So many seem to be caught up on the price. So what? Most cannot afford the car even if priced at $150k so what is anther $200k on top of that. Stop complaning about price if you cannot even afford a 3rd that or have no intention of purchasing such a car. All examples of this car will be sold, perhaps even at a premium over list. Results so far are impressive.

 

I think it could be, but I prefer to keep my expectations low. The lp560 has more traction(with awd.... but with that impressive wet lap by the LFA I doubt that'd matter) but the LFA is about 100lbs lighter.

 

What mistake? Everything Lexus did, they intended to do. They could've given us the LFA earlier with an aluminum LFA II but they chose to give us better/faster performance with a full CF redo. I'm sure nothing on the LFA was an accident.


Ok, everybody knows the LFA is expensive. Argument is over, NEXT issue!

 

If the F458 Italia (equal power, heavier by 100 - 150 lbs) could rip a 0-60 in 3.3 secs with RWD, there is no doubt LF-A would be under 3.3 secs for 0-60 mph. A mid-11 second 1/4 mile would be a very conservative estimate. Quite possibly low-11s.

 

yeah youre right . Lamborghini did a great job dialing out almost all of the understeer on the gallardo. The AWD system and the suspension set up make it lethal. I saw a Best Motoring video of the Gallardo Superleggerra vs GTR and the Gallardo is no joke

 

So does this include the many automotive journalists who have driven the car ?? Price is relavent for any and every car we drive or discuss. Its a part of any car. Get real

 

If the car was in actual fact over priced for the car it won't sell. So ask that question again, is the car overpriced? Well it certainly looks like all 500 units will be sold before it starts production. So I don't care what some journalists or car fans say, it is not overpriced.

And Pearlpower, you have a point, the people who are buying don't seem to be complaining, so I wonder what this means? (Personally, I would prefer it to be sold for about $20K...B/C I certainly don't like parting with my money)

 

Got to see the vid, and I liked it for the most part, despite Top Gear's biases...the "it's a Lexus" complaint, "Japanese Mercedes", "librarian of carmakers", "award-winning yet dull" lines are really OTT in my opinion. That being said, they did as others note find that the LFA blew past their expectations. They got hung up on the price which is what people who are skeptical of the brand and are looking for something to criticize are going to harp on, no matter what anyone else says. Otherwise, the LFA is an impressive car, and showed up beautifully on the Top Gear lens...compare to how they thoroughly trashed the SC 430 when it came out, and how they were favorable and critical to the IS-F, the LFA did get superstar showcasing and profound admiration, if not their outright love.

As others have noted on different sites, Lambo got its start in tractors...Lexus has had 20 years of success and is a legitimate luxury contender, now trying to do to supercars what it has done to mainstream luxury. I think that if they can infuse more of the IS-F and LFA spirit in their lineup with model variants, it will go a ways toward dispelling doubts about Lexus' ability to go beyond its well-known technological and refinement prowess and towards further automotive stardom.

 

I don't think its overpriced. But I do think its underpowered. The car looks like a very exclusive car from its exterior and exterior and deserves to command a high price tag, but why not give it just 50 hp more? What is so hard about that?

 

the car makes 117hp/liter and makes 14/20 mpg (according to C&D) but its underpowered? The engine is slightly smaller than the IS-F in displacement. Not to mention the LFA engine weighs as much as the IS350 engine despite being a V10.

 

This is really just getting silly now.....

 

LFA is anything BUT underpowered. It doesn't have the torque that we were expecting, but gear it up to the right transmission, it'll make use of whatever it has. There are lots of cars out there with big numbers but can't put it all to the ground because its drivetrain sucks the life out of the engine (Q45).

It's great that Lexus is trying to be more efficient rather than just stuffing more power into the car. On paper the Porsche Carerra GT looks better than the LFA. But it also comes with a 6-speed manual transmission. On the 'Ring', those shifting time adds up which is why it's no faster than the LFA.

 

What is the big deal if does not have tons of torque down low? It is not a commuter sedan that needs gobs of torque down low to pull almost a two-ton weight or needs lots of torque because it redlines at only 6700 rpm.

The power-to-weight of 5.9 lbs/HP is extremely impressive. From what I read in Car and Driver, it pulls like a freight train from 3500 rpm all the way up to 9000 rpm.

Lexus was aiming for the flattest torque curve possible. 90% of that ~ 355 ft-lbs of torque is available from 3700 rpm to 9500 rpm. That is a powerband of nearly 7000 rpm, which is practically astonishing.

It is a high-revving engine that nearly touches 10,000 rpm, which allows for aggressive torque multiplication through gearset/final drive making it incredibly fast. I am pretty sure it still scoots around town at 4000 rpm without any effort.

I only wish Lexus had put a 7-speed single clutch (I agree with Lexus on picking single clutch over dual clutch since dual clutch are automatic smooth). That would have allowed closer spacing of the first 6 gears and 7th gear would have still given the ability to pass 200 mph.

I can bet it will clock a low-to-mid 11 second 1/4 mile and trap around 122 - 125 mph.

 

It's not a big deal (No one said it was?). People weren't expecting ~350ftlbs at all, and neither did I. Like I said, it's not underpowered at all if it has the transmission to manipulate the torque.

 

Then again, it revs up to nearly 10,000 rpm so all it needs is the widest, flattest, broadest torque curve matched with the best gear ratios to complement the powerband.

Peak number means nothing in itself. It is the entire area under the curve. Lexus did not go for the typical peaky approach that exotics have. For example, the F430 Scuderia makes only 195 ft-lbs of wheel torque at 4000 rpm yet, the peak numbers to the wheel is 270 ft-lbs@8400 rpm. That means it produces less than 70% of its peak torque under 4000 rpm.

Likewise, I can bet the 398 ft-lbs of the F458 Italia are going to be extremely peaky and will have less than 70% of it below 5000 rpm.