Quote:
Originally Posted by MatadorRacing_F1
Yeah, I did catch your forum stalling thread, but think it's pointless to berate the car for the sake of argument. A lot of BS has been posted all over the internet about the LFA and I don't think it's cool to slam what is a great car.
This car was not made to be sold to typical Lexus buyers. It's a halo for the F performance brand to raise cachet and to bring newer buyers into the fold and keep the enthusiast buyers that they do have from going to say BMW M or Mercedes AMG.
I'm not sure about you assumption of 9/10 enthusiast being faster in the LFA. I see the LFA as a grown up, refined, exotic Lotus Exige. People who like that kind of car will do well with it on a track, but only out the door, as I think the more the driver becomes more familiar with the limits of the LFA, they will get faster.
As for tsukuba... 
Call BMI?
p.s. I'd give my left nut. |
My hypothetical 9/10 enthusiasts I believe would be faster in the Benz.
The more I get into the situation that created the LFA, the more frustrated and baffled I become.
Perviously I ranted about how this could have been a new Supra. My proposed 2UR car in another thread. GT-R competitor, woulda, coulda, shoulda... Now I'm confused about the process of choosing who got access to the LFA. It was very Ferrari-like.
They invited a select chosen few Lexus customers (not Toyota, so even if I were a multimillionaire I couldn't have got one) to lease the car for 2 years. But the thing is WTF does this car have to do with existing Lexus customers?
I can understand the desire to shake off the 'boring' reputation their cars have (or I'll even admit... HAD before the LFA). But existing customers? C'mon...
I'm guessing that most of these went to successful dealers who wanted a Lexus they could show-off to their peers. In this case it's purpose isn't so much a halo car, as a higher 'class' of car for promoting "I've made it!" when a LS600h isn't flashy enough.
I seriously doubt more than 5 or 6 of the privately leased LFAs will be raced. We also don't know the conditions of the lease. Ferrari implemented something similar with the F50 that had a LOT of stipulations on what leaseholders could do with their cars, especially testing by journalists. Reason was there that it wasn't any faster than the F40.
Anyway, Toyota has these bazillion dollar looms sitting around and an imperfect supercar. What should they do now?
2011 LFA. Increased stroke by around 5mm, to increase torque and lower its peak. Marginal power bump. Overhaul the transmission for more than just full-race shifting. Sell them for $100000. Make money through economies of scale! Think of how many they would sell at 100k!
(I can dream...)
And my one pet-peeve with its looks: Sort out the cooling air-flow in the front of the car so they can remove the vent that looks like the hood doesn't fit properly.
Edit: Lexus' original motto "The relentless pursuit of perfection" comes from an approximate translation of the Japanese word "Kaizen". In the West, Kaizen is associated with 'continuous improvement' quality systems for companies following the Toyota Process (or House of Toyota). No car is perfect. Toyota must improve this car and continue to approach perfection. This is why I seem critical of Toyota.