Being such a masterpiece, I always wonder why the LFA didn’t do well when it first came out. Yet now you see them selling for damn near $1M. It’s like Van Gogh. No one appreciated the work of art until it was gone. But why?
Because the GTR came out and was a lot cheaper and much faster.
Took too long to develop. By the time it was ready to be shipped, there were other vehicles who matched its performance, would be “relatively” cheaper, and had a longer heritage. Now, it’s recognized for its genius and how Honda/Lexus still hold their reputation of being insanely well-made vehicles.
Same reason all low production hated halo cars are worth a ton 20 years later. Supply low, demand high.
Because it is quite overrated, and it’s mainly because wow Lexus made a super car, it’s a mediocre supercar in reality, and the price is too expensive for its class from a toyota, it’s not a bad car, but i think people at the dome don’t really trust it.
Because at the time it was slower than competitors, twice as expensive, and not at the cutting edge of advanced technology. And it’s a Lexus.
Now, the numbers don’t really matter. People are realizing that there’s nothing else like it that was ever made or ever will be made.
It also didn’t help that it was released right when we were pulling ourselves out of the recession, and now money has flowed so readily the last few years.
I don’t think anyone understands why they’re so expensive now. I definitely don’t. “Good sound” seems like an insane primary reason for them being double MSRP, when people thought it was a rip-off at MSRP. I can only assume because online everyone was like “hey it’s cool and underrated” and then it became popular due to car rarity? I can’t imagine any person who truly understands cars will say that car is worth like 750k+, but what do I know? I’m never gonna drive it lol
I know that aesthetics are purely subjective, but I just never liked the looks of it. It looked a bit like a 96 Supra Turbo but with really sharp angles all over it, and weird contours that didn’t line up with each other.
There was an option to buy these?
I thought they were lease only.
EDIT-I read up on it myself and answered my own question.
People are forgetting something. The general public wanted a new Supra. This is at a time when Toyota was focusing on making the Highlander and RAV4. What was instead made was the LFA which was out of reach for 99.99% of people. So the public ridiculed it because it wasn’t what people wanted. It was hyper car money for super car performance. Now people see what Toyota was doing with it and appreciate it a decade later.
Turn the clock back to 2010-2012
Are you buying the LFA or the upcoming new flagship V12 from Lamborghini that looks like an F22 raptor on wheels?
The aventador is old now and people have been desensitized to it, but forget how radical and insane it was when it was spied and when it finally debuted.
It was an incredibly easy choice for the super car buyers back then and it shows.
The LFA wasn’t a good car when it had to be the fastest to justify its price. Now that it’s older and doesn’t have to be competitive, people have learned to appreciate every other aspect of the car
I know this one. It cost more for R&D and to build them then they were able to sell them for. They were $375,000. A Ferrari had a far better pedigree so for that amount of cash I am going to save 150k and get a 2015 458 Ferrari Especial for $239,000 instead of a haute’ Toyota. Lexus was so perfection driven that it was completely finished in aluminum and they tore it apart and made it out of Carbon Fiber. *source Car and Driver. Jeremy Clarkson drove one all around Japan and really loved the car. It revved so fast that only a digital RPM Guage could keep up with it. The N/A V10 was awesome but the Ferrari 458 (4.5 liter V8 = 458). It made the same horsepower with 2 fewer cylinders. I think it is a beautiful car. It just isn’t as beautiful as cars in its price range. “It costs 6 times more than a Nissan GTR, but isnt 6 times as fast” -Jeremy Clarkson, Top Gear.
Nothing wrong with the LFA. Just the timing of its release (just before the financial crisis) and also at the same time, the R35 Nissan GTR came out which is faster and cheaper.
It has a terrible transmission.
When it came out everyone had switched to dual clutch by then.