Lexus LFA, a failure?

[Iklwa]

I cant figure out the LFA, in performance stakes it barely outperforms a Ferrari 458 or Lambo Aventador, and both those cars (to my eyes) are much better looking, and less "Japanese aftermarket" looking than the LFA.

The LFA perhaps handles slightly better than a 458, but I expect in all but an F1 drivers hands, they would be very close, with the 458 arguably being the more exciting and charismatic drive.

So Im trying to determine what makes an LFA cost £340k? Have Lexus just completely over engineered it, almost pointlessly, and ended up with something grossly overpriced? A 458 starts at £180k, so it's not exactly a small difference between the two, can an LFA really warrant and justify a 260 thousand pound price difference? Even an Aventador is a hundred thousand less, so you could get a Skyline GTR with the change.

Maybe Im missing the point. The LFA doesn't look as good as it's Italian rivals, doesn't go any faster either, and cant significantly outperform it's £80k Japanese rival in the Skyline. It's not as involving an experience to drive as a 458, yet costs twice it's price.

So what exactly does the LFA have? Geeks seem to get excited about it's high rev engine, but it lacks torque for a Supercar in this price bracket, and as for the weight saving, it hasn't resulted in something significantly faster than competitors that didn't get so tied up with details that become increasingly more silly the more you read about them.

If you genuinely had £340k to spend on a car, or cars, would you really buy an LFA? Could you ignore the significantly cheaper equals? I really don't think I could.

[Troubleatmill]

Have you driven it?


This guy did - and apparently he quite likes it.
http://www.topgear.com/uk/jeremy-clarkson/Jeremy-o...

[Herman Toothrot]

It's a Great car the sold out I'd say that makes it a success. I'd much prefer one to any brash Ferrari.

[devnull]

I think it's an exquisite piece of engineering, and I'd have one in a heartbeat if I were in the market.

[kambites]

At this end of the market, cars don't have the justify their price-tags by rational means. Personally, I think the quality and depth of engineering justifies its price tag, even if nothing else does. They don't sound bad, either.

[billzeebub]

One of the few Supercars I don't aspire to own

[NadiR]

Are you aware of the effort/technology gone into making the LFA? Isn't that a bit like saying why would you buy a Ferrari 458 when a Nissan GTR, which costs £100k less, is faster in the real world?

[Amirhussain]

Herman Toothrot said:

It's a Great car the sold out I'd say that makes it a success. I'd much prefer one to any brash Ferrari.

might be wrong, but didn't they make a loss on each one they sold?

Fantastic cars though, I love the looks and the noise is one of the greatest IMO.

[sjg]

It's academic as they sold all 500 they were planning to make. In terms of development costs as well as materials and labour, each cost more to make than they sold it for, but that's not uncommon with these things. Lexus have a very swanky carbon fibre plant now and lots of pioneering techniques with the material to carry forward to future cars, not to mention lots of other technologies developed for the LFA.

I wouldn't buy one, but then I wouldn't buy a Veyron either.

[Carlique]

I see it like a fine watch. You're paying for the engineering, the exclusivity, not the statistics.

Also, the general consensus from people that have driven it hard seems to be that it has masses of character (not to say the competition doesn't) making it overall a very special car.

Here's a great video comparing it with the NSX. Really shows how different it is to it's European alternatives.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLJ2lw0bCkk

[Exige77]

The selling price of the LFA is significantly subsidised by Toyota.

They cost much more to make / develop Than the selling price.

[anonymous-user]

Question: Why does an LFA cost twice as much as a 458?

Answer: They are only selling half as many.


Next question please!

[Dave Hedgehog]

I would take the LFA over any of its competition just for the noise

[kambites]

I suspect the actual unit cost is less than the asking price. I think the huge amount of money that Toyota poured into it mostly went into that fantastic Carbon Fibre spinning machine thing which, of course, they still have to use for other purposes.

[Vaud]

It's a masterpiece of engineering. Cost aside, I'd have one in a heartbeat.

Definitely in my dream garage.

[Studio117]

Iklwa said:

Maybe I'm missing the point. The LFA doesn't look as good as it's Italian rivals, doesn't go any faster either, .

Looks are always subjective.

Their run out nurburgring edition did a 7.14 round the ring. 17+ seconds faster than a 458 with an almost identical power output.

The cost is irrelevant at this price and now with the P1 and La ferrari costing 7 figures it doesn't look so silly anymore.

Its one of the most interesting cars produced in the last ten years imo and is the polar opposite of the gtr and all the better for it.

Mr harris was quite complimentary:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ASjLur16Fo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeNJwS3coLk

[Fidgits]

Max_Torque said:

Question: Why does an LFA cost twice as much as a 458?

Answer: They are only selling half as many.


Next question please!

They only made 500, so a lot less than half!!

Having seen one out perform a Ferrari Enzo on the top gear track at the supercar event, I would say there is a lot more to it than the raw figures suggest...

[carinaman]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5R-oi91bd4

I want one. The GTR seems comparable performance wise. It's Top Trumps figures as favoured by a certain eBay 944S2 buyer versus the intangibles you can't print on a card.

[Rich_W]

As a Halo product it does it's job pretty well I suppose.

But as it was originally designed to compete and then "only" won it's class as opposed to overall victories. It's never going to be remembered along side the more historied players in the supercar market.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexus_LFA#Motorsport

I see it as a kind of Koenisegg/Pagani. Great in many ways but I'd have a CarreraGT over it every day. For my (imaginary £300K) I want the history/brand of Ferrari/Porsche/McLaren et al

[Ullevi]

If you can't figure out the LFA that's your problem.

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