If you get down to inspecting a Diablo, there is a recent thread on things to look for on the lamborghini - talk forum
I think i had a bad one. I tested a few with heavy clutch like u said and ran away from them . Leg hurt after 15 minutes. Mine drives super easy. Plus being european i have never known till i move to the US power steering or air conditioning Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
entirely possible. but the build quality was kit car level imo. i bought a 512tr shortly thereafter and it has been my favorite car of all. i have driven it 30k miles all over the place from vacation cruises to track time. easy to drive once you get used to the size and the efforts required. i even used it as a daily for a few months.
Did you have any of the carrier issues or was it done already before you bought the car? How have you found the maintenance to be? Sent from my BBA100-1 using FerrariChat.com mobile app
I'd say the diablo off the bat. Everybody loves seeing the diablo. Especially if you are one of the many guys that put less than 500 miles a year on these cars. but if you don't like the hassle of being gawked at then the tr is better for that. I pretty much drive my TR anywhere. grocery store, home depot, the bar, work. Wherever. In a diablo, I don't know if it would get driven that much. But when you do drive it, I'm sure its much more of an event. The girls love it too, whereas the TR is almost invisible to women.
what is the carrier issue? over the last 18 years of ownership, i have spent less on the 512tr than every other ferrari i have owned. my own view of ferrari maintenance is that it is a function of a few things: - was it built right to begin with. did guido and luigi have a good day or a bad day? were all the parts used on spec? - has it been abused by the owner and asked to do things it was not designed to do? - has the minimum maintenance been done regularly? and by that i mean just basic stuff like oil+filter changes etc. - has it been driven? i mean really driven, like at least 3k miles per year or more? garage queens end up being fragile and prone to problems. if the above are answered positively, the car is generally no more of a maintenance problem than any other car. ferrari engines and transmissions are usually pretty strong. their weakness is all the other stuff.
Hey Ross, I see you spend part of your year in Houston (unfamiliar with this Geneva place...must be in the Hill Country )....if you want to get together for a car swap on a nice day (warning, I never put the top on), maybe we can make believers out of both of us. Maybe I can be one step closer to my hero......Shamille.....except for that Murcielago thing....yuck
Seems like you are put out by the TR diff issue.....trust me, maintenance costs between these two cars will be WAY more similar than they are different.
My 512tr has the latest differential. Maybe I'll try replacing my clutch. Sent from my BBB100-3 using Tapatalk
Not really too worried about the diff, I'd just get a Newman one and drive on! In all reality I guess as I read people's thoughts here, if I bought a Diablo with a new or newer clutch and services completed, it should be worry free driving vs a TR I'd have to do belt changes every so often vs a chain with no maintenance... Sent from my BBA100-1 using FerrariChat.com mobile app
I guess; as i said i experienced ugly hard to shift TR and totally nomal Ones. Same thing with the supposedly hard to shift onto second; that same car i had tested was really hard to shift. Fluids had been done but i guess diff and clutch might have been tired. Car is still for sale so I guess there is a reason why! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
hey shark ! yes i would love that....except that the 512tr (along with the bbi and the f40) are in storage in the uk. and i miss them terribly.
Remember to check the head gasket.....if its the original, it has to be on its last legs, also an engine out.
Todd, just as an info, I did replace my Tr diff with a Newman one and did all myself and cost was near $5000 CDN in parts.
I've owned a vt and sv diablo and now a tr if u want to compare a diablo to a 512 tr go 94 better brakes awd better looking dash and more improvements and also power steering
Doubtful with my budget I'll get a 94. Never know what might pop up as I want something with some miles on it, no garage queens. I do not want to worry about how many KM's I put on it in a year.
Hey Toddztr, I'm glad your thread has gotten so many responses. I still own my 91 Testarossa and have put 61,000 miles on it. I had put 72.000 miles on my 97.5 Diablo VT Roadster before it was destroyed in an accident a couple of years ago. Both cars were absolute daily drivers including heavy Florida rain. From a maintenance point of view, we know the Testarossa is expensive with the major engine out. Ok, a Diablo is way more to maintain even with no belt change.....and for giggles my Lamborghini Murcielago Roadster is even more to maintain than the Diablo! In general, both cars are honestly bulletproof. I have done all the service work on both cars myself except for the belts on the Testarossa and the clutch on the Diablo. I have the kevlar clutch on the Testarossa and it took 5000 miles for it to wear down properly so the clutch pedal wouldn't go down to the floor at high revs. Yes, for some reason, the clutch material is too thick and it's oversized. I don't know why they do it this way...but it is. The Diablo will benefit from a Kevlar clutch as well.....as it's manual. If you were looking at a later Murcielago egear car...forget it! It's very jerky and rough. A friend just changed his back to the organic from the kevlar on his Murcielago because the car was undriveable. While you have mentioned the diff, it's not as widespread as it's made out to be. It seems to be hit and miss. But, ecu's on the Diablo are a ticking time bomb and no one....I mean no one has come up with a viable alternative to the 94 + that uses a GFA module. Early 91's have marginal brakes as mentioned but also have a tensioner update needed. Two are from the top but the lower one is an engine out. Most cars have probably had this done already as it's a known item. One thing is the lower crank bearings on the 91-93 are poor quality and will wear out. For that reason, I saved a little more money and started looking for a VT. By the time I was looking for cars to buy, I was able to enter the VT Roadster arena. A lot of the early issues and 3 generations of brakes later, it was a better car. If you had to ask which one, I say Diablo! Then again, I'm not a suble person and I like things over the top. The Diablo is a show stopper and the doors never get old. You can do all the maintenance yourself with a OBD II scanner and a multimeter. You won't find much help on the forums as most Diablo owners really don't work on them. It's easy to get spoiled with all the great help in the Testarossa section. If it means anything, while I have put over 12,000 miles on my Murcielago Roadster, the egear is boring. The Diablo was a much more exciting car to drive.....and drive everyday. I hope this helps. If you have questions, just post, and I'll answer them here for you. Shamile Freeze....Miami Vice!
I think there is a misunderstanding in this thread. Early diablos are very 'raw', very 80s italian build construction (vs the TR which is a bit better quality). That said, later diablos are much, much more refined. The addition of PW ~94, the conversion of the clutch type ~97, the redesign of the suspension geometry (multiple times, most pronounced with the 6.0) changed the character of the car quite a bit. It would be unfair to compare a later diablo to a 94 TR. In all honestly, I would say the late 90s (98/99) diablos are closest to the TR in build quality. The 6.0s are much superior. Blind spots still awful though.
