Agreed. I have seen the LFA in real life at two different occassions and it has huge presence and draws more crowds than most of the other exotics. It looks absolutely stunning in real life especially in red and metallic blue.
I didn't realize a quattro TT was about 3100 lbs. Not bad. But the weight distribution is 60:40, pretty abysmal for a "performance" car.
Ah, yes. The 4wd TT. That paragon of balance and the first choice of sporting enthusiast drivers. Less power, but its power/wt is higher than the TT's, isn't it?
Looks like a lot of people are already benchracing this car into the Loser class on the basis of on-paper stats. It's borderline ridiculous how some have written off this car without either
A) understanding Toyota/Subaru's intent with this car, and
B) having driven it themselves.
I think we all understand the intention of this car, its basically a hard top attempt of the mx5, and a less hardcore lotus elise. For 28,000 pounds the competition is pretty steep though, and people will look at the on paper stats and just wont get it. For the majority of people, they do not track the car, and for a occasional weekend toy, the mx5 must surely be better suited as it is after a convertible.
This car is basically like a gen7 celica but with rwd instead of fwd. Do you think it will be a sales success? I doubt it, not for 28,000 pounds and such a weak engine. 0-60 in 7 secs is a joke.
I didn't realize a quattro TT was about 3100 lbs. Not bad. But the weight distribution is 60:40, pretty abysmal for a "performance" car.
Regarding making a sports car with the LFA engine....as B773ER has said, it's called the LFA. Keep in mind, just the LFA engine is about $90,000.
Yes, because the Toyota badge is that terrible.
/sarcasm.
Since you brought up the TT, let's keep in mind that it's based on a V-Dub Golf. Now the TT is a nice car with a pretty trick Bauhaus-inspired design, but let's not kid ourselves that it's one of those VW's with 4-ring emblems slapped on to it. Again, nothing wrong with taking advantage of economies of scale, but let's not kid ourselves.
The Toyota/Subaru makes zero intentions of being a luxury car filled with frills, unlike a TT, it's a very roots-oriented sports car for the sake of driving fun.
Styling is subjective, I'll give you that. But, pray-tell, what stupid superfluous gadgets does the LFA have?
Many well-respected auto journalists/enthusiasts who have spent their personal and professional time behind the wheels of so many cars that many of us can only dream of driving, yet many say it's one of the most focused driver's car. Yeah, the price is rather stratospheric, but many upon many say it's rather justified.
Sorry, Poverty, don't mean to single you out, but I can't help feeling you're a tad bit biased, all because of a little ol' badge.![]()
weight distro doesnt mean much. The evo, impreza and megane sport have similiar weight distrobution.
If nissan can do it, albeit whilst making a loss per unit in the early days, so can toyota. Make that LFA engine more easily accessible imo. Id buy one tomorrow.
The TT uses some of the architecture, but having owned a true VW mk5 golf chassis car and now the TT I can say the drive is very very different. Different materials, stiffer, lighter, and a wider track. Seems good enough for the TTRS to beat ALL porsches in the targa tasmania rally, and only beating by a race prepped lambo superleggari and a 700hp GTR. But thats off topic so lets not discuss the TT again.
The LFA is overpriced for what it is truth be told. Theres nothing groundbreaking as such on the car either. Give me a GT3 RS 4.0 instead.
Now lets look at it logically.
Toyota ft86.
0-60 in 7 secs.
143mph top speed.
High emission engine.
Low spec interior.
Undesirable badge
Premium 28k sterling price tag.
28k also buys you.
3 year old audi TTRS
3 year old bmw m3
New scirocco R
5 year old aston v8 vantage
8k more gets you a new boxster
new lotus elise
new mx5
new clio sport cup and 8k change
So as you can see the competition is tough, and who wants to own a shouty shouty car like the ft86 that has no bite to back it up. Its straightline performance figures are dismall for 2011, it will be getting smoked off the lights by diesels, normal everyday mercedes c-class, etc, never mind when it comes up against a fwd hot hatch which once rolling will obliterate this silly cereal box car with the obscene price tag,
28k and 200hp doesnt go. 200hp and 17k and I could see it selling. In the mean time i'll stick to a mx5 or lotus for my rwd shit n giggles. Or just do what I do now and go karting.
The FWD TT is even lighter at about 2800lbs and has the more "enjoyable" handling compared to the quattro models. I wouldn't look to much into weight distributions, I suppose RenaultSport are doing performance totally wrong with the Megane Trophy which has a 65/35 dist.
I see this car as somewhat in the vein of previous gen MX-5's, back to basics not relying on power and a car which you can take to ~80% of it's ability safely and enjoyably on the road. It's probably not the car for the person who is after a cruiser as I'd say it's not really a motorway muncher.
However with this back to basic's nature and less everyday drive-ability than say a GTI with it's extra torque, I feel the price will have to represent this and it should undercut it in price.
On thing that may hurt it's market though is it's emissions, in my country (judging by the figures in the link below) it will fall into a higher road tax band and cost a few hundred euro more per year than a german hot hatch.
Scion FR-S / FT-86 / Subaru BRZ Specs and Options. 200hp / 151 lb-ft tq - Scion FR-S Forum | Subaru BRZ Forum | Toyota 86 Forum | ft86club
weight distro doesnt mean much. The evo, impreza and megane sport have similiar weight distrobution.
If nissan can do it, albeit whilst making a loss per unit in the early days, so can toyota. Make that LFA engine more easily accessible imo. Id buy one tomorrow.
The TT uses some of the architecture, but having owned a true VW mk5 golf chassis car and now the TT I can say the drive is very very different. Different materials, stiffer, lighter, and a wider track. Seems good enough for the TTRS to beat ALL porsches in the targa tasmania rally, and only beating by a race prepped lambo superleggari and a 700hp GTR. But thats off topic so lets not discuss the TT again.
The LFA is overpriced for what it is truth be told. Theres nothing groundbreaking as such on the car either. Give me a GT3 RS 4.0 instead.
Now lets look at it logically.
Toyota ft86.
0-60 in 7 secs.
143mph top speed.
High emission engine.
Low spec interior.
Undesirable badge
Premium 28k sterling price tag.
28k also buys you.
3 year old audi TTRS
3 year old bmw m3
New scirocco R
5 year old aston v8 vantage
8k more gets you a new boxster
new lotus elise
new mx5
new clio sport cup and 8k change
So as you can see the competition is tough, and who wants to own a shouty shouty car like the ft86 that has no bite to back it up. Its straightline performance figures are dismall for 2011, it will be getting smoked off the lights by diesels, normal everyday mercedes c-class, etc, never mind when it comes up against a fwd hot hatch which once rolling will obliterate this silly cereal box car with the obscene price tag,
28k and 200hp doesnt go. 200hp and 17k and I could see it selling. In the mean time i'll stick to a mx5 or lotus for my rwd shit n giggles. Or just do what I do now and go karting.
It should not. That is the most spectacular thing of the FT-86. It is a high revving engine, yet the emissions are only 160 gm/km. That is much lower than almost all 200 HP turbocharged cars. That flies in the face of the companies making excuses to move away from high-revving engines to turbo low-revving cars that it is not possible to have a low emission with high-revving engines. Truth be told, it is nothing but an excuse to cut corners.
A very flawed way of looking at things. Truth be told, I can buy a E60 M5 for $40K CAD and I can pay for it in cash. However, there is always a flipside and that is the maintenance costs are an arm and a leg, which keep me from getting one. It is also the reason why these cars depreciate so much since they become money pits.
Nothing revolutionary about the LFA??
Clearly, it demonstrates your severe lack of understanding of the subject matter. I could see the skepticism in the beginning, but now LFA has proven everything and beyond what it was supposed to.
What about the 10 patents the chief engineer developed just for the Lexus LFA R&D???
What about the circular loom weaving carbon fiber methodology that was invented by Toyota just for the Lexus LFA??
What about the fact that the V10 in LFA is lighter than a 3.0 Liter V6 and the size is smaller than a 4.0 Liter V8??
What about the 9500 rpm rev limit with almost 90% of the torque available even at the limit, which simply has been unheard of in a production supercar?? Never been done before
What about an engine that almost has ZERO inertia and can rev up to 9000 rpm in just over half a second (which is why the digital tachometer you dogged on was invented since an analog cannot keep up with the rapidly rising and dropping engine rpms)
For a very first exotic supercar, lapping the Nurburgring in 7:14 on street tires with full luxury amenities including nav system etc. has never beeen done before.
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