The Superstar Car Company Delivers Its First Supercar…And Scores Our Maximum Rating
The fastidious development which is the genius behind the Lexus LFA’s brilliance is a lesson for the global automotive industry. The focus, the search for perfection and the drive - of initially just one man, LFA Chief Engineer, Haruhiko Tanahashi - shows there is a heart beating within Lexus’ armada of technical and marketing types who have created a benchmark motoring brand within just 12 years.
Unlike their European rivals, Lexus Australia is so confident about the abilities of the LFA, the company let Car Showroom and a bunch of our motoring media colleagues spend a whole day driving its one and only test car at Melbourne’s Sandown Raceway. The keys to any rival machines from the likes of Ferrari, Lotus, Lamborghini, Aston Martin or Porsche haven’t yet found their way to our desk – but gentlemen, you know how to contact us.
Your Car Showroom correspondent is one of less than a handful of Australians who have driven the Bugatti Veyron. But as that was just a brief squirt around the streets of Wolfsburg, Germany, and as the vehicle claimed to be the best ever is not sold in Australia (its sticker price is said to be about double that of the Lexus LFA), we shouldn’t really include the Veyron in comparisons.
So, after our day driving the Lexus LFA supercar, we reckon the all-new LFA has leap-frogged the previously comparable Europeans and, beyond a shadow of doubt, is the most exhilarating sports car money can buy. So brilliant is the Lexus LFA, it’s worth every cent of its $700,000 price tag.
Just 10 lucky Australians will own a Lexus LFA as the two-year production run has been capped at 500 cars (the 176 LFAs earmarked for North America were similarly snapped-up in record time).
Lexus LFA Overview
Here’s the worry for rival brands. Lexus says the LFA supercar is “a tangible example of the template from which all future Lexus models will be developed and evaluated”. That template includes no less than 500 non-negotiable engineering standards - ‘MUSTS’ in Lexus-speak – (which you’d expect from the Japanese marque) but also sensory traits like driving feel, response and enjoyment which, to be brutally honest, were somewhat lacking from Lexus vehicles until the IS F came along.
So now we have a genuine supercar with a Lexus badge. A sports car which, when set-up for track days, is almost brutal as it snarls and snatches gears with all of the fury and noise we remember from the V10-powered Formula One Grand Prix racers.
But here’s the knockout punch from Lexus…
Click a dial or two in the cockpit and the Lexus LFA can be your daily commute – smooth, refined, easy to drive and soothing you with appropriate music from the Mark Levinson audio system and heated leather seats.
Here’s a game changer for the industry with ground-breaking new technology to join carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) components to adjoining parts made from metal. In fact 65 per cent of the Lexus LFA’s body structure is carbon fibre and the rest (35 per cent) is aluminium.
Here’s further new technology, not just for performance, but also for safety – such as electronically-controlled carbon ceramic brakes with varying bore sizes for the pistons to push the pads against the rotor progressively and SRS seatbelt airbags (an inflatable seatbelt).
Lexus LFA Engine
We heard the Lexus LFA before we saw it at Sandown Raceway. Superstar American race driver Scott Pruett was just running a few laps to warm things up – but with 9,000rpm on board, slicing through the gears down the main straight, the V10 with its three massive tailpipes sounded just like a V10 Formula One racer.
You could write a book just on the Lexus V10 (jointly developed with motorcycle manufacturer Yamaha). Here’s a quick summary…
• Mounted mid-front and driving the rear wheels via a transaxle rear-end (six-speed automated sequential gearbox – ASG – and torsen limited slip differential) to help deliver 48:52 front:rear weight distribution (aided by storing the battery, engine coolant and even windscreen washer bottle behind the seats)
• 72-degree, 4.8-litre, 40-valve, V10 with over-square bore/stroke (88 by 79mm) and 12:1 compression ratio
• Revs to 9000rpm, with a piston speed of 25 metres per second and generates 85kW per litre
• Maximum power 412kW at 8700 rpm and peak torque of 480Nm at 7000rpm
• Combined-cycle fuel consumption is rated at 16.7l/100kms and exhaust C02 emissions at 387g/km.
Lexus LFA The Interior
The Lexus LFA interior is as good as it gets. There’s one single gauge in the instrument panel – a rev counter – and Lexus had to use a combined Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) and Thin Film Transistor (TFT) screen as the engine spins so fast to 9000rpm a conventional analogue gauge could not keep pace.
The driver can select a background colour which is illuminated when the engine hits your preferred revs, but when you get to 9000rpm it always turns red – brilliantly intuitive when you’re pushing on in the twisty stuff.
Around the rev counter are secondary info such as the digital speedometer, gear indicator, transmission mode and trip computer. There’s also a stop watch for track days.
The seats are superb looking and superbly supporting when you sit in them. They’re electronic ally adjusted and there’s manual rake adjustment for the carbon fibre, flat-bottomed steering wheel (specifically weighted for enhanced feel).
Paddle shifters for the transmission are attached to the steering column (not the wheel) and the effort for each is asymmetric (more effort for the downshift).
To the left, on the centre console is the seven-inch colour screen for the satellite navigation, climate control, Mark Levinson, 12-speaker audio and reversing camera (all controlled by a toggle-type switch as used in the Lexus IS 350 range).
Not surprisingly, the Lexus LFA fails the ‘Golf Bag’ test, but the beautifully-finished luggage area will hold enough for weekend trip.
Lexus LFA Exterior & Styling
When talking exterior style, it’s the aerodynamic package which keeps coming up with the Lexus LFA. Aero is everywhere – even down to miniscule fins where the A-pillar joins the windscreen, fins on the air vents to direct hot air and ridges on the inside of the exterior rear view mirrors.
Out back there is a rear wing with a racing-style gurney flap which is automatically deployed at speeds over 80km/h and underneath a completely flat underbody and carbon fibre rear diffuser.
The result is a remarkable co-efficient of drag (CD) of just 0.31.
Quite apart from the aerodynamics, the Lexus LFA is simply gorgeous. And purposeful – with the deep channel running under the side windows ducting air into the rear cool air inlets which are scalloped out of the B-pillars.
Wheels are 20-inch forged alloys – 9.5-inches wide at the front and 11.5-inches wide at the rear. Lexus LFA runs special Bridgestone tyres with unique tread patterns – 265/35 R 20 95Y fronts and 305/30 R20 99Y rears.
Lexus LFA On The Road
OK, so Lexus LFA now holds the Nurburgring passenger car lap record (set on road tyres) of 7 mins 14:64secs. But the bigger story is Lexus has been testing the LFA there for years and has raced in five consecutive Nurburgring 24-hour races – all in the name of developing a road car.
That might explain the launch control system – holds the engine at 4000rpm and automatically deploys the clutch (good for 255 starts Lexus says).
Underneath there’s front double wishbone suspension with forged, hollow arms and at the rear a complex multi-link design. Dampers are Sachs monotube designs with remote reservoirs.
American racer Scott Pruett (he’s just won the Rolex sports car series) is ‘Mr Lexus’ and he rode in the passenger seat for our Lexus LFA drive.
Apart from the blistering acceleration, phenomenal grip, balance and traction, the overriding feature of the Lexus LFA at speed is the exhaust note. In fact Yamaha engineers toiled long and hard to make it just right and it is…just like a V10 F1 racer.
And it’s nimble – you just point the Lexus LFA into a corner and it turns, with no body roll, no lurching…well no anything. This thing is as close to a race car as any other sports car we’ve driven.
As we were using Sandown Raceway, we used the full track settings which did introduce lightning-fast changes from the six-speeder with instantaneous throttle cut-out – which was harsh (in a race car kind of way).
Lexus LFA Challenges
We understand the carbon composite and other technology makes volume production difficult, so the 500 Lexus LFAs which are produced will be collector cars.
Lexus LFA Verdict
This is the one – the first vehicle to score our maximum five-star rating. Quite simply, with the LFA, Lexus has done to supercars what it did to luxury cars – change the game.
And when you consider the rival marques in this league – Ferrari, Lotus, Aston Martin, Porsche, and Lamborghini – well we’ve made the point.
Lexus LFA The Competition
Ferrari 458 Italia uses a high-revving V8 to deliver more grunt than the Lexus LFA and at $526,950 it’s a lot less pricey. We hear there’s a lengthy waiting list.
Lamborghini’s Gallardo LP560 gains a V10 with more torque than the Lexus LFA and it too costs less. Gallardo is the best-looking Lambo for a while.
Aston Martin’s V12 delivers ‘only’ 380kW/570Nm but you get a lot of luxo and looks for around $380K.
Porsche’s 911 Turbo S with 390kW/700Nm is classic 911.
