2019 Lamborghini Aventador SVJ Road Test and Review

There are sports cars. Then there are supercars. Then there are hypercars. The 2019 Lamborghini Aventador SVJ is a hypercar. It’s one of the fastest, most exclusive cars on the road. And its acceleration, not to mention its price, will take your breath away.

Lamborghini, along with Bugatti, Bentley, and Porsche, is owned by Volkswagen, one of Germany’s largest automakers. Its sports cars, however, are still designed and built in Italy, just as they were when Ferruccio Lamborghini started the company back in 1963. Today the V12-powered Aventador SVJ is the brand’s most powerful and expensive model. The mid-engine hypercar packs 770 horsepower, blasts from 0-60 mph in less than three seconds, and has a base price of over $520,000.

Think of the 2019 Lamborghini Aventador as the modern interpretation of the Lamborghini Countach, which first debuted in the early 1970s and still remains one of the most extreme cars the world has ever seen. After the Countach, there was the Diablo, the Murcielago, and eventually the Aventador, which appeared in 2011. Today Lamborghini offers the 740-hp Aventador S and the more powerful Aventador SVJ.

Both models have an all-aluminum, double overhead cam, 6.5-liter V12 engine backed by a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. The engine is naturally aspirated, which is unusual given that most modern high-performance cars are now turbocharged or hybrid-powered. All-wheel drive has been an important part of Lamborghini’s sports cars since the Diablo in the 1990s, and it’s standard on every Aventador along with massive carbon-ceramic brakes and a rear-wheel steering system. With a long list of expensive options, our Aventador SVJ test car cost $610,365, including a $3,695 destination charge. Both models are available as a two-seat coupe, like our test car, or as a convertible.

The 2019 Aventador SVJ is absolutely the most advanced and best-performing Lamborghini sports car of all time. Yes, it’s the last naturally aspirated V12 supercar in the world, which makes it a bit of throwback compared to its twin-turboed and electrified competitors. But the Lambo’s big 12-cylinder is also one of the greatest engines the world has ever seen. In the SVJ, it has been dialed up to 770 hp at 8,500 rpm and 720 lb-ft of torque at 6,750 rpm. It also revs out to a stratospheric 9,000 rpm and screams like a Formula 1 car from the mid-1990s. It may be the best sounding street-legal car of all time.

This is not a small car — it’s well over 15 feet long — but it’s extremely light for its size: less than 3,400 lbs. This is because it’s basically constructed entirely of carbon fiber, from its monocoque chassis, to its body, to its door panels. It’s also about 110 lbs lighter than the Aventador S. It feels long and wide from behind the wheel, but once you get used to its dimensions, the Aventador is surprisingly easy to drive.

The Aventador SVJ also comes standard with Lamborghini’s ANIMA system, which allows the driver to customize its dynamics to the driving conditions. The four modes — Strada, Sport, Corsa, and EGO — are easily chosen with buttons on its console. In Strada, or street, the Lambo is shockingly docile. Its transmission is fully automatic, its suspension delivers a smooth ride, and its all-wheel drive system is tuned for maximum traction and stability. Switch to Sport, and its steering gets a bit heavier and its suspension gets firmer. The response of the transmission also increases. In Corsa, or Track, the Aventador feels like an all-out racecar. Its transmission becomes completely manual. It also shifts quicker, and the stability control system is deactivated for maximum driver control.

We like EGO mode best. It allows you to choose your favorites, customizing the car to your liking. Corsa for the engine and transmission and Strada for the steering and suspension was our favorite setup when driving around Los Angeles.

Few cars in the world can keep up with the 2019 Lamborghini Aventador SVJ. Its acceleration is violent. Use its launch-control system, which allows you to rev the engine to 5,000 rpm before you step off the brake pedal, and its thrust will literally blur your vision. I’m not kidding. Passengers scream for their mommies as the Lambo’s awesome power and the traction of its all-wheel drive system rocket you forward like a Six Flags ride.

According to Lamborghini, the SVJ hits 62 mph in just 2.8 seconds and 124 mph in 8.6 seconds, and it has a top speed of 217 mph. We didn’t go quite that fast, but the Italian is dead stable at 150 mph. Its handling and braking will also challenge your inner ear. An Aventador SVJ recently set the new production-car lap record around Germany’s Nürburgring Nordschleife, the most challenging and dangerous racetrack in the world, with a time of just 6 minutes, 44.97 seconds around the 13-mile circuit.

One of the reasons the Aventador SVJ performs so incredibly is its active aerodynamics system, which literally pushes the car down to the road for ultimate traction. Downforce, says Lamborgini, is improved 70 percent over the old SV model. Officially called Aerodinamica Lamborghini Attiva (ALA), the system includes air inlets in the hood to direct airflow, front and rear diffusers, vortex generators, divergent fins, and the Aventador’s massive carbon-fiber rear wing.

The system is active, varying aero load over the car's body to achieve high downforce or low drag, depending on conditions and demands. Flaps in the front spoiler and engine cover are opened and closed by small electric motors to steer the airflow as needed to maximize performance. The effect is even split from side to side, and the flaps work independently, allowing aero vectoring to increase the car’s high-speed cornering stability. The ALA system can increase downforce and traction on the inside wheel, counteracting the natural cornering forces. You can’t feel any of this happening while you’re driving the Lamborghini — you just enjoy its incredible roadholding.

Lamborghini’s used to be so uncomfortable you wouldn’t want to drive them more than just a few miles. But the 2019 Aventador SVJ is comfortable enough that my daughter and I took it on a 300-mile single-day road trip. And it doesn’t just ride well; it feels solid, and its interior is well-crafted and packs the visual impact expected in an exotic sports car.

Its engine-start button is right out of a fighter jet and all of its digital gauges are labeled in Italian: Oilio, Batteria, Acqua, and Benzine. Unfortunately, its paddle shifters are mounted to the steering column instead of its flat-bottom wheel. You may recognize many of the Lambo’s interior switches from some Audi models. Audi is also owned by Volkswagen. The Aventador’s infotainment screen is the same as the one in my wife’s Audi Q5, right down to its graphics. That’s a bit disappointing, but it works without quirks.

Don’t misunderstand, the 2019 Lamborghini Aventador SVJ is more comfortable and more usable than so many Lambos of the past, but it’s still any Italian hypercar and it still demands you make a few sacrifices in the name of style and performance. Here’s a list of five:

• Visibility is terrible. You can’t see what’s behind you; the mount for the rear spoiler is in the way. Cops can sneak up on you very easily.
• To save weight, there isn’t any carpet.
• There isn’t any interior storage or cupholders — no place to throw your phone or your latte.
• There’s so much road roar on the highway it’s actually hard to hear the radio.
• The carbon-fiber door panels are cool, but they're hard. Some padding on the armrest would be appreciated.

It’s also extremely thirsty. We drove the car about 400 miles in two days and went through three tanks of Benzine. We averaged just 10.9 mpg.

Lamborghini’s are perhaps most famous for their unique scissor doors, which open up instead of out. They’ve even come to be known as "Lamborghini doors," as they debuted on the Countach in 1974 and they’re still part of the appeal on all Aventador models. The brand's less-expensive Huracan Evo has doors that function conventionally.

Lamborghini doors don’t only impress your neighbors, but they also work pretty well out in the real world, which includes parking lots. They’re far more practical than the “Butterfly Doors” on the BMW i8 and some McLaren models, for instance, as it’s impossible to open the door into another car, wall, pole, or other object next to you. Getting in and out the Aventador isn’t exactly easy but it’s worth the effort.

Although the 2019 Lamborghini Aventador SVJ is comfortable enough to be driven every day, you probably wouldn’t want to. It's just too extreme. And we mean that as a compliment. For daily duty, Lamborghini recently introduced its first SUV, and the Urus has quickly become its best-selling model. The Aventador is also outsold by the more affordable Huracan, and that’s by design.

The Aventador SVJ isn’t for everyone. In fact, Lamborghini will build just 900 for the entire world. It’s a special car for a small group of enthusiasts who understand and appreciate its extreme performance, technology, and capabilities. It’s also one of the best-performing cars you can buy at any price, and it delivers on its promise of an exotic, erotic, high-performance experience.