Some LF-A news

[Adamal]

How much does 9 years of development, including redoing several majors areas and then making it out of carbon fibre cost?

Probably about £340000x500

And then some! This is Lexus' 'Veyron'. They're making a loss on every one!

[2jayzgte]

On that top gear track I think the fastest Front engined platformed car is the GTR with a 19 something and then RWD platformed car was the SLR with a 20.9 and I'm not sure what the 599 did though but as we all no on Top Gear Clarkson favours Ferrari Hammond is a Porsche guy so Lexus in comparison are on a hiding to nothing on this show with that car.

Also with regards to costs is Toyota had no reference points when building this car this car.I have seen many interviews with the chief designer and he mentioned they were hitting there performance goals but got a little greedy hence again this adds alot to the costs and length of time of production.For me its all about the brand people just can't get there heads around a company like Toyota having the no how to build a car like this and with that goes all the negativity.Porsche and Ferrari can do it for 1/2 the price but if Toyota had been at it building cars like this for as long as Porsche and Ferrari common sense would dictate they could do the same.

[Mr Revhead]

edit, also did you notice that they didn't mention toyota, im thinking it must of been one of the agreements they had with topgear to let them drive the car, (again trying to shake the dog off)

You have to remember that in Europe and the States Lexus is a lot more seperate from Toyota than here.
You can walk into a dealership over there and not see Toyota anywhere.
So it's easier for that distinction to be made.
Also they didnt get the influx of imports like us. So they don't get Altezzas or anything else that was sold as both a Lexus and Toyota

[Timmo]

Yeah I dunno what they are thinking with that price.
I guess they are trying to artificially boost it by making it very expensive.

If they engine was in the rear it may get away with it.
But no real supercar has the engine in the front.
Sports cars can, GT's do. But not supercars.
Supercars have rear mounted engines of at least 8 cylinders. Sometimes V6 turbos sort of make it, like the XJ220 and some Nobles, but in my mind, Front engine = GT or Sports car.

If they stick with models like that however, and start to build a rep based on them. Then they will do quite well.

having the engine in the front helps with high speed stability. The traditional reason for mid mounted engines was weight distribution, but now with transaxles etc etc you can sort out the overall weight distribution but still get a large lump of it sitting near the front wheels (that whole centre of pressure vs centre of gravity thing)

[Mr Revhead]

Oh for sure (hehehe merc CLK-GTR!!)
but logic does not apply with super cars

Im talking about image and perception. Which is a huge part of what a supercar is. People will look at a rear engine Ferrari and say "super car" and then will look at a front engine Lexus and say "Sports coupe"

It's no longer simple like in the 70s/80s when a super car was an evil mad bastard of a rear engined demon

[Adamal]

Having the engine behind you adds to the badassness factor.

F40? Badass
Enzo? Badass
Countach? Badass
Diablo? Badass
McLaren F1? Badass
Koieniggseesigggss? Badass
Zonda? Badass
MR2? Badass

[celica_xr9145]

Looks like the expensive LFA has already sold out in Japan 2 months ahead of schedule

http://wot.motortrend.com/6629802/we-he ... index.html

[Mr Revhead]

Well, seems there is a market

[Prymal]

nooo??? - cant be - who would be mad enough to pay the price * / end scarcastic voice *

Why did people buy a veyron ? because they could ..

Course there will be a market , and there will be plenty of people out there with deep car collecting pockets who will snaffle one up . I bet the likes of jay leno end up with one ..

LFA is a technical wonder ..

LFA hopefully lends a path to a RE emberged Supra - Toyota have the technology, R and D , and facilitys now to make something that already destroys a GTR ( in the wet and on the ring ) Lets hope for the average , or slightly more norrmal punter we see this technology come down

[Adamal]

Yea, I'd put Leno down as getting one. When it comes to cars, he's not concerned about brand names. He loves performance and exclusivity.

He'll be whipping out the checkbook as soon as he hears it fire up.

[thornz]

Yea, I'd put Leno down as getting one. When it comes to cars, he's not concerned about brand names. He loves performance and exclusivity.

He'll be whipping out the checkbook as soon as he hears it fire up.

You can check it out for yourself, dont have time to look myself at present

http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/

Great site for killing a few hours!

[Adamal]

Well, he won't have one yet. They're not releasing them to America yet. And they're doing like a lease on them. I'm sure Leno would be able to find some way around that

[Cakky]

Whats the bet a Japanese tuning shop has bought one and we will see it in the near future with a few hundred more ponys under the bonnet!

[Prymal]

hmmss or a TRD version ?

[2jayzgte]

Having the engine behind you adds to the badassness factor.

F40? Badass
Enzo? Badass
Countach? Badass
Diablo? Badass
McLaren F1? Badass
Koieniggseesigggss? Badass
Zonda? Badass
MR2? Badass

Hahahahahahahaha...sneak the MR2 in there....lol...lol..

Good on Toyota I bet you they already knew they had a fair few of these LFA's pre-sold.

Take the LFA to the track against the above I think it'll eat all of them.

I think the big reason for them going for the front mid was because these rear mid cars eat people up on the limit I remember the LFA designer saying in a sense these rear mid cars on the limit give up on you and then its down to the weakness the driver behind the wheel.

$37,500,000 yen per car so roughly $560,000,000 NZD could be worse I guess.

[Mr Revhead]

Incidentally just read an article about supercars in hong kong
There are masses of them
And in hong kong you have to pay 120% tax on any value over $90k nz......

[frost]

you should look up 4 rings racing in shanghai and beijing

basically its 4 4lane rings around the city, each one getting bigger and faster,
at night time
the inner most ring is where bmw benz and audi bentley rolls etc do there racing,
next one out is motor cycles
next again is porch, benz, low level Ferrari, aston martins lambo
outer most is where the big boys play, benz SLR, enzo, carrera gt, konigg, etc, how deep your pockets is how much fun you can have,
would not be surprised if we see a LFA in the rings, i know the GTR is a big seller in hong kong, with there SUPER strict modding rules its the easiest and fastest street car you can get, next i think it was a evo, then there was a time when HK ppl where into mitsi GTO and FTO

[duddley]

or they may also have gone FR so they can bring out a more moderatley priced version for the masses and just have the LFA as the hero car version?

Having the engine behind you adds to the badassness factor.

F40? Badass
Enzo? Badass
Countach? Badass
Diablo? Badass
McLaren F1? Badass
Koieniggseesigggss? Badass
Zonda? Badass
MR2? Badass

Hahahahahahahaha...sneak the MR2 in there....lol...lol..

Good on Toyota I bet you they already knew they had a fair few of these LFA's pre-sold.

Take the LFA to the track against the above I think it'll eat all of them.

I think the big reason for them going for the front mid was because these rear mid cars eat people up on the limit I remember the LFA designer saying in a sense these rear mid cars on the limit give up on you and then its down to the weakness the driver behind the wheel.

$37,500,000 yen per car so roughly $560,000,000 NZD could be worse I guess.

[2jayzgte]

or they may also have gone FR so they can bring out a more moderatley priced version for the masses and just have the LFA as the hero car version?

Having the engine behind you adds to the badassness factor.

F40? Badass
Enzo? Badass
Countach? Badass
Diablo? Badass
McLaren F1? Badass
Koieniggseesigggss? Badass
Zonda? Badass
MR2? Badass

Hahahahahahahaha...sneak the MR2 in there....lol...lol..

Good on Toyota I bet you they already knew they had a fair few of these LFA's pre-sold.

Take the LFA to the track against the above I think it'll eat all of them.

I think the big reason for them going for the front mid was because these rear mid cars eat people up on the limit I remember the LFA designer saying in a sense these rear mid cars on the limit give up on you and then its down to the weakness the driver behind the wheel.

$37,500,000 yen per car so roughly $560,000,000 NZD could be worse I guess.

I personally think it could quite possibly be a hybrid dare I say it.

I don't see them bringing a car like this for the masses I see alot of technology being handed down through the range though.

[S T E A L T H]

90 sold in the US so far (out of the 150 allocated)
and yes Jay Leno has bought one.

and sweet FA in Europe which isn't really surprising because
1) it's Europe
2) They are only being sold through 1 dealership in London