Yikes! It's a Lamborghini Aventador in Diablo purple

Oh my word. This is a Lamborghini Aventador SV in Viola, and we’d excuse you if you need to have a little sit down. It’s quite a thing, isn’t it?

Viola is a key colour in Lambo history, of course. Nip back a couple of decades and one of the Aventador’s boldest ancestors – the almighty Diablo – was painted this very colour. This is Lambo’s not-particularly-retro take on retro, and we like it.

That specific Diablo was an SE30, a rear-drive, 523bhp version of the slightly demonic Diablo. Its performance figures – 0-60mph in 4.0secs, 210mph top speed – might not look particularly staggering nowadays. But you’ll be aiming for them with a hefty manual gearchange and without any fancy driver aids. Good luck, basically…

The Aventador’s stats are clearly from a different era. Like the Diablo SE30, it uses a naturally aspirated V12, but this one produces 740bhp. Pushed through all four wheels via a paddleshift gearbox and many clever systems, it achieves 0-60mph in 2.8secs on its way towards (then probably past) 217mph.

We’ve got a simpler, and perhaps more pressing comparison for you, though. Scroll the pictures above and tell us – which wears Viola better?

By the way, if your answer is ‘Aventador’, you can buy this one from Lamborghini Montreal for a mere £470,000…