ensure as much weight as possible was
concentrated towards the car’s centre.
This explains why the V10 sits deep
behind the front axle line. The engine
itself is a marvel, smaller in every
dimension than Toyota’s 3.5-litre V6,
yet the car’s compact dimensions – it’s
no bigger than a 911 – created plenty of
engineering headaches and the need for
some novel solutions.
To view a naked LFA, devoid of panels,
is to witness a packaging miracle. For
instance, moving the driver and passenger
as close as possible to the centre of
the car left insufficient space for the
exhaust system and propshaft to sit side-
by-side. The latter is therefore stacked
vertically above the former, driven by a
counter gear rather than directly from the
crankshaft, which allows the dry-sumped
V10 to sit lower still.
With no room in the front, the radiators
sit in the rear of the car. This creates a
unique piece of supercar theatre, withfollowing drivers able to see one or both
of the radiator fans spin into life as the
LFA drives along. The windscreen washer
bottle is located behind the left-hand door
and space constraints forced the adoption
of electric power steering; there was
simply no room for an hydraulic system.
There’s plenty to geek out on, but what
sets the LFA apart is the way it feels to
drive. It is so finely honed. The steering,
for instance: while some manufacturers,
even high-end ones, still struggle to
provide a decent electrically-assisted
setup, the LFA’s steering is perfect – there
is no other word for it. Its speed and
weighting are sublime and it’s full of the
sort of textural feedback that supposedly
isn’t possible without a conventional
hydraulic setup. The brakes, too, are
the best I’ve ever experienced on a road
car, with none of the inconsistent feel
or dead spots that plague some other
manufacturer’s composite systems. Yes,
Lexus engineers took 10 years to get itright, but they absolutely delivered.
While it lacks the headline numbers,
in its own way, the LFA is every bit as
special as the Veyron. Both are low-
volume, exquisitely crafted supercars
built purely to show what each
manufacturer could accomplish with
a limitless development budget. But
whereas VW, through Bugatti, chose to
chase record top speeds, Lexus set out to
develop the perfect driver’s car.
It’s undeniably Japanese, but that’s no
criticism; whereas Italian supercars are
infused with Latin passion, the LFA is
imbued with a samurai’s honour. More
than any car in recent memory, it’s a
work of art, a finely wrought piece of
automotive sculpture. The LFA is a credit
to chief engineer Haruhiko Tanahashi,
who early on “decided to make the
LFA exactly as I envisioned it...things
that truly move people emotionally are
not created through group consensus.”
Tanahashi-san, we salute you. – SNOne of the LFA’s
coolest feature is
its motor-driven
instrument panel,
which slides left and
right to reveal various
information screensIS EVERY BIT AS SPECIAL AS THE VEYRON
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