2010 Lexus LF-A Review

Preview

What We Know

In January of 2005, Lexus rolled out the LF-A concept and the race was on to see which Japanese manufacturer would be first to market with a true Porsche 911 killer. Nissan followed up in October with the GT-R concept in Tokyo while Honda officially confirmed its intent to build a successor to the long-running NSX sometime in the next few years. Not long after the debut of the LF-A, we caught footage of a prototype on Germany's Nurburgring test track. It was covered from nose to tail, with no clear signs of the production design underneath. Our latest spy photos of a similar prototype on the same track reveal a few more details than before. Up front you can clearly see the detailing of the headlights. With their amber marker lights and single projector beam in the middle, the clusters are significantly different from those of the concept. Other revisions worth noting are the three large air intakes and F1-inspired front airdam. In profile this LF-A prototype doesn't reveal much more than before. You can see the actual body panels this time around, but there's not much in the way of character lines other than a slightly swept-back B-pillar, yet another change to the concept. The flat shoulder panels and side air intakes look as though they'll make it through to production as well. In back, the center-mounted exhaust pipes remain along with the thin taillights and twin-tunnel diffuser. We expect to see a near production version of the LF-A at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show.

What Edmunds.com says

Lexus isn't known for cars that get the blood flowing, but this coupe could be the one that finally changes public perception.