The Art of the Aftermarket: Lexus F (Part 3)
Contd. from Part 2
The V10 engine roars to life, but not a roar like that of a truck or a muscle car. The purr of the engine sounds almost…musical. You point this out to Bob and he says that Lexus worked together with Yamaha, the music division,
not the motorcycle one, to give the LFA a sound like no other. They wanted to make it sound like a Formula One car, but without compromising vibration control and reliability. What they produced has been dubbed by Lexus, the “roar of an angel.”
And boy does it ever sound like one.
Bob tells you that the car starts in normal mode. You watch as a series of animations flash across the LCD coming to rest as a heads up display, which shows engine speed and car speed. In the corner it says “normal,” under which
are the fuel level, oil temperature, coolant temperature, gear oil temperature - basically the temperature of anything that gets hot.
He then shows you a rather interesting control console in the middle of the car, between the driver and passenger seats. It looks slightly like a computer mouse that can control the display and settings of the car, but only when
at low speeds.
You can barely contain your excitement to drive the car, but realize that there is no gear shifter. You ask Bob where it is, since he mentioned that it had an eight speed transmission, and you assumed that, being a sports car,
it would be manual.
He points out the titanium shifters on the back of the steering. You feel pretty stupid and were hoping that it would be manual, so that you can see how they fit eight little numbers, along with reverse, on the gear shifter.
So you start off in the car, giving the car a bit of gas. The engine purrs like a lion would if it could. You can immediately sense the power resting right in front of you that can take you from 0 to 100 km/h in only 3.7 seconds.
And that’s without launch control. 0 to 100 goes by in less than four seconds and getting to its top speed of 326 km/h takes an astoundingly quick 22 seconds.
So you take the car out slowly from the parking lot. Bob looks at you in shock to see you heading to the main road. You ask him what the problem is. He says that driving on roads in this car, while on a test drive, is strictly
prohibited. You then see a sign saying “LFA Test Track” to your right and sheepishly head towards it.
When you get there, he says “go crazy.”
And that’s exactly what you do.
Going from normal to “sport” mode, the display is consumed by a large RPM meter, with the speed in digits in the center. The car takes of astoundingly fast and sounding blissful while doing so.
As soon as you hit 80 km/h, you hear a strange whirring sound, like a small electric motor. Your face suddenly goes stark white. Did something go wrong with the car? You look inquiringly at Bob, who chuckles and says “look in your
rear view mirror.” You do and you see a wing coming up out of the back of the car and breathe a sigh of relief.
Bob explains that the vehicle deploys its wing automatically at speeds over 80 km/h to provide stability during high speed maneuvers.
You get to the first turn and slightly press the brakes; the car immediately slows down without any sort of slippage or power loss.
Bob tells you about the brakes of the car. There are six pistons on each of the front Brembo brakes, and four on each of the rear. They are carbon ceramic disks that have the added benefit of Toyota’s Electronically Controlled
Brake, which is controlled by wires instead of cables or pistons. He adds that the vehicle also comes with stability control in three different settings, as well as countless other technologies to give you and your car a great, and safe ride.
Contd. in Part 4
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