All Entries Tagged With: "Toyota Supra"
Pursuing The Halo: 2012 Lexus LF-A
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img Lexus USA ::: Lexus LF-A
WHY not? When Lexus announced its agenda to bring us its own exotic, some (yours truly included) scoffed.
Scoffed at the very notion that Lexus could construct a convincing sports car. A rival to Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche.
Others took a more charitable view: if Mercedes sells a supercar (SLS AMG) why not Lexus?
Remember the Toyota Supra? The genes seem present in this design.
The MK IV Supra (1993-2002) was a rounded blade that carved Toyota’s inroads into racing and sports car lore. Lexus, unlike Acura and the NSX, never featured its own performance front runner. Toyota’s luxury division’s relentless pursuit of perfection focused on removing the driver from the experience of…well…driving.
That is, apparently, until now.
The figures are exotic: ten cylinders in v-formation making 412 hp with 480 torques @ a lofty 6800 rpm. Howling, too: the LF-A’s V10 hits the wall at 9000 rpm.Weight is relatively checked by contemporary standards – 3,400 lbs.
Nought to 60: 3.4 seconds. Five hundred units will be produced each served to the customer for approx. $375,000. These characteristics make a super car, no question.
But the question remains: should this be Lexus’ “halo”? Shouldn’t a limo – Maybach-like – that’s higher in status and stuffed with more kit than the LS600hL be Lexus’ shining star? Much like the randomly conceived VW Phaeton?
Whatever the case, the LF-A is here. And why not?
Nissan’s Understated GT-R
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG Found on Carzi.com
JALOPNIK posted an interesting comparative pic.
Captured for your amusement were a Nissan GT-R and Acura NSX parked side by side, both trimmed in polar white finishes. In stature, the tall Nissan dwarfs the low profile Acura; a two door 90s sports car that owed much stylistically to designs originally penned by Giugaro and Pininfarina.
Yours witnessed his first GT-R in person this week. Funny thing was, I almost didn’t notice it.
Jet black, it advanced quietly through traffic (there was no loud exhaust to grab my attention from the opposite lane) the GT-R seemed the ultimate in Japanese discretion.
Not a bad thing, per se. Nissan doesn’t need to make a sports car that shouts its arrival.
The aforementioned NSX borrowed so many Ferrari cues, that it drew most of its attention from pedestrians who thought they just saw a Ferrari. Rival Toyota molded the last generation Supra into a unique shape, but, it wasn’t universal in its stylistic appeal.
The Nissan really doesn’t offend and yet it’s anything but milquetoast. The car appears to have genuine visual character all its own.
But it does blend a little…
