meanest bull in Bologna.

In today's world, hybrid power and sophisticated but efficient fuel consumption is the name of the game. Even supercars nowadays have to publish fuel stats and discuss potential electric-only mileage to attract more millennial buyers. Fine if you're deciding to jump to the closest BMW dealer and treat yourself the new i8 Roadster. But the Lambo Aventador is special. 



First released in around 2011 to be the replacement of the Murcielago, the Aventador was a raging success, a poster boy for Lambo's legions of fans around the world. There was just something snarling about its wide low body, brutal looks and the shrieking v12. In a sense, it was a car(at least in this decade or so) which probably pulled the Italian manufacturer out of the shadow of the illustrious Ferrari. Most owners would probably never take the car to even close to its full potential but if you were driving down Knightsbridge and wanted to scare traffic away, this was your best bet.

Over the years Lamborghini unveiled several different versions of the Aventador: the even wilder SV, the you-should-probably-wear-a-helmet Jota, and the even more gobsmacking Roadster. Although it has been overtaken in terms of technology and sophistication by more technical manufacturers like McLaren or Koenigsegg or Bugatti or even its sister company's Audi R8 and its various versions, it surprisingly remains to this day, a car most people would love to have. It has the soul, the passion characterised by the very best of Italian cars and every part of its body screamed, "I will kill your men and steal your women and children". The sheer size of that exterior was complimented by the jet-fighter cockpit-style interior. It even has a big red button with a flip-cover on it for Christ's sake. You felt that you were launching the next doomsday ICBM, making it unique compared to the marquees like the P1 or La Ferrari or Porsche 918.



However, the feeling of elation lasts only so long as the car was good and apart from the dastardly good engine, its handling was power due to it being an attack sub. Subsequent versions and revisions added rear-wheel-steering and improved aerodynamics, but it still felt as if the car hadn't yet reached its full potential. Lamborghini then moved to unveil the Huracan but it too lacks the steering feel of some of the most incisive super or hypercars, an area Lamborgini knew they had to address to attract more buyers and therefore improve their bottom line. Then came the revolutionary Performante.

On paper, it didn't look like much. Lamborghini were charging crazy money for nothing more than a lightly souped-up Huracan with a big wing. But the new ALA system had to be felt and witnessed to understand Lamborghini's true intellectual breakthrough. Instead of relying on hydraulically assisted moving wings like say the Bugatti Veyron or the Chiron, the fixed rear wing at the back of the Performante relied on its ability to shift air using flaps and hollows inside the wing and the front end of the vehicle. Think of the Huyara's crazy flaps on the bonnet infused into a spoiler instead. Want more drag for braking or less drag for top speed ? Well the flaps adjust accordingly. Want to throw your bull around the corner at crazy speeds? The flaps adjust accordingly. Lamborghini had harnessed the power of air to make the Performante feel like it was a totally different car and not just special edition of the normal Huracan. When the new vehicle lapped 'The Green Hell' in 6.52.01, there were more whispers of data tampering than the deserved acknowledgement of Lambo's engineers and drivers. Obviously, the data wasn't tampered: Lamborghini don't do that and subsequent reviews of the car proved the grunt of the Performante wasn't aided by iMovie Maker. But one of the main reasons behind this initial scepticism was because here was a USD 250,000 or so car beating a USD 1,000,000 Porsche 918 Spyder by 5 seconds. In supercar terms, 5 seconds is like one century.



The Germans didn't take to this lightly and when they released their 911 GT2 RS, they were happily gloating on the fact that they had lapped 'The Green Hell' in 6.47.3. Coincidentally, this was about 5 seconds quicker than the Performante which was again 5 seconds quicker than the 918.


However, since they are Lamborghini, and since they are siblings under the overarching framework of the Volkswagen Group, they didn't want to be left behind. And thus the SVJ.t

We are yet to see the market-ready body ( Update: released at the 2018 Pebble Beach Show) of it but the initial camo does little to hide its extensive aerodynamics package. I always thought the SV looked special. Adding a J seems to have given it extra wings *eagerly awaits for Red Bull branding*. And the wings must have surely helped as Lamborghini beat the 911's record time to reclaim the throne for Italy.

Lamborghini advertises this car to have the best power to weight ratio. The SVJ probably weighs similar to the SV but the added 20 hp is definitely going to increase the power to weight ratio. While 20hp won't seem like a significant increase to most people the fact of the matter remains that the people who have the dough to buy would probably not care. It's a Lambo people!! It has the ALA system ( now called 2.0 with improved dynamics) implemented in the Huracan Performante which will make sure you don't rocket off the road. But the noise, the sheer poise. Oh, I wish I could buy it.