The Lexus LFA is the finest supercar to have come out of Japan. The birth of the LFA had most hypercar manufacturers sit up and take notice. Unlike most performance cars, where the focus starts with the engine, the LFA had to be a great car to drive, so handling instantly became a priority. All that mattered to those instrumental in the engineering of the car, was how it was going to make its driver feel, and more than anything, the manner in which they wanted it to move. But to create a world-class machine for the road and track meant they had to get some help from some of the best engineering teams at Yamaha, MotoGP and F1.
It was quickly decided they were going to make a V10 powertrain in the LFA Works, a purpose built factory. The whole engine was designed and developed exclusively for the Lexus supercar, right from the gearbox to the tiniest bolt. After 10 years of investments, testing and development, the LFA was born, and ready to buy. But only 500 of these Japanese cars were ever made. Apart from being the best-sounding car in the world, it’s also capable of breaking champagne glasses.
Lexus LFA Makes Music With Its V10 Engine
In the video above, a white LFA is strapped on nice and tight, while it’s put on a dyno in what appears to be a very white room. There’s a champagne glass, of all things unexpected, and the engine is fired to life. It sounds like, perhaps, nothing else. The driver redlines the LFA, shifting up the gears while it produces a satisfying tune from its three trumpets from the back. The champagne glass starts shaking, and finally, shatters into splinters - and this happens with the glass a few feet away from the car. We won’t blame you if you’ve watched the video more than once.
The Lexus LFA is powered by a 4.8-liter V10 that produces 553hp and 354 lb-ft of torque. Plenty of sports cars today make more power, are lighter and quicker, like the Ferrari 296 GTB, for instance, which makes a combined output of 830hp. But performance figures are not the highlight of this feature. Paired to the LFA’s engine is a 6-speed automated sequential gearbox, this thing could go all the way to 202 mph, while accelerating from 0-60 mph in just 3.6 seconds.
If the exhaust note is regarded as one of the greatest sounding V10s ever on a production car. We’ve got to hand it to Yamaha's musical division, who helped Lexus tune the LFA's exhaust system. The 1LR-GUE engine, built with helping hands from Toyota and Yamaha, sends its power solely to the rear wheels. The paddle-shifters let you control the gear shifts, and they’re known to have a unique weight when you tug at them, which received a lot of praise. When the car is in ‘Drive’, it takes pulling both the paddles to get it into neutral, after which, you press the engine-start button. Even when you gently push down the throttle, the engine sounds wonderful, and there are other lovely noises that add to the sense of occasion in the LFA. According to Jeremy Clarkson, the noise it makes is spine-tingling. It’s also amazing how quickly it revs to 9,000rpm, and in doing so, you can see the retractable wing pop up in the rearview mirror.
The LFA Is The Greatest Car Lexus Has Ever Made
In order to get access to store your soft baggage, the rear-glass opens, not the tail section. You will find lots of instruction manuals and booklets that you’d never want to part with. There’s even a guide in there that tells you how to wash your LFA. Look close enough, and you’ll see a triangular window that’s probably the smallest we’ve seen. The seat controls are right next to you, and have been designed differently, to look and operate like pull-and-push flaps. The seatbelts are thicker than a conventional seatbelt, because they have inflatable airbags inside them.
Then there are the turn signal stalks that look slender, and feel great to operate. Every time you’d like to remind yourself of the exclusivity of your LFA, all you do is turn back and look at the plaque in the middle, that has the limited-edition number on it. Going into reverse won’t need you to touch the paddles; instead, there’s a small switch on the left-side of the steering column. If your luxury sports sedan has an instrument cluster that changes colors and patterns - remember, it all started with the LFA. Which is arguably the greatest car Lexus has ever made.
How Many Lexus LFA Supercars Are Left Unsold
After selling three LFAs in 2019, Lexus still had four cars remaining in 2020. But two of those were sold in March while another followed in September. However, there’s still one car that is said to be unsold, despite production of the model having come to an end in 2012. When the car was new, it sold for a base price of $375,000.
Sources: Lexus, Autofanatic28, Vehicle Virgins & Doug DeMuro Via YouTube