Nice article on the LFA in the luxury magazine, Robb Report.

http://robbreport.com/Automobiles/Wheels-Lexus-Rex

2/26/2010 5:08:09 PM

Lexus LFA Nürburgring track edition

Quote :

"Apparently called the Nürburgring edition – in reference to the legendary German road course where the competition prototypes that led to the production LFA cut their proverbial teeth – this extra-special LFA will benefit from a large, fixed rear wing, a splitter up front, a stiffer (and more adjustable) suspension, lightweight alloys coated in track rubber and an extra 10 horsepower (likely resulting from a revised exhaust system). Aside from the four paint options – which reportedly include glossy black, matte black, orange, and an unknown fourth color – that's about all we've got for now, but if your Japanese is up to snuff and you can extrapolate more from the source report, let us know in the Comments below."

3/16/2010 6:35:42 PM

because they needed a reason to make it more expensive...

3/16/2010 8:33:23 PM

*yawn*

3/16/2010 11:25:36 PM

You'd probably be able to buy a 458 Italia AND a Gallardo for the price.

3/16/2010 11:36:40 PM

interesting point. I'd also wager that the Gallardo could keep pace with the Lexus.

Or how about the Heffner Gallardo that runs the 1/4 mile in 10.4 @ 144mph for $300k

[Edited on March 17, 2010 at 9:19 AM. Reason : better power to weight ratio than Veyron...]

3/17/2010 9:11:35 AM

That special edition will cost $444,000 (as opposed to $375,000)!

*************************************************************************

This is just ridiculously unbelievable:

Lexus LFAs Sold for SGD$1.25M in Singapore

Quote :

"According to the Business Times, Singapore’s allocation of 2 Lexus LFA supercars has been “sold at speed of light” - being spoken for even before the price was announced. Lexus Borneo Singapore received deposits of SGD$80,000 shortly after the Chinese Lunar New Year holidays from two undisclosed customers. The LFA’s price in Singapore has since been announced as SGD$1.25 million, which is approximately equivalent to US$ 893,300 . With sixteen prospective customers expressing interest, Lexus executives in Singapore hope to increase their country’s allocation of the Japanese supercar."

***********************************************************************

And here is the deal for the US of A:



Lease the Lexus LFA for $12,400 per month, $298,000 due at signing

Quote :

"For your living-vicarious pleasure, here's how it works: As reported, you cannot buy Lexus' first ever supercar. You have to lease the mostly-carbon-fiber-and-unobtanium LFA. That's sort of good news for the non-disgustingly wealthy, right? After all, leases are the cheap and easy way to get into a new car. Are you sitting down? The monthly lease payment on the Lexus LFA is $12.398.44. For 24 months. That's $297,562.56 worth of lease payments over two years, at the end of which you own nothing. However, Lexus is quick to point out that the LFA's MSRP is $375,000, so you're technically not paying full price. And at the end of 24 months, lessees are free to plunk down an additional $93,750 (more than the base price of a very comparable Nissan GT-R, we should mention) and buy their LFA outright. Of course, you can't just waltz into your local Lexus dealership with $12,398.44 and rocket waltz out in an LFA. Lexus has to actually select you to lease its (admittedly awesome) car. Once you're chosen, you've got 10 days to drop off a $10,000 deposit at your local Lexus dealer and submit to a credit check. We should mention that this will not be the only deposit and credit check Lexus requires. Once your credit checks out, you then have to deposit an additional $50,000. To mini-recap, that's $60,000 down on a $375,000 car. Sounds reasonable (from a detached, algebraic ratio perspective) until you remember that you're not buying the car, just leasing it. All of this will be/is happening from March–June 2010. Production of the LFA doesn't start until December. We don't know how long each car will take to build, but customers lessees will be required to go through a second credit check immediately prior to delivery. We're not entirely sure you really want to pass the second credit check. Here's why. Remember the $12,398.44 per month lease payment we mentioned a couple paragraphs up? That's just the breakdown. All LFAs are being doled out via Lexus' 1Pay Lease Program. Meaning that to lease the LFA, you hand Lexus a check for $237,562.56, which is the full amount of the lease minus your $60,000 pair of deposits. Oh, and there's a $700 "aquisition fee." Plus tax, title, license and registration. The good news? Even though you have to lease the LFA, because of the lengthy approval/deposit process, each car is still made to order. Meaning that even though you don't own the car, you can still order it in Passionate Pink, a $3,000 option. "

[Edited on March 17, 2010 at 11:14 PM. Reason : ]

3/17/2010 11:12:07 PM

I can't imagine why in the hell anyone would buy one.

3/17/2010 11:27:40 PM

If I was super rich and interested in this car and then read the above bullshit I'd tell Lexus to go fuck themselves. Pulling shit like that that even Ferrari wouldn't do, pfft.

3/18/2010 8:49:23 AM

^ Exactly.

And look at this shit:

Quote :

"A matte paintjob brings the cost up $20,000, colored stitching goes upwards of $10,000, polished finish on the wheels is $2,500, and painted brake calipers go for $1,000."

W T F

3/18/2010 7:13:10 PM

The special Nurburgring edition is out.

- 562 hp
- Fixed rear wing
- New front/side spoilers
- New light wheels
- Grippier tyres
- 150 ms shift times
- 50 units to be made
- Advanced driving course at the Ring
- Free one year pass to the Ring (so you can wreck it and buy another one!)


Fucking gorgeous!







[Edited on March 29, 2010 at 5:44 PM. Reason : ]

3/29/2010 5:35:32 PM

Car and Driver just tested it:

PERFORMANCE:
Zero to 60 mph: 3.7 sec
Zero to 100 mph: 7.8 sec
Zero to 130 mph: 12.9 sec
Zero to 150 mph: 18.3 sec
Standing ¼-mile: 11.8 sec @ 124 mph
Top speed (drag limited, mfr's est): 202 mph
Braking, 70–0 mph: 156 ft
Roadholding, 200-ft-dia skidpad: 1.00 g

No launch control mode, so they did a neutral drop to get the best acceleration times, lol.

Quote :

"At the moment, there’s no launch control on the rear-drive LFA, so we ran a few acceleration runs by just stomping on the throttle. The LFA hit 60 mph in about 4.4 seconds, about as quickly as a stock BMW M3 and not terribly impressive. So we tried an old trick from our high-school days: the neutral slam. The neutral slam was a way to launch automatic-transmission cars before the advent of the brake-operated shift lock (before Audi’s brush with unintended acceleration, in other words). The technique was simple: Borrow your parents’ car, go out on a quiet street, wind it up in neutral, and slam it into drive. Mayhem ensued. The computers of most modern cars prevent you from doing that, but the LFA allows it. It took a few tries to get the technique perfected, but by holding the V-10 at about 3800 rpm and selecting first, and taking care not to go wide-open throttle and melt the run in wheelspin, we got a clean, repeatable launch that dropped the 60-mph sprint time to 3.7 seconds, right on Lexus’s claim, and the quarter-mile to 11.8 seconds at 124 mph. "

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/car/10q1/world_exclusive!_2012_lexus_lfa_tested-short_take_road_test

Impressive? Sure. For the price? No way.

3/30/2010 1:12:02 PM

Video: Motor Trend pits Lexus LFA against Nissan GT-R in epic drag race

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5R-oi91bd4

(Also a very good introduction to the LFA and the technologies in it)

It can reach redline (9,000 RPM) from idle in just over 0.5 second

5/12/2010 7:10:00 AM

yea..watchin the top gear LFA episode made the engine sound heavenly.

5/13/2010 12:15:16 AM

^yeah that was a good Top Gear episode. I especially like how they ripped on the car at the end though I'm sure if it was half the price they'd bow down, but for that cost, lol yeah sure.

5/13/2010 9:31:08 AM

Hands down the coolest and most innovative (and scientific!) car ad I have ever seen.

Video: Lexus LFA breaks champagne glass with science
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16hPBsw2Uy4

Quote :

"Toyota just released a new spot featuring the V10 beast roaring to life and shattering a champagne glass with nothing but its exhaust note. We're well aware that skepticism is the internet's middle name, but Toyota claims that it hired a physicist to figure out exactly what kind of glass would resonate at the same frequency as the LFA exhaust. From there, the car was just a dyno pull away from sending the flute to the recycling bin. According to the press release, there's zero CG at work here – just pure science."

6/3/2010 5:30:02 PM

mythbusters got a guy to do that with his voice. still cool though.

6/3/2010 7:46:14 PM

^^just about any car can do that if you use the right type of glass. BFD

The only thing that makes this car significant and desirable in any way is that its production is very limited.

6/3/2010 11:04:49 PM

I sort of disagree, I think the idle to redline in under half a second is pretty special, as is how they mold/produce the carbon chassis. However, it is rather Japanese, and I would've loved to see an analog gauge for the tach. With stepper motors, I don't see how they can argue on an analog dial's inability to display the change in RPMs fast enough...

6/3/2010 11:32:30 PM

Quote :

"^^just about any car can do that if you use the right type of glass. BFD"

ya i know, i never said the car is cool because it can do it or that no other car can do it. it is still the coolest most innovative car ad IMO!

ahmet got it right about the carbon fiber chassis/body (made by a carbon fiber weaving loom of which only 2 exist in the whole world!) and the half second to redline being what makes it special (among a few other small things).

Quote :

" I would've loved to see an analog gauge for the tach."

well, the display is technically digital/electronic, but it shows an analog display, so i don't see how an actual needle for the tach would make the driver's experience any different. of course, if the tach was digital (showing just numbers) that wouldn't be good.

6/4/2010 4:46:08 AM

^&^^while I agree those are interesting and cool things, they don't make it a cool/amazing car. Those factoids don't make the car perform or look better than other cars that cost considerably less.

And yes, innovative commercial.

6/4/2010 9:04:54 AM

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/06/23/breaking-toyota-chief-test-driver-dies-lf-a-germany-ring/

Video of aftermath in link.

BREAKING: Toyota's chief test driver dies behind wheel of LFA in Germany

Quote :

"According to reports, Toyota's chief test driver, 67-year-old Hiromu Naruse, has died in a crash on highway 410 near the famed Nürburgring race track in Germany. He was driving the recently spied Lexus LFA Nürburgring Edition (above) at the time of the accident, and reports say he veered into oncoming traffic and collided head-on with two others test drivers in a BMW. The two BMW test drivers survived the crash, though one is reportedly still in critical condition. German video of the crash scene after the accident took place can be viewed below. Police are investigating the crash and have yet to determine its cause. Naruse was heavily involved with the development of the Lexus LFA supercar he was driving, along with many other past sports cars from Toyota's history since he joined the company in 1963. Enthusiasts today call him the "Godfather of the LFA," though he was involved in the development of sports cars for Toyota going as far back as the storied 2000GT from the late 1960s. The prototype of a special edition version of the LFA that he was driving when the accident occurred was reportedly worth 1.5 million euro."

Dude was important people... anybody interested in Toyota sportscars of yesteryear (unlike today's Scion tC!) should click the following link, which details all the legendary cars he ever developed and/or worked on, with great pictures.

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/06/23/seat-time-with-hiromu-naruse/

Gallery: http://www.autoblog.com/photos/hiromu-naruses-creations/


EDIT: He crashed into what is being billed as the next gen BMW 3-series


[Edited on June 24, 2010 at 8:59 PM. Reason : ]

6/24/2010 8:39:29 PM

I heard about this at work today but did not have time to research it and post

sad time, indeed.

6/24/2010 11:30:47 PM

bump

2/17/2011 2:07:08 PM

You've gotta be fucking kidding me:

Quote :

"Not Fair: Paris Hilton receives Lexus LFA for 30th birthday Jealousy is an unbecoming trait... but sometimes it's hard to ignore. You're going to have to work extra hard to bury those feelings after we tell you what Paris Hilton has apparently received for her 30th birthday. A 2011 Lexus LFA. Okay, just tilt your head back and breathe. Hilton's LFA still wears its factory yellow paint, though we wouldn't be surprised to see (and hear) it roaming the streets of LA in a shade of pink very soon. According to the Daily Mail, Hilton's 29-year-old boyfriend, entrepreneur Cy Waits, picked up the V10-powered Lexus two-door and surprised the heiress ahead of her birthday celebration. "

How much you want to bet she drives it once and absolutely hates it?

http://www.autoblog.com/2011/02/16/not-fair-paris-hilton-receives-lexus-lfa-for-30th-birthday/

2/17/2011 2:18:16 PM

Quote :

"How much you want to bet she drives it once and absolutely hates it? into something "

2/17/2011 2:24:12 PM

lol, that was the other thing I thought about typing.

2/17/2011 2:32:24 PM

^^^ Yeah that's messed up... the perfect car for her would be a Bentley Continental, or a Maserati GT, or an MB SL, etc, not an LFA, which is along the same lines as a Gallardo or a 458 Italia.

0-160 mph in LFA:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=AItzeT0J7pw

2/22/2011 10:02:18 AM

bump

10/31/2011 7:41:04 AM

thanks.

Here is a cool documentary video about the philosophy behind the LF-A and the story of its design, testing, and production. Watch the amazing carbon fiber loom weaving from the fibers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Ecwwk6a72Lg

BTW, it is simply baffling and downright comical that a Lexus (LFA Nurburgring Package) is faster around the Nurburgring than any German or Italian supercar, and that the only [full-size street legal] car that beats it is an American car!!! (Viper ACR) Lexus established the record on August 31 this year and 2 weeks later the ACR broke its own old record by 10 seconds and the LFA's by 2 seconds.

Actually, I missed it, the fastest is a German car... the Gumpert Apollo Sport, but they sell only a handful of cars each year.

Latest times: (excluding superlights)

7:11.57   Gumpert Apollo Sport
7:12:13   Dodge Viper ACR
7:14.64   Lexus LFA Nürburgring Package
7:18      Porsche 911 GT2 RS
7:24.22   Nissan GT-R
7:24.3    Maserati MC12
7:24.44   Pagani Zonda F Clubsport
7:25.7    Ferrari Enzo
7:26.4    Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1
7:28      McLaren MP4-12C
7:28.71   Porsche Carrera GT
7:32.02   Porsche 911 GT2
7:32.92   Ferrari 458 Italia
7:33      Porsche 911 GT3 RS 997
7:33.6    Koenigsegg CCX
7:34      Koenigsegg CCR
7:38      Lexus LFA
7:38      Porsche 911 Turbo
7:40      Lamborghini Murcielago LP640
7:40      Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren
7:40      Mercedes SLS AMG
7:40.6	  Ford GT
7:40.76	  Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4 Superleggera
7:41.27	  Camaro ZL1 (2012)
7:42.99	  Chevrolet Corvette C6 Z06
7:44      Audi R8 V10

10/31/2011 8:13:45 AM

What do you mean so slow? None of the cars with a better time than it appear to be "beneath" it.

10/31/2011 8:26:05 AM

dodge viper

hmmhmmhaahaha

Quote :

" PURE AMERICAN BEAST"

10/31/2011 8:31:05 AM

P.S. Hasn't the Veyron been tested? Didn't find the time on Wikipedia. I bet the Veyron SS will be wicked fast. And I bet the Aventador will be be blisteringly fast. Also I wish somebody tested the Ariel Atom V8 and the Ultima GTR720... they would blow all production cars out of the water. Actually, the Atom won't, as its top end is limited and I doubt it can reach faster than 160 mph.

I mean, it is some 20 seconds slower than the ACR, 18 slower than the LFA, and also slower than the GT-R, ZR1, and some more. Some of those cars have AWD, and some have more hp than the 458, but that's not the case with all the cars faster than it.

What do you mean "beneath"?

I was expecting it to be as fast as the Enzo, if not faster.

P.S. You know what would definitely be faster than the Enzo? The 599 GTO... I wish someone would test it.


[Edited on October 31, 2011 at 8:53 AM. Reason : ]

10/31/2011 8:31:41 AM

The Aerial Atom might be "street legal" but it's a stretch to really call it that. Ditto any of the Radicals. The Italia seems to be a car that every automotive journalist wants to get down on his knees and give a blowjob to, figuratively speaking. I don't see what the fuss is about personally. Unfortunately I haven't been a fan of Ferrari's styling the last decade or so.

[Edited on October 31, 2011 at 9:48 AM. Reason : k]

10/31/2011 9:46:21 AM

nring times are kind of worthless. tire selection makes a huge difference in times on such a long course. also, cars tested in middle of summer when it is dry and hot will perform better than in cooler months. it's a good ball park figure, but i would add plus/minus 15-20 sec depending on weather and tires. then, the most important factor is driver of course...



[Edited on October 31, 2011 at 12:10 PM. Reason : lo]

10/31/2011 12:08:34 PM