general motoring
Lexus Of Luxury There are some dramatic moves afoot at Toyota and its luxury offshoot Lexus with a brace of sporty new models in the pipeline that will definitely take the company away from its label as a ‘maker of white goods’. Cars with heart and soul are the order of the day from the world’s biggest auto manufac turer, a point underlined last week at the Tokyo Motor Show when Toyota took the wraps off a new Celica code named the FT86 and Lexus unveiled its ‘supercar’ called the LFA.
It’s not that pretty to look at with a snakeeyed frontal treatment and try-hard race-car rear with a sea of mesh and diffuser, but it’s under the carbon fibre skin that LFA has kick arse credentials. There’s plenty to get excited about because it’s a technical tour de force complete with a specially designed 4.8-litre, direct injection, V10 petrol engine putting out a healthy 412kW and 480Nm. This compact engine put together by
“Production starts in 2010 and only 500 wil l be made, with perh aps five or ten comi ng to Aust ralia priced at arou nd $750,0 00.” The FT86 is a sleek two-door, rear drive coupe with a horizontally opposed 2.0-litre four cylinder engine borrowed from Subaru. It looks sensational in pre-production form and based on that, should be an absolute winner when it arrives here in a couple of years time. Two models are planned, including a performance version, but the Celica nameplate is not signed sealed and delivered. Let’s hope sanity prevails and it doesn’t get called the Voxy, or the Fielder, like some of the other Toyotas at the show. The Lexus LFA is something else again and is unlike anything you have seen or thought of from the specialist luxury maker, even the ISF. Though still comfortable and built to an extremely high standard with quality oozing out the doors, LFA is a purpose–built go-fasty that will keep the likes of Ferrari and Lamborghini on their toes.
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Yamaha is built from aluminium, magnesium and titanium alloy and is smaller than a V8. It features a dry sump to further reduce its size. Ancillary pumps are mounted remotely and the engine has ten individual throttle bodies metering fuel at the optimum rate. Lexus boffins wouldn’t be drawn on whether this engine will find its way into other models but the twinkle in their eye told the story. Production starts in 2010 and only 500 will be made, with perhaps five or ten coming to Australia priced at around $750,000. That’s right, three quarters of a million bucks, which is a fairly big swallow for anybody. Is a Lexus worth that sum? Who knows but we have our reservations. Perhaps Lexus dealer principals will fork out the dough and run drive days for the rich and privileged. Oh, how the other half lives. They will be able to enjoy a car that is
reviewed Lexus LFA reviewed by Peter Douglas definitely designed more for the track than the road with a distinct hard edge to it at speed, much like a Ferrari. The faster you go, the better the car behaves. Lexus has been able to figure out a way of mating metal with carbon fibre to produce a body and chassis that is light and strong. The carbon fibre body allows some unusual shapes you simply don’t see with a metal body. Unusually, it’s a front engine, rear driver where other supercars seem to favour the midengine, rear drive or all wheel drive format. What the heck, the LFA has a near perfect 48:52 front to rear weight bias, with all the main components within the wheelbase including the fuel tank. Aerodynamics are aided by a flat carbon fibre undertray and the rear diffuser. Handling is aided by the car’s low centre of gravity and relatively light weight of 1480kg. Power goes to the rear axle through an automated six-speed manual and it’s not a double clutch job. Lexus reckons their single clutch system provides quicker changes with up to seven change speeds selectable by the driver. The car provides four drive modes including Sport and Wet, but we wonder who would use anything other than Sport. It has a double wishbone front suspension and five link rear with electrically controlled
carbon ceramic disc brakes at each corner. Inside is a sea of buffed carbon fibre and a race-style cockpit with beautifully crafted instrumentation and switchgear. We didn’t notice what sort of audio system it has because the V10 engine is a superb accompaniment to driving, sounding a lot like a slightly muffled F1 race car. In pure hard numbers, the LFA is good for a 325kph top whack and a 0-100kph sprint in 3.7 seconds, so there ain’t much that will best it on the street. On the road, the LFA is mild mannered and easy to drive but on the track, it flicks into Superman mode and shows its true colours with a hard edge to handling and feel. LFA is an engaging drive that will please the most demanding driver and feels like it’s doing everything too easily. The low driving position is perfect for picking the apex in curves and holds you firmly in place under the strong influences of heavy G forces. Lexus spent plenty of time developing the LFA at Germany’s Nurburgring race track, even though the F in the name relates to Fuji race track in Japan. We wonder how owners might feel when they drive up in their Lexus LFA but nobody looks, then someone else burbles up in their Ferrari and gets all the attention. Could be damaging to the ego and hard to take after the whopping outlay. And you can forget about going away in it because there is precious little luggage space but who really cares, this is a track day toy that rewards skilful and demanding drivers… with very deep pockets.