LFA Appreciation

The taillight turn signals are orange worldwide. Agreed, it's not that noticeable in photos, moreso in videos.

 

USA prices for the ~180 cars in the USA: Depending on spec and miles of course, they can be had as low as the high 200's. A really nicely specced (colors) delivery mile example will be in the 300's. A Nurburgring package car (50 produced total, less than half of them in the USA) will be double those numbers or more. In summary, the standard LFAs are the bargain of the century right now. There is no other car that provides this level of driving experience and build quality for this price (yes, Italian and German exotics included).

 

Incredible exhaust sound video:

 

And from the standard exhaust, no less. They really spent a lot of time on the sound of this car.

 

I do not have one for sale, just a fan of the car. If you have such a distaste for this car, perhaps you shouldn't click on threads titled "LFA." Please kindly find the exit and do not return, cheers!

 

The LFA Nurburgring package car (50 produced), which lapped the famed circuit in a record-breaking 7:14 in 2011, beating the blistering Porsche 997.2 GT2 RS's time of 7:18 and making it the fastest road car with street tires lap ever recorded at the time. An LFA Nurburgring recently sold for $825,000 at Gooding auctions, cementing the value of this incredibly rare version of the car.

 

Despite the record, the focus of the LFA was not purely on lap times, but on making the car fun to drive as this interview with the chief engineer explains:

“The Nürburgring was a dojo for us,” explains Chief Engineer Tanahashi, using the Japanese term for a revered martial arts training house. “It was the best place in the world for the vehicle to train.”

It’s here that the team has been fine-tuning the LFA every six months since 2004, and it’s here that the team has recently been developing the LFA into a new performance package—The Nürburgring Package, available this year—in which the tires, suspension, and aerodynamics are all enhanced.

However, while justifiably proud of his team and the LFA’s evolution, Tanahashi has been uncomfortable with a focus on breaking records.

“Many people judge vehicles purely on records,” he explains. “But that is not how Lexus engineers think.” For Tanahashi, tuning the LFA at Nürburgring was about furthering his goal of a making a genuinely fun-to-drive supercar.

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Amazing, thank you for contributing. Can you provide further insights on the car? Driving impressions, build quality, and so on. Would love to hear an owner's thoughts.

 

Thank you for your thoughts!

 

For those who might be wondering why I've started this thread, and how I developed my level of enthusiasm for this car, allow me to explain:

As many on this forum know, I have a particular interest and specialty in Japanese sports cars. My main focus in this realm over the past two years has been the original NSX, as I have always been a Honda & Acura fan; I like the high-revving and track-focused nature of their cars in general, from the standard variants through the hardcore Type Rs. I am, of course, also a big fan of Porsche, Ferrari and the usual suspect supercars as well. In contrast, I have never been a big fan of Toyota products, as I largely had an impression of their cars based on the usual stereotype that they were "boring" and devoid of emotion. In some ways this is true, as most of their sports cars over the years have been fairly sedate (I'm not an MR2 or Supra fan, to be frank). However, cars like the 2000GT, 7 race car, and GT-One show what the brand is capable of when they set their mind to producing something special.

That said, about 6 months ago I began casually researching the LFA, mostly based on an interest in the 9,500 RPM engine, something that would get any true car enthusiast excited. As I read more on the car, including but not limited to the chief engineer's overall concept (a focus purely on driving pleasure over all else), the development process, the level of attention to detail, actual driving impressions, and seeking out actual owner's impressions, I began to realize that this was not the supercar that had been represented to me upon release in 2011-2012. I spoke to owners who had owned some of the most serious supercars to date (F50, Carrera GT, etc.) who told me it was one of the best cars they had ever driven, and that they would take it over their Carrera GT. I was amazed to find that despite the lofty asking price, Lexus spent nearly double to produce each car. It was enlightening to discover that Akio Toyoda himself, the CEO of Toyota, played a pivotal test-pilot role in the racing development of the car at the Nurburgring, and would not compromise or authorize release of the car until the dynamics were 100% perfect. And, I had no idea that Hiromu Naruse, Toyota's chief test driver for nearly 5 decades, the man behind such projects as the 2000GT, a man known as the Nurburgring "Meister," and a man who Ferrari colleagues called "the man who knows all the world’s roads," died behind the wheel of his ultimate creation, the LFA Nurburgring prototype, at the tail end of development & after countless hours tuning dampers at the Nurburgring to make the car just that bit more responsive.

In summary, this was not the failed supercar that had been represented to me, but rather it was a car that combined all the ingredients that makes a great and classic supercar:

1. Incredible driving dynamics, a high-revving naturally aspirated engine, and a focus on outright driving pleasure rather than lap times alone.
2. A passionate and focused, prolonged development process that prioritized making the car as excellent as it could be, rather than turning a profit and/or quickly developing a replacement as with most supercars.
3. An amazing back story that includes deep involvement by the CEO of the company and a passionate team of engineers and test drivers.

A list like that could be used to describe a car like the McLaren F1, or Porsche Carrera GT, two other cars I think are some of the supercar greats of all time. So, to me this is a car worth a closer look, and that should be taken more seriously than some sadly myopic and close-minded forum-goers are willing to admit. From this post forward I won't respond to any negative posts, only share knowledge on the car!

 

2010 Lexus LFA GT. This car was the Toyota racing division's prepped version of the LFA that Lexus campaigned in the 2010 24 Hours of Nürburgring event. This was the first time the production version of the LFA (with the road car's 4.8L V10) was used in competition. In the two prior outings in the event, development versions of the LFA were raced, “primarily to help hone performance and handling” according to Lexus. Having come up short the previous year, the team took a class win this year with the #50 car. The driving team was led by Toyota Master Test Driver Hiromu Naruse, who tragically died at the wheel of an LFA Nürburgring edition development car later that year.

 

Thank you for the response! Awesome to hear on all points. I have definitely heard that the Lexus customer experience is second to none.