Lexus LF-A first test drive reviews - by Autocar and CAR
Oct 21, 2009 | 03:23 AM
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Posts: 3,533
Lexus LF-A first test drive reviews - by Autocar and CAR
First test drive review is by Autocar:
Lexus LF-A
What it is it?
The LF-A is Lexus’s long awaited first supercar. Six years in the making, and subject to a major rethink mid development, the LFA faces a fair amount of expectation.
Still, the final on-paper stats certainly justify the supercar billing. A bespoke 4.8-litre V10 producing 552bhp and revving to 9000rpm. A transaxle six-speed automated sequential gearbox. Extensive use of carbonfibre reinforced plastic for the chassis construction and body panels. Conventional rear-wheel drive, and no hybrid drive. The LFA also comes with a supercar price tag of 375,000 euros (£343,000).
What’s it like?
At first very Lexus like. The styling is pretty out there, but the attention to detail, and production is absolutely first rate. Open the doors, bonnet or boot and you’ll find exposed carbonfibre, but carbon that it is so beautifully finished you find yourself starring at it.
Similarly the interior is incredibly well finished, with a mixture of leather, carbon, aluminium and a super high tech TFT screen rev-counter. The best detail though are the pedals which simply exquisite – each one a single piece of forged aluminium. So the typical Lexus virtues of quality and refinement are very much intact in even this, its most extreme model.
That impression doesn’t change when you first twist the conventional key and press the steering wheel mounted starter button. The engine flares a little as it catches, but then settles to an idle as smooth and restful as any other Lexus.
Prod the throttle, though, and the LFA hints a character about as far removed from any existing Lexus as you could possibly imagine. The engine revs rise and fall so quickly and with such a sharp timbre that it feels like a pure race engine. While a torque figure of 354 lb ft may look a little weedy next to rivals with larger capacity engines, or forced induction, there is no shortage of straight-line performance.
Lexus’s claim of 0-62mph in 3.7sec and a top speed of 202mph feel completely believable. You just need to keep the revs up to get the most from the engine. That's not something you’ll mind doing, because from 6000rpm onwards the engine produces one of the best engine notes of any car on sale. It’s similar to a V10 BMW M5, but higher pitched and a lot louder; more like a Carrera GT.
It is at this point you look at the cars the people at Lexus (or Toyota) have produced before and start wondering where on earth the LFA has come from. It is so raw, intense and manic.
What's more, the gearbox is no different. Because Lexus wanted the engine to rev with as little inertia as possible, it opted for a single clutch gearbox, which it also believes gives a greater sense of involvement than a double clutch gearbox. In its most extreme mode (there a four maps, and seven shift speeds) it works very well on full throttle upshifts at or near the limiter, and is certainly quick, but at anything less it feels a little too involving. In the less extreme modes, the change is slower and less physical, but still not smooth, and in its slowest mode, can feel like it is slipping the clutch. Overall the gearbox is one of only two things I’m not so sure about the LF-A.
The other is the steering, which unusually for a supercar is electrically assisted. While it is super precise, and very quick it takes some getting used to, mostly because it is very light. There is a reasonable flow of information from the wheel, and the movement away from the straight-ahead is progressive, but the LF-A does not steer as intuitively as the best sportscars.
Small question mark over the steering aside, the LFA handles brilliantly. With extensive use of carbonfibre the LFA is a) pretty light for a front-engineed supercar at 1480kg, and b) incredibly rigid. And on the road you can feel this lightness and strength in the LFA’s willingness to change direction, with minimal roll and zero flex. Like the engine there is very little inertia, combined (on a dry road at least) with masses of lateral grip.
The brakes, which are carbon ceramic are monumentally strong, but also precise.
Should I buy one?
That is the tricky question. Firstly because Lexus is asking a whooping amount of money for it, and secondly because it will only produce 500 examples.
What is clear though, is that the LFA is packed with technology that has been developed to an incredibly high standard, presumably at astronomical cost to Toyota. And we’d guess that for some individuals, gaining access to such exclusive technology will justify the LFA’s price.
What’s more impressive though, is that the LFA has a character of its own, rather follow a preset supercar template. That it is more solidly constructed than anything Italian, and less flamboyant, is perhaps to be expected from a Lexus. What’s surprising though is how honed and sharp it feels to drive. While it has GT qualities it’s no soft-edged GT. Instead it is a serious and credible supercar.
Lexus LF-A - Road Test First Drive - Autocar.co.uk
Lexus LF-A
What it is it?
The LF-A is Lexus’s long awaited first supercar. Six years in the making, and subject to a major rethink mid development, the LFA faces a fair amount of expectation.
Still, the final on-paper stats certainly justify the supercar billing. A bespoke 4.8-litre V10 producing 552bhp and revving to 9000rpm. A transaxle six-speed automated sequential gearbox. Extensive use of carbonfibre reinforced plastic for the chassis construction and body panels. Conventional rear-wheel drive, and no hybrid drive. The LFA also comes with a supercar price tag of 375,000 euros (£343,000).
What’s it like?
At first very Lexus like. The styling is pretty out there, but the attention to detail, and production is absolutely first rate. Open the doors, bonnet or boot and you’ll find exposed carbonfibre, but carbon that it is so beautifully finished you find yourself starring at it.
Similarly the interior is incredibly well finished, with a mixture of leather, carbon, aluminium and a super high tech TFT screen rev-counter. The best detail though are the pedals which simply exquisite – each one a single piece of forged aluminium. So the typical Lexus virtues of quality and refinement are very much intact in even this, its most extreme model.
That impression doesn’t change when you first twist the conventional key and press the steering wheel mounted starter button. The engine flares a little as it catches, but then settles to an idle as smooth and restful as any other Lexus.
Prod the throttle, though, and the LFA hints a character about as far removed from any existing Lexus as you could possibly imagine. The engine revs rise and fall so quickly and with such a sharp timbre that it feels like a pure race engine. While a torque figure of 354 lb ft may look a little weedy next to rivals with larger capacity engines, or forced induction, there is no shortage of straight-line performance.
Lexus’s claim of 0-62mph in 3.7sec and a top speed of 202mph feel completely believable. You just need to keep the revs up to get the most from the engine. That's not something you’ll mind doing, because from 6000rpm onwards the engine produces one of the best engine notes of any car on sale. It’s similar to a V10 BMW M5, but higher pitched and a lot louder; more like a Carrera GT.
It is at this point you look at the cars the people at Lexus (or Toyota) have produced before and start wondering where on earth the LFA has come from. It is so raw, intense and manic.
What's more, the gearbox is no different. Because Lexus wanted the engine to rev with as little inertia as possible, it opted for a single clutch gearbox, which it also believes gives a greater sense of involvement than a double clutch gearbox. In its most extreme mode (there a four maps, and seven shift speeds) it works very well on full throttle upshifts at or near the limiter, and is certainly quick, but at anything less it feels a little too involving. In the less extreme modes, the change is slower and less physical, but still not smooth, and in its slowest mode, can feel like it is slipping the clutch. Overall the gearbox is one of only two things I’m not so sure about the LF-A.
The other is the steering, which unusually for a supercar is electrically assisted. While it is super precise, and very quick it takes some getting used to, mostly because it is very light. There is a reasonable flow of information from the wheel, and the movement away from the straight-ahead is progressive, but the LF-A does not steer as intuitively as the best sportscars.
Small question mark over the steering aside, the LFA handles brilliantly. With extensive use of carbonfibre the LFA is a) pretty light for a front-engineed supercar at 1480kg, and b) incredibly rigid. And on the road you can feel this lightness and strength in the LFA’s willingness to change direction, with minimal roll and zero flex. Like the engine there is very little inertia, combined (on a dry road at least) with masses of lateral grip.
The brakes, which are carbon ceramic are monumentally strong, but also precise.
Should I buy one?
That is the tricky question. Firstly because Lexus is asking a whooping amount of money for it, and secondly because it will only produce 500 examples.
What is clear though, is that the LFA is packed with technology that has been developed to an incredibly high standard, presumably at astronomical cost to Toyota. And we’d guess that for some individuals, gaining access to such exclusive technology will justify the LFA’s price.
What’s more impressive though, is that the LFA has a character of its own, rather follow a preset supercar template. That it is more solidly constructed than anything Italian, and less flamboyant, is perhaps to be expected from a Lexus. What’s surprising though is how honed and sharp it feels to drive. While it has GT qualities it’s no soft-edged GT. Instead it is a serious and credible supercar.
Lexus LF-A - Road Test First Drive - Autocar.co.uk
Oct 21, 2009 | 03:26 AM
#3
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| TS Official Automotive Enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 3,533
First test drive review by CAR Magazine:
Lexus LF-A (2009): the supercar review
So, Toyota has finally made a new Supra, a car to take the Nissan GT-R down a peg or two?
Supra? This is the new Lexus LF-A supercar, although I see what you mean. And don’t mention that impossibly quick, incredibly good value, front-engined Japanese supercar, the GT-R. Lexus claims that the new LF-A is a proper supercar, a machine to be compared with the greatest Ferraris and Lamborghinis. It certainly is comparable on price: you’ll need £325,000 to buy one.
Three hundred and twenty-five grand! Has Japan suffered some kind of Zimbabwean hyperinflation and bread is now £40k a loaf?
No, but Lexus did get a bit carried away with the carbonfibre, developing its own type of composite for the chassis tub and building a brand new V10 engine. The project’s been so long in gestation that when Lexus started, they decided to use a V10 to stress the link to F1 – which switched over to V8s in 2006. The 4.8-litre dry-sumped unit puts out 552bhp at 8700rpm, 354lb ft at 6800rpm and spins to 9000rpm. Promising.
For that price, the Lexus LF-A supercar ought to be ballistically quick...
It’s certainly rapid, though probably not as rapid as you’d hope. Sixty-two rocks up in 3.7sec (helped by its four-wheel drive system, the Nissan GT-R needs just 3.5sec) and the top speed is 202mph. But the Lexus V10 spins to that 9000rpm redline in one linear push and sounds incredible, emitting a hard yowl throughout the entire journey.
And it’s not just quick on the straights. The LF-A turns in swiftly and understeers very little thanks to a 48:52 front:rear weight distribution made possible by tucking the engine up close to the front bulkhead and mounting the gearbox over the rear wheels.
Scythe into a corner and you can feel the outside rear tyre loading up, and initially this can make you think the handling a little edgy. But you soon learn to trust the chassis, keep the pressure on and not back off the power. From there you can either keep it neat or ride out an enormous slide, M3-style.
The ultra-precise, two-turns lock-to-lock steering is realistically weighted and race-car accurate, meaning it’s as good for gathering those slides as it is picking a perfect line through a corner. It’s the best fully electric steering system yet, if still lacking the feel of a fully hydraulic steering system.
I guess the Lexus LF-A packs a double-clutch gearbox?
Nope. Chief engineer Haruhiko Tanahashi says that he wanted the positive feel of a single clutch and that a dual-clutch system couldn’t cope with the high-revving V10. It changes gears in 0.2sec but feels sluggish by contemporary double-clutch standards. Around town the Lexus's transmission is noisy and clunky and the auto mode isn’t that great (when's the last time we said that about a Lexus?). In fact you’ll end up leaving the 'box in sport mode and doing everything yourself to enjoy the drive much more. Irritatingly, you have to pull the two paddles together to engage neutral every time you want to shift between forward and reverse gears.
I presume the LF-A's build quality is up to typical Lexus standards...
It is, although the cabin design appears to be by the bloke who did the sets for Buck Rogers, the one where Wilma Deering wore a sexy catsuit. The transmission tunnel is enormous (although the pedals are still perfectly placed) and the top rail of the dash looks like a neanderthal’s monobrow.
But the coolest bit is the TFT instrument cluster. The rev counter’s scale changes depending on whether you’ve got Sport or Normal setting selected – and the whole lot slides sideways to reveal a menu to change various functions on the car. Very neat.
Maybe the superb build quality explains why the Lexus LF-A weighs a relatively portly 1480kg. Lexus claims this is class-leading, but how come Porsche can build a GT3 out of steel that tips the scale 100kg lighter?
So how many billionaire absinthe addicts does Lexus expect will be accepting enough of a £325k price to give an LF-A a home?
The plan is to make around 20 cars a month over the next two years until 500 have been sold. And even at £325k a pop, Lexus will lose money on each one, such was the investment in the project. Each customer will deal with a specially appointed ‘personal liaison officer’ to guide them through the buying process and keep them happy until their car arrives and beyond. The order books are open now but the first cars won’t find homes until 2011.
Verdict
The LFA was a long time coming, is an interesting new take on the supercar concept and should be a useful halo car to elevate the profile of the high performance F sub-brand.
Clunky gearchange and mushy carbon brakes aside, it’s a supercar that you really would be happy to use every day, not something you could say for a Lamborghini Murcielago or Ferrari Enzo. The chassis is great and the soundtrack superb. But this is not a £325k car. It doesn’t look like one, doesn’t accelerate like one and, whether Lexus likes it or not, it doesn’t have the badge or motorsport/supercar pedigree that many image-conscious supercar buyers demand.
At the £150k the new Ferrari 458 or McLaren MP4-12C will cost, you could make a strong case for the new Lexus LF-A, but at £325,000, it just doesn’t add up.
Lexus LF-A (2009): the supercar review | Road Testing Reviews | Car Magazine Online
Lexus LF-A (2009): the supercar review
So, Toyota has finally made a new Supra, a car to take the Nissan GT-R down a peg or two?
Supra? This is the new Lexus LF-A supercar, although I see what you mean. And don’t mention that impossibly quick, incredibly good value, front-engined Japanese supercar, the GT-R. Lexus claims that the new LF-A is a proper supercar, a machine to be compared with the greatest Ferraris and Lamborghinis. It certainly is comparable on price: you’ll need £325,000 to buy one.
Three hundred and twenty-five grand! Has Japan suffered some kind of Zimbabwean hyperinflation and bread is now £40k a loaf?
No, but Lexus did get a bit carried away with the carbonfibre, developing its own type of composite for the chassis tub and building a brand new V10 engine. The project’s been so long in gestation that when Lexus started, they decided to use a V10 to stress the link to F1 – which switched over to V8s in 2006. The 4.8-litre dry-sumped unit puts out 552bhp at 8700rpm, 354lb ft at 6800rpm and spins to 9000rpm. Promising.
For that price, the Lexus LF-A supercar ought to be ballistically quick...
It’s certainly rapid, though probably not as rapid as you’d hope. Sixty-two rocks up in 3.7sec (helped by its four-wheel drive system, the Nissan GT-R needs just 3.5sec) and the top speed is 202mph. But the Lexus V10 spins to that 9000rpm redline in one linear push and sounds incredible, emitting a hard yowl throughout the entire journey.
And it’s not just quick on the straights. The LF-A turns in swiftly and understeers very little thanks to a 48:52 front:rear weight distribution made possible by tucking the engine up close to the front bulkhead and mounting the gearbox over the rear wheels.
Scythe into a corner and you can feel the outside rear tyre loading up, and initially this can make you think the handling a little edgy. But you soon learn to trust the chassis, keep the pressure on and not back off the power. From there you can either keep it neat or ride out an enormous slide, M3-style.
The ultra-precise, two-turns lock-to-lock steering is realistically weighted and race-car accurate, meaning it’s as good for gathering those slides as it is picking a perfect line through a corner. It’s the best fully electric steering system yet, if still lacking the feel of a fully hydraulic steering system.
I guess the Lexus LF-A packs a double-clutch gearbox?
Nope. Chief engineer Haruhiko Tanahashi says that he wanted the positive feel of a single clutch and that a dual-clutch system couldn’t cope with the high-revving V10. It changes gears in 0.2sec but feels sluggish by contemporary double-clutch standards. Around town the Lexus's transmission is noisy and clunky and the auto mode isn’t that great (when's the last time we said that about a Lexus?). In fact you’ll end up leaving the 'box in sport mode and doing everything yourself to enjoy the drive much more. Irritatingly, you have to pull the two paddles together to engage neutral every time you want to shift between forward and reverse gears.
I presume the LF-A's build quality is up to typical Lexus standards...
It is, although the cabin design appears to be by the bloke who did the sets for Buck Rogers, the one where Wilma Deering wore a sexy catsuit. The transmission tunnel is enormous (although the pedals are still perfectly placed) and the top rail of the dash looks like a neanderthal’s monobrow.
But the coolest bit is the TFT instrument cluster. The rev counter’s scale changes depending on whether you’ve got Sport or Normal setting selected – and the whole lot slides sideways to reveal a menu to change various functions on the car. Very neat.
Maybe the superb build quality explains why the Lexus LF-A weighs a relatively portly 1480kg. Lexus claims this is class-leading, but how come Porsche can build a GT3 out of steel that tips the scale 100kg lighter?
So how many billionaire absinthe addicts does Lexus expect will be accepting enough of a £325k price to give an LF-A a home?
The plan is to make around 20 cars a month over the next two years until 500 have been sold. And even at £325k a pop, Lexus will lose money on each one, such was the investment in the project. Each customer will deal with a specially appointed ‘personal liaison officer’ to guide them through the buying process and keep them happy until their car arrives and beyond. The order books are open now but the first cars won’t find homes until 2011.
Verdict
The LFA was a long time coming, is an interesting new take on the supercar concept and should be a useful halo car to elevate the profile of the high performance F sub-brand.
Clunky gearchange and mushy carbon brakes aside, it’s a supercar that you really would be happy to use every day, not something you could say for a Lamborghini Murcielago or Ferrari Enzo. The chassis is great and the soundtrack superb. But this is not a £325k car. It doesn’t look like one, doesn’t accelerate like one and, whether Lexus likes it or not, it doesn’t have the badge or motorsport/supercar pedigree that many image-conscious supercar buyers demand.
At the £150k the new Ferrari 458 or McLaren MP4-12C will cost, you could make a strong case for the new Lexus LF-A, but at £325,000, it just doesn’t add up.
Lexus LF-A (2009): the supercar review | Road Testing Reviews | Car Magazine Online
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