gengar

I picked the light silver color for the wheels. I guess what I meant by "medium" was not the polish and not the dark gunmetal.


I concur - I'm not going to fight the weather, though. Lesser of two evils.


I left the steering wheel black because I've found I don't like seeing contrast when I'm in the car. I've pretty much loved black interiors since the all-black semi-aniline on my 2003 LS430 (which I still own), so it was easy to pick black.

The wheel color choice was the most difficult, especially since neither the online configurator (which comes out really dark on everything - even the paint colors) or the product specialist ordering kit (which has small model wheels, but aren't as accurate as the paint since the material is actually plastic) don't reflect the actual color that well. It was between the unpolished silver and dark gunmetal for me. I suppose this is something easy to change should I feel like it.

As far as the calipers, the blue caliper color doesn't match Pearl Blue and I'm not bothering with that level of customization. I actually really like the way the black IS-F rotors look with any color, so I just went along with that.

Nothing official. I used Porsche's CCB replacement cost as a baseline for my calculations on maintenance cost. As far as oil - at Joliet, one of the Central area guys mentioned that basic LFA service won't be done at any significant premium (if at all). So I'd expect oil change cost to be in the same ballpark over material cost as, say, for the IS-F.

In any case, I'll shoot an e-mail off to the LFA guys and ask if there are any updates.

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

youre confusing the differential oil price with the engine oil price:
http://blogs.insideline.com/roadtest...expensive.html

Oil they are using is just 0W40 Mobil Synthetic, nothing special. But damn 8qt of tranny fluid @ $86/qt. $2000 is for changing the diff fluid, tranny fluid, engine oil, oil filter, other various filters, and of course dealer labor.

Joe Z

iTrader: (10)

^^ Well since this is Very exciting...

Here is an actual still photo of the "Light Premium Metallic" wheel finish..
(Front Right Corner with out center cap)



and

Here is an Ok rolling shot of it in the "Wet"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zW4R6vcMTv8&

and

Here is that famous walk around of the Pearl Blue, Black Calipers & Light Premium Metallic Wheels

Just for you!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOauGUh2xGc


Joe Z

TF109B

yeah the silver is ok, i was always a fan of a darker wheel with a bright color. I see what you mean about the calipers not matching. Though on the Red car tested by some of the euro mags, the silver calipers look VERY good. I think black is good too. I'd go with black on black, just cus black is my favorite color. But Blue has always made me feel like it's more 'noticeable', ya know?

Appleman

Lexus Europe made these tweets today, I don't think anyone has posted about it yet:

http://twitter.com/#!/Lexus_EU/status/28672498949

http://twitter.com/#!/Lexus_EU/status/28674118300

http://twitter.com/#!/Lexus_EU/status/28674184390


Basically saying that the LFA lap times at Nurburgring was low 7' 20"s in their tests.

Mister Two

Very glad that someone in Lexus marketing is actually interested in the 'Ring time and is even willing to hint at the LFA's time. But sad that he's about a week or two too late to tweet about the AutoBild comparo, now that the newer issue of the AutoBild is already published, with the 458 beating the LFA by 6 seconds in the same comparo. Sadder that he apparently has THE 'Ring time in his hand (low 7' 20"s sounds good to me, although it kind of invalidates the LFA chief engineer's claim of a sub-7:20 time) but just wouldn't/couldn't make it official for whatever reason. They may be still waiting on the best possible lap time from the final of the final version of the production-spec'd LFA prototype under the best possible track condition. Whatever the reason is, they are losing the marketing impact that publishing the lap time could have had by allowing other production cars publish their faster records over this whole waiting period. Nissan understands the importance of timing, so they're willing to publish their interim lap time (in partially damp condition) that may not be good enough to represent the true capability of the car but is good enough to make an effective marketing impact in time.

TRDFantasy

As I expected, Lexus has a 'Ring time, but they simply do not want to release it yet. No big deal. The Ring package LFA I bet will go under 7:20 easily. Even the regular LFA I think will be in the 7:20-7:22 range.

It's all quite simple people; LFA is still in pre-production, and the marketing onslaught really won't begin until we are very close to production or after production. I expect by next year Lexus will likely give us a public "official" 'Ring time for the LFA.

It's completely pointless to talk about how "effective" Nissan's 'Ring marketing has been. Honestly, there is no proof of this. It's been pointed out several times that GT-R sales are NOT THAT GOOD right now. The 'Ring marketing has not been helping GT-R sales as much as some would like to believe, or as much as Nissan might imply it does. Unlike the LFA, there is a big gap between the online hype of the R35 compared to the LFA. LFA actually has more real-world hype than online hype, while the reverse is the case for the R35.

TF109B

You guys need to read more into it than that. Go to the site and click on the user that Lexus Europe was replying to. It wasn't Lexus Europe late to the game, they didn't comment specifically on some magazines test times. Someone was asking about them and commented to Lexus Europe about the lap times that AutoBild made. Lexus Europe replied and said their TIMES in plural were LOW 7:20's not 7:30's. In other words these were their test times. Not finalized times. Also if you look further, the guy who asked the initial question says, 'compare the LFA VLN car with the Nurburgring Package', and Lexus Europe claims, it will be faster, power is not restricted and weight is the SAME!

05RollaXRS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhEgp...ayer_embedded#!

05RollaXRS

Well said.

That is very true. I believe GTR does not have the "holding power" for the owner. A huge percentage of GTR owners are selling their GTRs after 1 year of ownership because it becomes to boring and too calculated much like a computer game. Most of them end up getting a brash "I am a race car" GT3. It does not have the aural drama or the sensory overload that LFA has.

The proof I had seen recently in the sunday sun newspaper where a single used car dealership had two used GTRs for sale on the lot.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

online hype? real world hype? aren't they just hype anyway? to be honest, if anything, the gtr has more real world results to prove themselves than lfa. now of course, i am not putting the two cars side by side, lfa isn't even officially released yet like you said. but at the same time that's also my point, with the lfa not released at all, everything about it is still hype, and far less real world than online compared to gtr

and then there is more about living up to the hype. does the gtr and things related to gtr help nissan? i would say yes. when you mentioned nissan, you thought of altima and maxima. now when you talk about nissan? a lot more people talk about that "very fast car, what's its name again?" yes, that's result.

on the other hand, lexus has put up a lot of hype about the lfa, the best driver's car you can find out there and purely track performance. now they have to prove it, and yet have to. we already have quite a few reviews and reputable (well, subjective here) drivers giving thumbups, but whether that's enough or not, we don't know yet.

TF109B

Did any of you read Lexus Europe's comments toward the user DriversRepublic? He asked about the VLN car vs. the Nurburgring edition, and Lexus Europe replied that the Nurb edition would be faster! No power restriction, ceramic brakes compared to steel, approximately same weight.

TRDFantasy

Great video 05RollaXRS . Some details slightly inaccurate, but still an interesting video.

It does seem that way, that holding power is an issue.

I don't see how anyone can still doubt the LFA at this point, but I won't argue this topic. All I will say is for those in doubt, to have faith. For those not in doubt, the capability of the LFA has already been displayed and I think the production cars will only be faster. I have full confidence in Lexus and the LFA.

Yes the GT-R definitely has real world results, but of course that is because the GT-R has been out for years. The LFA is not out yet or in production yet. The LFA however has been a huge autoshow hit anywhere it goes. Lots of LFA videos have lots of views on Youtube. Many non-enthusiast people I've talked to don't even know the GT-R exists, or if they do they're not that interested. However many of these people I've talked to have all heard of "that Lexus supercar".

The GT-R sales are not that good as already mentioned, and GT-Rs on the street do not get lots of looks to be honest. I've seen many enough R35s on the street and almost nobody ever even turns their head to look at the car. Yes it's helped Nissan but has it by a lot; I would say no. The fact that the car really doesn't get looks means it's just "another Nissan" in the eyes of a lot of average people. This is the same thing with the Corvette and Chevy, even though the Corvette has more heritage here in North America. How much does the Corvette really help the Chevy brand? I would say right now, not much. Despite the Corvette's existence and heritage, many people still view Chevy as a mostly "truck" brand. I think the Mustang helps Ford more than the Corvette helps Chevy, and I think the GT-R helps Nissan the least out of this comparison. This is part of the problem of having a halo car for a mass market mainstream brand. Having a halo car for a luxury or high-end brand on the other hand is different.

Also when pre-production or first production R35s showed up in public gatherings, was it always an event? I would say no. The LFA almost everywhere it goes is an "event". People take looks, gather around it, and there is lots of word of mouth. Even at an event like Cars and Coffee the LFA was an "event" and attracted a crowd and gathering. That is very impressive considering lots of great sports cars and supercars show up at Cars and Coffee all the time.

I think this is the difference with the LFA and R35. Mostly what it comes down to, is the LFA is extremely exclusive and a lot more exotic than the GT-R. By way of visual, technical and aural drama, it captivates people in a way the GT-R really doesn't. This is excluding statistics, specs, and performance numbers, and only looking at the appeal of each car in the eyes of the public.

Yeah it's all just hype anyways, but the real world is ... well the real world, and online is simply online.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

we're STILL talking about the GT-R in this thread?

LexFather

Agreed. Please keep this on the LFA.Thanks