Wednesday 21st October 2009

Lexus LFA: Full Specs And Pics

Full details of 200mph race-bred supercar launched at Tokyo

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As Lexus launches its new LF-A at the Tokyo Motor Show today, full details for the stunning 200mph supercar have been revealed.

PH's Chris-R drove the racing version of the LF-A back in July, and the specs suggest that the road variant is not massively changed. It is powered by the same 4.8-litre V10 developed jointly with Yamaha, and in road trim pushes out 552bhp along with 354 lb ft of torque. Even in more relaxed road form it should be a screamer, with the red line at 9000rpm, and 90 per cent of peak torque available from 3,700rpm. According to Lexus, the V10 is also as small as an average V8, and as light as a V6.

The Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) body helps keep overall kerb weight down to a pretty lean 1480kg - almost exactly the same as the racing version - and equates to a power-to-weight ratio of 373bhp per tonne. The LFA will apparently hit 62mph in 3.7 seconds, on its way to a 202mph top speed.

As with the 'Ring racer, the road-going LF-A's engine is mounted as far back in the front as Lexus's engineers could get it, and the six-speed automated sequential gearbox is mounted at the rear in a transaxle, and the front-to-rear balance ratio of 48:52 is retained.

This should help the road car's handling, which was honed at the Nürburgring and also benefits from the same aluminium monotube dampers used on the racing car.

As you'd expect with a modern supercar, carbon ceramic brakes are standard, along with giant asymmetric tyres and slippery aerodynamics tuned for downforce. The interior is finished with splashings of aluminium, carbon fibre and alcantara in the expected places, and there's a snazzy active LCD display that changes colour when it wants you to change gear.

Just 500 LFAs will be hand-built at Toyota's Motomachi plant, and we don't yet know how many of those will be shipped to the UK. For those that do make it here, Lexus will ask customers for a rather ambitious £336,000. Generously, Lexus says it can remove standard equipment at the customers' request - in the interests of weight saving, of course...

As well as the lovely pictures below, check out this latest video of the LFA strutting its stuff:

 

 

[RB Will]

How much ?!?!

[e36er]

I've absolutely no doubt that it'll be a stunning car to drive but, at £336,000 I imagine they'd struggle to sell many more than the 50 they're making...

[son of clarkson]

but who's the competition in that price bracket?

[Stig]

e36er said:

I've absolutely no doubt that it'll be a stunning car to drive but, at £336,000 I imagine they'd struggle to sell many more than the 50 they're making...

Indeed. But the rarity and the fact that it's actually damn good should mean those get sold without too many issues.

I'm happy to buy if they discount by £300k of course

[dazsmith69]

the front looks like a porsche gt3 moulded with a gumpet apollo

nasty black vent/line does nothing for the aesthetics

[Dagnut]

Can you refer the Lexus people to the article above about the SV and then refer them to the local asylum.

[simonbelluk]

wudnt u just buy a nissan GTR

[dazsmith69]

simonbelluk said:

wudnt u just buy a nissan GTR

which is quicker! lol

[dazsmith69]

dazsmith69 said:

simonbelluk said:

wudnt u just buy a nissan GTR

which is quicker to 60! lol

[BlueSei]

This car is nearly £400,000, and it looks like a Nissan Sykline, and that red trim is awful

[J-P]

Surely even the significantly well-heeled wouldn't buy this for £336k even if there is going to be only 50 of them? Give me a 458 Italia any day and I'll have a 997 turbo with the change!

[J-P]

BlueSei said:

This car is nearly £400,000, and it looks like a Nissan Sykline, and that red trim is awful

Does sound nice though! Still it would have to come with the London Philharmonic at your beckon call to make it worth £200k let alone £336k!

[RacingTeatray]

That price is astonishing!

There's no way in hell that looks like £336k's worth of motorcar. £65k's worth at a pinch.

It better be astonishingly good if it's to justify costing twice as much as the McLaren, SLS Gullwing or 458 Italia. Just imagine - you could have the Italia and the SLS in your garage. Or that Lexus. Hmmm....let me think...

[FWDRacer]

Can you get it with gold badges and a box of hankies on tne rear parcel shelf...

£330K + .. that deserves another

[130R]

RacingTeatray said:

Just imagine - you could have the Italia and the SLS in your garage. Or that Lexus. Hmmm....let me think...

I imagine the people that will buy this car aren't exactly going to be down to their last 300k so they could just buy all of them anyway. The price is absolutely ridiculous though.

[900T-R]

I'd say it makes 90% of available torque from 3,700 rpm, not 90% of maximum power - which would rather defeat the object of it being able to rev to 9k rpm (as well as making for a rather unusual torque curve)?

[CypherP]

RacingTeatray said:

That price is astonishing!

There's no way in hell that looks like £336k's worth of motorcar. £65k's worth at a pinch.

It better be astonishingly good if it's to justify costing twice as much as the McLaren, SLS Gullwing or 458 Italia. Just imagine - you could have the Italia and the SLS in your garage. Or that Lexus. Hmmm....let me think...

Exactly. It doesn't look all that pretty, although impressive, and the price is absolutely unbelievable! There are so many other supercars you could buy for that money that would be a hell of a lot better.

[J-P]

130R said:

RacingTeatray said:

Just imagine - you could have the Italia and the SLS in your garage. Or that Lexus. Hmmm....let me think...

I imagine the people that will buy this car aren't exactly going to be down to their last 300k so they could just buy all of them anyway. The price is absolutely ridiculous though.

True but just because you're rich doesn't mean you're mad! The car doesn't look great, has very little racing pedigree and is £336k FFS!!!

[mgbond]

V10 yamaha engine, maybe the same engine to be used in the upgraded Noble M600 one day.

Bondy

[J-P]

mgbond said:

V10 yamaha engine, maybe the same engine to be used in the upgraded Noble M600 one day.

Bondy

Which is currently £136k cheaper!