Oct 22, 2009 10:01:47 AM
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Alex18_996CC
- Rennteam Master
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- Loc: Madrid , Spain
- Posts: 3218, Gallery
- Registered on: Jun 13, 2004
- Reply to: janus
Oct 22, 2009 10:01:47 AM
Oct 22, 2009 10:28:57 AM
http://www.roadandtrack.com/article.asp?section_id=10&article_id=8478
Carbon-ceramic rotors mean the car slows consistently with zero fade, but the pedal travel is a bit too long. <--- Not good they still have a long way to go
http://www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsArticle/AllCars/244275/
Europe's only Lexus LFA dealership will be on Park Lane, London - and two UK customers have already placed orders for the £343,000 car.
In total, Toyota UK has predicted it will sell 17 cars, which will be built in two batches for delivery in 2011 and 2012.
The dealership will employ an LFA specialist, who will be charged with looking after all European customers for the car.
However, Toyota insiders have insisted they are not worried about selling the full quota of 500 LFAs that the company has said it is prepared to build.
Instead, they point to the fact that the car has been built to build Toyota and Lexus's image as a maker of exciting cars.
They also concede that the car is unprofitable, even at this price - something not helped by the fact that the car has a carbonfibre tub, and only shreas five parts with any other Lexus or Toyota.
The Lexus LFA debuted approximately 1 day ago and already German tuner 889speedshop is offering renderings detailing their plans for the first tuned version of the new LFA.
889speedshop will be adding their well-known touch to the Lexus LFA 889, making the already exclusive supercar even more-so. With a planned production run of just five cars, the LFA 889 will include the addition of an even lighter carbon-fiber hood and fender skins with an additional duct just ahead of the door. The front fascia has been revised for a more aggressive appearance and higher flow ducting for the front brakes. Out back a carbon fiber splitter will be added and the variable spoiler will be replaced with a fixed carbon fiber unit. Wheels will be also be quite exotic, featuring hollow core spokes beneath the even blacker finish.
Tuning will be kept subtle, with a freer-flowing titanium exhaust system and intake and a light ECU reprogram good for a planned 20 HP bump. Most importantly is the cost, which is expected to add $65,000 to the LFA's $400,000 price tag.
andrea:
The Lexus LFA debuted approximately 1 day ago and already German tuner 889speedshop is offering renderings detailing their plans for the first tuned version of the new LFA.
889speedshop will be adding their well-known touch to the Lexus LFA 889, making the already exclusive supercar even more-so. With a planned production run of just five cars, the LFA 889 will include the addition of an even lighter carbon-fiber hood and fender skins with an additional duct just ahead of the door. The front fascia has been revised for a more aggressive appearance and higher flow ducting for the front brakes. Out back a carbon fiber splitter will be added and the variable spoiler will be replaced with a fixed carbon fiber unit. Wheels will be also be quite exotic, featuring hollow core spokes beneath the even blacker finish.Tuning will be kept subtle, with a freer-flowing titanium exhaust system and intake and a light ECU reprogram good for a planned 20 HP bump. Most importantly is the cost, which is expected to add $65,000 to the LFA's $400,000 price tag.
WOW!!!
This I like
Oct 22, 2009 8:07:48 PM
Agreed. $150-175k would have been my guess as to how the car would/should have been priced. Quite honestly, in looking at the specs of the, there's nothing that justifies $375K. Maybe Lexus figures if they can sell 250 units at $375K versus 500 units at $175K it's a success. I just can't see 500 of these being sold at that price point, certainly not in this economy.
2009 Porsche Turbo Cab - Cargraphic exhaust, HRE P40's charcoal
Oct 23, 2009 12:23:30 AM
Agree on the engine... hey, maybe Gauss can use his Lotus connections to have Lotus get the rights for this amazing V10 and use it in the next Esprit.... Would be a shame to design an engine with this sound and use it only 500 times.
Present: 2005 STi, 2002 M Coupe
Future: 2010 Cayman S - pending order; 2010 Audi S5 - on order
4trac:
Agree on the engine... hey, maybe Gauss can use his Lotus connections to have Lotus get the rights for this amazing V10 and use it in the next Esprit....
Would be a shame to design an engine with this sound and use it only 500 times.
specially on such an ugly car that we wont see on the streets because nobody will buy.
just had an epiphany !! i know exactly what this car should be. a $100K toyota, seccesor to the original Supra. a tuners wet dream, ready to obliterate anyone on a lawless street race with that V10. and tuned up with a huge spoiler, killer graphics and impossibly huge wheels
Oct 23, 2009 5:02:55 AM
Oct 23, 2009 8:18:47 AM
Oct 23, 2009 7:54:43 PM
I am looking forward to BMW since VW had already their supercar brand already . Toyota, Nissan, VW, Mercedes all need to come up with supercars because they are running scared. Korean supercars are coming and so are Chinese LOL. Soon the whole planet will be full of cars and supercars and copies of supercars. Personal helicopter is where it is at
So Toyota has done what Ford did with the new Mustang : run acoustic ports from the engine compartment into the passenger compartment to embellish the motor sound from the drivers seat .
Surprised sports cars makers hadn't done this decades ago, actually, esp in the closed coupe models
http://www.autoblog.com/2009/10/29/video-weaving-the-lexus-lfas-carbon-fiber-a-pillar/
Could be one of the reasons this car is so damn expensive.
This is exactly the type of car that McLaren F1 architect Gordon Murray rales against : another relatively large heavy petro based sports car that brings together in one car bits and pieces of technolgy others have pioneered in the past 1-2 decades . It's the ultimate Corvette/599 . Nothing groundbreaking- just a corporate $$$/ego splurge started 9 years ago for speed nut Akio Toyoda , new CEO and grandson of the founder.
Typical Japanese " follow the leader - refine the engineering" product to deliver what the intended buyer is comforatible with already - not using their corporate enginering resources to leap 10 years ahead of everyone else if they had so chosen. OTOH, maybe the stereotype is true: they aren't in a culture that can think out of the box, or if they do, they are squashed down or have to leave and move to England and work for the race industry there.
For those who say this thing is heavy, don't forget this is a Lexus and not a stripped out car like a GT3. Lexus means leather everywhere, airbags everywhere, luxury everywhere. Besides, it's not that heavy I thougth? Lighter than a 911 turbo isn't it?
I am not sure if it's true that the Japanese culture is all about following the leader and making it better. In terms of cars I guess it's true, but look at their electronic industry. I don't think follow the leader approach applies there.
Nov 1, 2009 7:59:15 AM
WAY:
I am not sure if it's true that the Japanese culture is all about following the leader and making it better. In terms of cars I guess it's true, but look at their electronic industry. I don't think follow the leader approach applies there.
It does a little, they are falling behind in electronics. Flat-planel displays by Samsung, Ipod by apple. Their video game industry is dying because they didn't adapt to western tastes. They are good at making effecient, compact gadgets but they can't seem to grasp the concept of software.
Whoopsy:
http://www.autoblog.com/2009/10/29/video-weaving-the-lexus-lfas-carbon-fiber-a-pillar/
Could be one of the reasons this car is so damn expensive.
Yes thanks for posting that, but it looks like it could be a generic CF tube weaving process. Does not make it any less impressive to watch though.
I used CF weave tubing when I made the legs for my Sofa.
Its amazing material, it comes on a wheel and is very flexible in that you can scrunch it up which shortens its length but makes the dimaeter wider or stretch it which makes the diameter much smaller. And that necessarily changes the appearance of the weave.
I used the material the material to form the outer covering/appaerance of the bridge shaped legs at either end of the Sofa. Works very well in the curves, scrunching or extending as necessary.
It came out fantastic, a beautiful 3D effect CF weave with a glass finish on a 4 foot wide bridge at either end of an 8 foot Sofa.
As for the LF-A, does not look or sound special to me.
Nov 27, 2009 5:04:46 PM
Lexus LFA arrives in London...
(27 November 2009)
The only Lexus LFA in Europe has gone in display in the firm's flagship European dealership in London.
The Park Lane site is playing host to the £343,000 supercar until January to allow prospective buyers to experience the car up close. Only 500 units will be built, with Lexus expected to confirm in January just how many examples would be coming to Europe.
Devshi Varsani is the man tasked with selling the LFA in Europe and he hopes around 100 LFAs will be coming to the continent. Prospective buyers across Europe can register their interest online or in any Lexus dealer, before being put in touch with Varsani.
“At the moment, we’re in the process of taking orders and deposits for the car and have been since the Tokyo motor show,” he told Autocar. “So far, we’ve taken around 25 deposits from customers in countries including the UK, Spain, Russia and Germany.”
Varsani is keen to take as many deposits as he can before April in order to secure as many LFAs as possible for Europe. But even if you place a deposit for the LFA, there is no guarantee you will be able to get your hands on it.
“We want people to be out driving the car and want to sell it to the right type of person,” he said. “If we have more deposits than cars allocated, then we’ll end up having to return some.”
Some of the customers ordering the LFA are doing so “just because it’s a Lexus”, according to Varsani.
“People like the Lexus product and have owned our products in the past and therefore are getting an LFA as they know what to expect from the brand,” he said. “There’s been strong interest from day one genuine interest and most people aren’t being put off by the price.”
Toyota hopes that no two LFAs will be the same, as customers can specify hundreds of different colour and trim options, and can even invent their own colour. The 500 LFAs being built will include competition models, as buyers can chose the car in race spec.
Toyota won't make any profit on the LFA with the car being conceived, as one source put it, as a “once in a generation halo car” for the Japanese marque. The 500 LFAs earmarked for production will be made at the Motomachi factory in Japan in two phases — 2011 and 2012. Toyota will only build a car once it has been ordered.
Lexus-LFA-arrives-in-London_Autocar-article
Nov 27, 2009 5:07:09 PM