Koukir32

Anyone knows the exact allocation numbers left for the US market?

GS69

Quick Test: 2012 Lexus LFA

Toyota's 1st attempt at building a supercar began all the way back in 2000, a year after it announced its intentions to return to Formula 1. Toyota's TF101 racecar began competing in 2002, and big things were expected in the next few years. Rumor has it the LFA's big reveal was being saved for Toyota's inevitable 1st big victory. Sadly, even with silly amounts of money thrown at the team, a win never materialized, and Toyota withdrew from F1 in 2009.

Even while struggling in F1, development of the supercar (first named LF-A) continued and the initial concept was shown at the 2005 Detroit auto Show. 2 years later, camouflaged prototypes started showing up at race tracks around the world. The 4.8-liter Yamaha-designed V-10 was chosen for the tie-in to the 3.0-liter normally aspirated V-10s then being used in F1. A single clutch automated transaxle -- state of the art at the time -- was mounted in the rear for better weight distribution.

When looking at the LFA's performance, you have to remember it exists in an awkward time bubble. On one hand it was largely developed in the early 2000s, but when compared to cars like the Porsche Carrera GT, Ferrari Enzo, and Ford GT, it has several more years of development, plus another half-decade in tire technology. In 2005, the Carrera GT provided similar performance to the LFA at a similar price of around $400,000. But the LFA is behind the current crop of supercars in certain areas, 1 of them being performance per dollar. Several of them match or beat the LFA's performance at half or less the price.

But there is no denying the LFA occupies a special place in automotive history, especially in the world of Toyota. Everything about the car feels unique. The only piece recognizable as a Toyota-sourced part is the mouse-like controller for the infotainment system -- nothing else seems to relate to anything in the Toyota/Lexus/Scion family. This may be one of the downfalls of the LFA as a halo car. It is really tough for a Lexus IS 250 owner to tell his buddies he is basically driving the detuned version of the LFA when they have nothing in common -- not even HVAC controls or seat buttons.

The driving experience in the LFA is also nothing short of exotic. The 1st thing you notice is how amazingly loud it is. Modern supercars have loads of sound insulation and acoustically engineered glass to keep things at reasonable levels. Even Ferraris and Lamborghinis seem like Bentleys inside compared to the LFA.

Several our testers, myself included, expressed disappointment that the F1-like wail of the V-10 is turned into a somewhat annoying bellow once inside the car. The ride is rough and the transmission slow and jerky, but the overall experience doesn't mimic or pretend to be anything else. The seating position is low and stretched out. It doesn't feel like a race car and you will never mistake it for being German or Italian. Some have said the fact that it is Lexus' first supercar is obvious, but in some ways it almost feels like it's their 1st car, period. Clearly designers came at this car with no preconceived ideas. From the seat controls to the animated dashboard, everything has a unique look and feel. The steering is direct, but the communication is down a notch from something like a Ferrari or a Porsche.

The highlight of pounding around in the LFA is definitely the throttle response. While turbo cars can produce absolutely brutal mid-range torque, they will never match the instantaneous and near-telepathic connection to the right foot you get from a naturally aspirated engine. This is amplified by the Toyota V-10's willingness to rev and chase after 9000 rpm on the tach. The high-revving engine makes the whole car frenetic and buzzy. You have to anticipate shifts as the fake needle swings around the computer monitor behind the steering wheel. Grab the paddle fast and the car snatches the next gear. The real joy comes from feeding in power just after the apex. Throttles on turbo cars are so often on/off switches because it's more about lighting the fuse on the boost-bomb than controlling intake flow. With the naturally aspirated V-10 you can feather the throttle -- give it just that little bit more breath and it responds in kind. No matter how much more power you get from a forced induction car, it will never have that feeling.

To compare with the LFA, we chose 2 contemporary supercars and 2 supercars from the mid-2000s we already tested.. The Carrera GT and Ferrari Enzo are the naturally aspirated rear-wheel drive supercars. The Nissan GT-R and Porsche 911 twin turbo were chosen as examples of truly modern all-wheel drive. They're turbocharged supercars that can be driven everyday in normal car comfort. The performance is best represented graphically, so here it is.

The bell curve represents the plot of every vehicle we have tested in the past five years, from supercars to minivans. In all the charts, the further left the entry, the higher the performance. Even the slowest of this group is shockingly fast when compared to the average car on the road.

2012 Lexus LFA
BASE PRICE $379,575
PRICE AS TESTED $381,100
VEHICLE LAYOUT Front engine, RWD, 2-pass, 2-door coupe
ENGINE 4.8L/552-hp/354-lb-ft DOHC 40-valve V-10
TRANSMISSION 6-speed auto-clutch manual
CURB WEIGHT (F/R DIST) 3559 lb (50/50%)
WHEELBASE 102.6 in
LENGTH x WIDTH x HEIGHT 177.1 x 74.6 x 48.0 in
0-60 MPH 4.0 sec
QUARTER MILE 11.9 sec @ 123.7 mph
BRAKING, 60-0 MPH 106 ft
LATERAL ACCELERATION 1.07 g (avg)
MT FIGURE EIGHT 23.7 sec @ 0.89 g (avg)
EPA CITY/HWY FUEL ECON 12/19 mpg
ENERGY CONSUMPTION, CITY/HWY 281/177 kW-hrs/100 miles
CO2 EMISSIONS 1.35 lb/mile

05RollaXRS

0 - 60 mph in 4.0 seconds with a 1-foot roll out?? Are you kidding me?? That is almost half a second slower than what typical LFA runs in tests. Did they just stomped it from idle at 2000 rpm????

"This looks like their first car ever. Period"

What a biased and negative disappointing test to give bad PR to the LFA. Their sole purpose was to make LFA look outdated and competitive with 5 year old cars and they found the numbers to match their argument. Shame on MotorTrend. Ridiculous!

G Star

iTrader: (2)

You can already tell in the first paragraph how the article was already pre-meditated to destroy the LFA, they think people are stupid these days (well most are).

Majority of their comments don't match up to what others that have tried the LFA are saying.

05RollaXRS

True. What is with these magazine publications?? Clearly, a car with this much power and that trap speed will not run a 4.0 seconds 0 - 60 mph with 1 foot roll out (4.3 seconds without 1-foot roll out). Even a 435 HP GT3 will put down a better time than that (not withstanding LFA's craptastic mediocre at best S001 tires) Their testing was blatantly biased or completely flawed.

Ofcourse, Lexus does not help when it does not allow magazines to use the launch control system of the LFA. We had seen in "Battle of the supercars" how big a difference launch control makes in LFA.

07grIS350

Speechless. At least some other bad reviewers only picked on the price. These clowns went off the deep end.

05RollaXRS

The review looks heavily influenced by that "Lexus LFA: A decade lost and a dud" article. Every sentiment they wrote in there echoes what that article had.

"We got tired of the F1 V10 bellow", "It is buzzy and thrashy".

Oh really?? Let alone them insulting the Yamaha acoustics engineers who put their heart and soul into tuning the acoustics of the engine and the cabin on musically ideal octaves, first the magazines blame Lexus for making cars that are too quiet, comfortable, cushy and detached. Now a Lexus comes along that is a proper exotic ultra high-performance supercar and they are complaining its F1 V10 engine sound is tireseome and too loud?? Now they want it to act like a Bentley in terms of quietness??

Lexus has been in part to blame as well where they have been extremely reluctant to let the press use the launch control system. Again, we had witnessed the difference in "Battle of the supercars" with and without (also in Scott Pruett's launch control video). Definitely, this 4.0 seconds 0 - 60 mph would never happen, if Lexus was smart about it.

It is actually hurting the image badly more than it is helping, which was the primary goal of Lexus creating the LFA in the first place. I would hope they just stop giving the car to the press so that they can put down embarassing numbers and make it an excuse to thrash Lexus.

gengar

^ Why do you think anything Lexus would have done would have changed anything? If people set out wanting to find stuff to hate, they will.

The MT article reminds me of the CAR comparo with the SLS where they judged the cars on the basis of being daily drivers, only this is even more transparent and biased.

DOC4LEX

Damn man the Apex i wanted would have come in 9J8 Ivory White

justinb

I searched but could not find an answer...


What are the small vents inside the rear radiator grilles? From the few pictures I have seen they are attached to what appears to be some sort of heatshield-covered ducting.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

bunch of baseless assumptions, that's all i can say. i know enough people well into 7 to 8 figures and they said they won't get the car. it doesn't mean the car is bad, the car just isn't their cup of tea. just because you like the car doesn't make everyone who doesn't like it "sour grapes"

while i don't agree on what they say about the v10 sound being annoying, i can only respectfully say you really don't know much about this car. this is a supercar, you look for smoothness in it? it is way loud for what you considered lexus standard (but to me in a beautiful way). put it in sports mode, tranny in fastest mode, and shift at redline. see how that chokes you

Marklouis

the MT review was written in a pre-determined fashion that it was going to be a bad review no matter how great the car seemed to the test driver(s). The LF-A was going to get downplayed even if they decided to post better numbers - MT has always been in the pockets of certain car manufacturers - and now so is Edmunds. the difference is Lexus has decided to go about it honestly, and I hope they stay that way.

jpvarghese

iTrader: (1)

Forgestar F14 Piano Black
20×9.5 Front 265/35/20 Bridgestone Potenza
20×12 Rear 305/30/20 Bridgestone Potenza

jpvarghese

iTrader: (1)

Forgestar F14 Piano Black
22×9 Front 265/30/22 Falken FK452
22×10.5 Rear 295/22/22 Falken FK452

Joe Z

iTrader: (10)

The Black one is LFA # 032

The Pearl Red one is LFA # 053



~ Joe Z