I hope Honda will respond in kind.....

[liftcontrol]

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/autoexpressnews/67198/all_change_on_ultimate_toyota.html
-------
That's about 2600 lbs of carbon fiber bodied, 500+ hp v10.
Come on Honda, do not forget your racing heritage and history.
Your able engineers deserve the right to have the freedom to do what it takes to be competitive and your loyal customers deserve it from you.

 

[Osiris_x11]

Honda needs to go balls-out, not soft...

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/autoexpressnews/67198/all_change_on_ultimate_toyota.html
-------
That's about 2600 lbs of carbon fiber bodied, 500+ hp v10.
Come on Honda, do not forget your racing heritage and history.
Your able engineers deserve the right to have the freedom to do what it takes to be competitive and your loyal customers deserve it from you.

Being a Lexus & striving towards being the "most luxurious, best handling, and safest supercar", and relative price-point of "80,000 GBP"... seems like the LF-A is targeting the likes of the Aston Martin Vanquish_S, Ferrari 599GTB, Ferrari 612 Scaglietti, Bentley Continental_GT, Mercedes Benz CL_AMG, Porsche 997 GT2.

I have no idea how 2nd to none luxury/handling/safety, V10/500hp & 200mph can come at 2600lbs...

 

[liftcontrol]

With the LF-A, given its probable weight, power and engine, it's closest competition would be the Lamborghini Gallardo SE [ v10, 520 hp, 2 passenger, 3150 lbs].

The Scaglietti, the CL, the Bentley etc. are all heavy weight GTs in the classic sense of the word.

The Ferrari F430 Challenge [4.3li, V8; 483hp, 2701 lbs] comes close but it is a ONE passenger competition model that does away with most of the creature comforts like A/C that one cannot live without in daily life. Also, it's weight savings are from removal of these creature comforts and the passenger seat from the "normal" F430 F1 coupe. These F cars have the aluminum space frame and aluminum body panels.

The Scaglietti wighs a monstrous 4056 lbs and is a 532 hp V12.....a different class of car with a different purpose.

If the LF-A can in fact combine their extreme light weight carbon fiber body with the "luxury" of two person seating, A/C and a decent audio system in a car that has the performance numbers of a F430 Challenge and the power of a Gallardo SE, it would be a potent machine indeed.

And given that the Challenge has a MSRP of $220k and the Gallardo SE close to $200k, even if the Lexus LF-A has a MSRP of $150k, it would be a bargain indeed. Especially since not only will it have the power and performance of the other exotics, but it will come with the normal comforts and the absolute top notch reliability of a Lexus. :biggrin: I for one cannot wait to see what transpires in the next two years or so.

 

[Osiris_x11]

no way ho'zay...

To be concise, I hate car magazines.

If Porsche w/ it's Carrera_GT couldn't/didn't do 2600lbs. ~ V10 ~ 500hp... I'm 99.999% sure Lexus won't nor come even close to doing such.

However, if we're playing the but/what-if's... hell yea' it'd rock! However it'd also rock as in rock-the-cradle because any/all Lexus are so boring/uninspiring to drive to such a degree they can put a baby to sleep! :tongue:

Disclaimer: I own a Lexus, and it isn't my first.

I mentioned those exotic supercars based on the cachet/clientele who would consider the LF-A would be enticed by those others... going by the quotes of the article (most luxury, blah-bla-bha...). Another thing that might even lower the stature further of a prospective Lexus supercar is that there will be a shared platform for a more mainstream Supra-type offering. Ewww... an exotic supercar w/ a shared platform, like gag me w/ a fork!?!

 

[BD]

Well, in Honda's case, weight has always been a big deal. Toyota may very well follow Honda's footprints.

I think 2800lbs is totally achieveable, but the R & D cost will be high, which means the car should cost more than 80,000 sterling pounds. Unless Toyota intend to sell the car below cost to avoid any potential market failure. If they do that, it really wouldn't dent their pocket. I believe they are the number one in production and profit in the car biz now, and they can absorb the lost if they decide to.

As for Honda, it has already been disclosed that the NSX replacement has a target weight of 1200kg, by Uehera, NSX project leader. For Toyota to follow that trend, it is really not a big deal. In fact, if you look at the NSX R, even at it's lightweightness, the car still has plenty of room to loose some more weight, at 1250kg, they can easiely loose some more weight to accommadate a V10. Plus the C3XX series engine is rather heavy, the replacement with iVTEC should be close to weight even with four extra cylinders and capacity.

 

[NSXGMS]

Re: Honda needs to go balls-out, not soft...

Being a Lexus & striving towards being the "most luxurious, best handling, and safest supercar", and relative price-point of "80,000 GBP"... seems like the LF-A is targeting the likes of the Aston Martin Vanquish_S, Ferrari 599GTB, Ferrari 612 Scaglietti, Bentley Continental_GT, Mercedes Benz CL_AMG, Porsche 997 GT2.

I have no idea how 2nd to none luxury/handling/safety, V10/500hp & 200mph can come at 2600lbs...

This will be a very interesting endeavor. The shape, look and layout of the car isn't a traditional "performance exotic" low-stance aggressive car like the F430 or the NSX. It seems to be more of a GT type car. But the numbers and the goals being thrown about don't support that notion either.

Personally, I think Toyota's caught in the middle. Not sure if that bodes well for them or not--very unique automobile regardless. I'm sure it will have the quality but ??? I just don't know. Price is high too. This is quite the mystery machine.

With all this technology and purported R&D there's no way Toyota will turn a measurable profit with volume--I'm sure these things cost Toyota about $120K-130K at least to produce. To me the goal is to break even...as I would say also for the next NSX. I am glad Toyota's stepping up to the plate.

Can't wait to see how it does on the open market and what the track numbers are. 500HP will be enough oomph but I'm intrigued...and how/if/when Honda will respond.