while i agree for the most part, all 500 cars are already spoken for. and as far as performance numbers being "unimpressive"... it's on par with most supercars of today, only the top dog's out accelerate it. as far as handling goes, it beat top gears wet lap record by 5 seconds, and it beat an awd car at that. thats pretty damn impressive. not to mention it ran a 7:24 around the ring, which is second only to the viper acr as far as real production cars go (although the viper is nearly a race car).


but yeah, it doesn't have the right heritage, can definitely be prettier, and it is over priced... even though toyota is already selling them at a loss...

that being said, i wouldn't buy one unless i had money growing on tree's

 

But then again a mogul can't possibly be good enough to buy an LFA, I am sure Lexus is going to only let people eligible for the Nobel Peace Prize lease one!

 

Lexus Hater my ars. I love that my mom likes her Lexus. Lexus makes a great car. I think my mom has had at least 10 of them. I'm sure that the few that sell the owners will be very happy.
I don't buy for a second that 500 are spoken for. No way. Also someone mentioned that Lexus is losing money on each car. I'm sure they are. It's been said that each Bugati Veyron cost VW 8 million bucks. Warmmilk doesn't the GTR claim all that same #'s you posted above for $70k? though no ones ever seen the GTR that turned the fast numbers. The GTR is better looking as well. my opinion i know. but really neither excite me too much.

Possibly in Japan Lexus will give one to each CEO of certain size companies. That would get the cars out the door.

 

The only people Ive seen "excited" about this car are IS300 owners who have dreams of having an IS-F and could never afford an LF-A. I'm sure they'll sell though, but only to people who know nothing about cars.

In my opinion it's terribly over priced and terribly styled.

I almost forgot, the MC 12 and Zonda F both clocked 7:24, although I hadn't heard the 7:24 by the LF-A. The Gumpert Apollo still is much quicker than the Lexus though, with a 7:11.5 lap.

 

All are great comments. I will reserve mine until the car comes out. It may do very well in the Asian markets. All I know is Toyota will profit from this car one way or another. Directly or indirectly.

 

I don't believe for one second all 500 are spoken for. That's got to be wishful thinking. What, they are keeping the buyers, correction, "renters" secret? I'm hardly a hater either as I own a LS460L and it's my fifth or sixth Lexus. I think highly of the brand but think this car is overpriced for what it is. In the $100k range, yea, I could see it, but at $350k there are far better choices. They do a great job in their market segment, but the numbers we're seeing on the LFA are NOT a run of the mill production car, like others use when testing. Until they are released to the public, I will doubt the "impressive" numbers until the magazines have their say. I know a lot of exotic owners and I don't know of one who's seriously trying to get their hands on one.

 

who called you a lexus hater? gtr does the 'ring in 7:32

i'm not saying the lfa is a bargain or is gonna win any beauty contests, i'm just saying its performance is on par with most exotics

they're officially sold out in japan, and lexus is not gonna be giving them away. i don't see why most people on here can't realize that just cause they don't like the car doesn't mean that nobody else will, talk about narrow minded. there are plenty of toyota (or japanese cars in general) freaks out there that can afford it.
http://www.easycarblog.com/2010/01/t...schedule.html/

there are also a few people on supraforums that are calling dealers all over the us to get in line for one, but most dealers already have waiting lists...

the Gumpert isn't exactly a real production car, its a race car modified to be legal for the street so that it can race in certain series... the lfa was designed to be a street car from the start. not to mention the Gumpert did the lap on Michelin Pilot Sport Cup (r comp) tires



just thought i'd add, the main reason that lexus is prolly requiring an approval is cause they don't want people flipping the car, they wanna sell it to people that will keep it. given that there are only 500 being made world wide, its value will go up...

 

Actually the GT-R did 7:26. Just saying. I also think you're qualifying cars in certain ways to make it seem like a rumor time published in a Japanese rumor mag is reason to support the insane price.

Enzo does 7:25 for a mag, 458 Italia equals the Enzo around Fiorano, stands to reason that the 458 will pretty much equal the LF-A for a much lower price.

 

LFA how to: see below
replace paper with complicated proprietary tube like carbon fiber that only comes from the special toyota looms... stuff in v10 and market exclusivity


and yes... in case you were wondering... I am a lexus hater

they can suck it :-)

 

I do believe they will sell a few in Japan. Japanese pride runs high over cars like this so no doubt there. I SERIOUSLY doubt the US or European or even other world markets. I keep reading the blogs and I talk to a hell of a lot of exotic owners who can easily afford the car and not one has expressed one word of enthusiasm over the car. When it was first penned, yes, but it was expected to have better numbers and cost less. Current exotic owners are excited about cars like the 458 or the follow-on Murcielago or Gallardo SV, but I've never ever heard one of these same qualified exotic owners ever once say they can't wait for the Lexus nor have I ready any posts anywhere from actual current exotic owners who'd make the lateral step to a performance Lexus at $350k!!!

All of this aside, the car, even if it was priced more competitively and the performance numbers were better, it's still a damn ugly car. Even though I like Lexus, they do pen some of the ugliest cars on the road. Sorry.

Forget about the "lease" aspect of the car, again, they arrogantly said they would select buyers and this is in part where the rub begins because I don't know of anyone fighting to have one in the first place. Now, when I actually do see one on the road, I'm immediately going to think three things. A) the buyer is not a serious car guy (or gal) because there are too many better choices out there, and B) they must work for Lexus, or C) they could only afford to lease a car and it was their only choice.

 

In watching the TG review and reading the last three pages I can't help but agree with Tommy, Mark, and a lot of the guys. Lexus overlooked the fact that they have zero performance heritage (they wouldn't dare mention the Toyota F1 team, even though the LF-A sounds BA and probably uses a fair helping of F1 derived tech), and a brand image built around comfort and conveniance.

They build dependable, consistant, quiet, and comfortable road cars. This is going to be none of those things. (OK, that's cruel, it will probably be consistant)

I do firmly believe that they would have done better releasing this thing as the next iteration of the Supra, building a couple thousand of them, and charging $100K. It would be outperforming it's competitors price wise, spec wise, and would draw on the loyalties of Supra Fans everywhere. There's a reason that Mark IV Supra still costs over $30K. People are loyal to the car, and respect it's hertiage and capabilities.

Instead they have saddled the Lexus brand with the task of finding 500 people who want to lease a car. It may be an engineer's wet dream with all of it's tech and "capabilities." But nothing on the car is the step forward that so many Lexus tech bits have been. Does it even self park? I've heard that's hard to do in the Supercars...

 

^ and alot of those supra owners can easily afford this car... Nero owner of titan motorsports is one, SW is another. lexus is not burdened at all with this task of finding 500 buyers...

again, i'm in no way saying its a bargain or pretty. but the performance is there to match most current supercars, and toyota will not struggle at all selling these


tommy, why are you so convinced that these won't sell out? all supercar owners and people that can afford supercars are on some online board...


horhay, forgot about the later year gtr time... and yes, i would rather have a 458 over an lfa even if they cost the same, the 458 being cheaper makes it a no brainer in my book

 

Do you think it would be easier to find 500 buyers for a car costing $350K, or 2000 buyers for a car costing $125K?

500 x $350K = $175M

2000 x $125K = $250M

Plus they'd be selling the new version of a car that people already know, respect, and love. Do you think that it's coincidental that Nissan stuck with "Nissan" for the GT-R vs the Infinity brand name? Or that they put numerous hours of market research into the concepts of heritage and brand equity? I know that the car didn't move as well as some dealers may have hoped when adding a $20-$30K premium to the sticker, but they weren't throwing out discounts to MSRP either. The market took a huge hit at that exact moment, and "toys" suffered. The GT-R is a widely respected car.

Lexus is interviewing owners for the experience. Toyota would have been beating buyers back with a stick over the new Supra. As an added benefit, the guys at Titan Motorsports, Top Secret, etc, would have all had customers lining up at the door to tune their $125K sports car. Honestly I would think that the LF-A vs a new Supra did them a great disservice in the limited marketability of new tuning packages and parts. I would think that the owners of the big name Toyota tunners should feel more slighted than they should proud if offered the chance to lease one of these.

And as for exclusivity, 2000 is still a limited number of cars. They would have been rarer than some of the exotics, and yet still with the price tag within reach of a broader customer base.

The LF-A is a whole lot of car, for a whole lot more money...

 

^can't argue with anything you said there

however, keep in mind that toyota started this project 10 years ago. back then the economy was booming, toyota was selling the cars like crazy and raking in the dough like no tomorrow. they wanted to build "the ultimate car", and the lfa is their idea of the ultimate car...

the economy started going downhill, what, 2 years ago? so they already had 8 years in the project, and it was called off at one point, but i guess they decided to finish it since they were nearly done...

what would be really cool is if toyota built a car to compete with the 370z... then i'd be able to afford it
after all the supra was a competitor to the 300zx...

 

That's why there's an FT-86 in the pipeline.