RE: Spotted: Lexus LFA

[Hellbound]

Oh, and the 8C is a flawed performance car but people generally leave it alone because it's lovely looking and Italian. It's flaws are actually seen as positives!

Whereas the poor old LFA gets it with both barrels because it's 'Japanesey' and therefore 'soulless' and 'clinical'. All crap because I haven't read a bad review of the damn thing.

Anyway I don't have the money for it so it would have to be a ropey R35!

[whytheory]

If it had the performance of a Nissan Micra I'd still buy it for the looks / noise. That's if I had the money of course.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGL_pG6v9jA

[jimxms]

whytheory said:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGL_pG6v9jA

I'd love to see that lap from the outside!

[mat205125]

Guvernator said:

mat205125 said:

kambites said:

Porkie said:

Still dont want one like I want a Carrera GT... an F50... or even a Veyron Grandsport Vitesse.

Funny isn't it, none of them do anything for me at all but I adore the LFA.

Three out of the four cars listed in the above posts produce noises that it's nearly impossible to better in a road car. All of those three's engines share some DNA with full blown race engines, whether that be in concept or materials.

I always think a noise a car makes is never given half the credit it deserves. It's certainly a massive part of what makes a car special for me and consequently I've found what some people would consider to be very good cars to feel rather dull or lacking in excitement due to the lack of decent noise.

Unfortunately this is a factor most mainstream manufacturers fail to consider at best or at worst try to fix by piping electronic noises into the cabin which is missing the point completely.

It's a huge part of the experience for me.

If someone were to suggest to me that there was a cost effective transplant to install a tweeked version of the the turbocharged 335 engine into my M3 in place of it's S54 unit, and give the car another 100bhp at the expense of the high revving, normally aspirated delivery and sound track, I'd decline every time.

It's why I find the Veyron such a massively underwelming proposition. I've zero first hand experience of the performance, however can't see how the thundering gentleman's lounge can ever be a more emotional proposition to the F50, CGT, or the topic of this thread.

[jimxms]

After all these vids of the LFA I've decided that I need to hire one for the weekend. I've just submitted a contact form to a hire company. Any guesses as to how much I'm looking at? Thousands, tens of thousands?

[cptsideways]

If you like engineering its a beautiful thing, I've had the pleasure of a few laps of Goodwood in one if I win the lottery one of these would be on my shopping list.

[Dagnut]

jimxms said:

After all these vids of the LFA I've decided that I need to hire one for the weekend. I've just submitted a contact form to a hire company. Any guesses as to how much I'm looking at? Thousands, tens of thousands?

Could try these guys

http://www.ecurie25.com/uk/the-collection

[Limpet]

What a noise. Frankly if the rest of it was a polished turd (which it isn't), I'd still love it.

[jimxms]

I'd LOVE to see what attention it would draw casually driving down a highstreet.

You can make a sports/super car turn most heads with a v8 and a straight through exhaust, but some people still refuse to show any interest. However with the LFA i have a feeling that every single person would turn to look expecting some sort of F1 car to come tearing down the road.

[Porkie]

mat205125 said:

It's why I find the Veyron such a massively underwelming proposition. I've zero first hand experience of the performance, however can't see how the thundering gentleman's lounge can ever be a more emotional proposition to the F50, CGT, or the topic of this thread.

Chris Harris raves about the Veyron. I very much trust his opinion

So does Steve Sutcliffe, Harry Metcalfe etc... only bad words I ever hear about the Bug are from people who haven't driven it to be honest.

I'm a massive fan. Gransport Vitesse pls Santa

[Dagnut]

Porkie said:

Chris Harris raves about the Veyron. I very much trust his opinion

So does Steve Sutcliffe, Harry Metcalfe etc... only bad words I ever hear about the Bug are from people who haven't driven it to be honest.

I'm a massive fan. Gransport Vitesse pls Santa

Its like the motoring version of hipsters.....its cool to dislike anything that is "soulless".

[Stig]

St John Smythe said:

Agreed, it's an awesome car. But, unfortuately the Aventador has come along at 140k less and the perfomance of that is incredible.

To judge it purely based on performance figures is completely missing the point.

Drive both - then tell me I'm wrong

[Grovsie26]

St John Smythe said:

I never said it was slow. Probably a good idea to read before you post in future

Whatever, your point was still rubbish. God knows how a 1million quid Veryron is a rival anyways.

And 0-60 and drag racing have never been the absolute performance marker. Check it's track lap times and other more useful figures.

It's performance is great, and fine compared to it's competitors, so you were wrong.

[anonymous-user]

Grovsie26 said:

St John Smythe said:

I never said it was slow. Probably a good idea to read before you post in future

Whatever, your point was still rubbish. God knows how a 1million quid Veryron is a rival anyways.

They put the LFA against the MP4, not the Veyron. Again, do try to get your facts right before posting

[Grovsie26]

You are right.

A saxo with an induction is faster than the LFA.

[Stig]

jimxms said:

After all these vids of the LFA I've decided that I need to hire one for the weekend. I've just submitted a contact form to a hire company. Any guesses as to how much I'm looking at? Thousands, tens of thousands?

What I think you'll be looking at... is disappointment. I don't believe any LFAs are in the hands of hire firms or performance car clubs (but happy to be corrected on this point).

The only non-privately owned car belongs to Lexus GB (in blue) I believe?

[Guvernator]

Dagnut said:

Porkie said:

Chris Harris raves about the Veyron. I very much trust his opinion

So does Steve Sutcliffe, Harry Metcalfe etc... only bad words I ever hear about the Bug are from people who haven't driven it to be honest.

I'm a massive fan. Gransport Vitesse pls Santa

Its like the motoring version of hipsters.....its cool to dislike anything that is "soulless".

Not really, I dislike the Veyron as while it certainly has road presence (how could it not given the price tag) it is quite an ugly amorphous car. It looks like a bar of soap which has been worn smooth by sliding round the shower floor, not a good look. It's too big and heavy to be a sports car but it's also a useless GT due to having to change the tyres so frequently that even a semi decent road trip would see you having to visit your nearest Bugatti dealer.

It's only party piece seems to be it's acceleration\top speed which while certainly impressive is a bit pointless on public roads plus it has running costs than even millionaires wince at. Yes you could argue they can afford it but no one likes to feel as if they are being ripped off, even millionaires.

In contrast the LFA is everything the Veyron isn't, a decent GT car but still frighteningly capable on track, it doesn't cost a zillion quid to run and they are a drivers car rather than a rich man's bauble. For me it's no contest, I'd take an LFA, a Carrera GT, a 599 and still have change from the price of a Veyron.

[DanielSan]

I'm not a fan of the Veyron but have you seem one up close? They're far from a big car, only marginally bigger than an R8 to be honest. It's the one thing about that struck me most, I expectsed it to take up the same amount of sq/ft as a modest sized mansion.

IMO the Veyrons main problem is its noise, or complete lack of any pleasantness to the small amount of noise it does make. It's like the VAG influence is still deep down in its bowels and the decision was made to not make it sound as exciting as a car of its kind should.

[Dagnut]

Guvernator said:

Not really, I dislike the Veyron as while it certainly has road presence (how could it not given the price tag) it is quite an ugly amorphous car. It looks like a bar of soap which has been worn smooth by sliding round the shower floor, not a good look. It's too big and heavy to be a sports car but it's also a useless GT due to having to change the tyres so frequently that even a semi decent road trip would see you having to visit your nearest Bugatti dealer.

It's only party piece seems to be it's acceleration\top speed which while certainly impressive is a bit pointless on public roads plus it has running costs than even millionaires wince at. Yes you could argue they can afford it but no one likes to feel as if they are being ripped off, even millionaires.

In contrast the LFA is everything the Veyron isn't, a decent GT car but still frighteningly capable on track, it doesn't cost a zillion quid to run and they are a drivers car rather than a rich man's bauble. For me it's no contest, I'd take an LFA, a Carrera GT, a 599 and still have change from the price of a Veyron.

Just a generalisation....I don't think anyone would take a Veyron over 3 supercars...but that's not the point of it..its was built to push the envelope.

[seawise]

poor mans macca f1..... one day, one day i will own one of these. to me they tick all the boxes. mindblowing attention to detail and engineering excellence. the lap of the ring in the lfa n'burg ed is spellbounding.