Never Stop Driving #112: Let’s Hear It for Akio
Jason Cammisa’s in-depth history of the poorly understood but magical Lexus LFA made my week. Watch it here.
The LFA is a sleeper exotic that emerged, like a cicada, when Toyota, a highly profitable car company with cash to burn, decided to spend hundreds of millions on a vanity project. Toyota weaved its own carbon fiber to build the chassis, installed a sonorous V-10 engine fit for the Monaco Grand Prix, and limited production to only 500 units. Earlier this year, at the Broad Arrow auction at The Amelia, I saw an LFA cross the block for $731,000, which is about what they’re worth. Meanwhile, the Porsche Carrera GT, of which roughly 1300 were made, is worth about double.
Arguing about the value of seven-figure cars is folly because the value is by nature irrational. They are objects of desire, not utility. The market recognizes the Porsche as super special and the LFA as special. The values represent the discrepancy. I’ve driven both extensively and recognize why the Porsche is coveted. It’s fast, thrilling, and full of exotic details. And its V-10? Oh, my god, the sound of that engine. The Carrera GT also has a manual transmission, and its swoopy supercar styling screams big dollars.
As for the Lexus, Toyota engineers put the engine out front, not behind the driver, claiming the driving dynamics would be better for everyday drivers. The engine placement, of course, dictated the styling of the car, and in the end, the LFA simply doesn’t look exotic but rather more like a Japanese Corvette. The family resemblance to five-figure Lexus coupes was perhaps too strong.
That’s the rub with big-budget halo cars: Carmakers produce them to enhance the desirability of the rest of their lineup, but they also need to be peacocks. Tricky.
The LFA is also saddled with an early automated manual transmission, which uses one clutch instead of the now common two clutches. The shifting action driving around town is often slow and clunky—so much for everyday drivability. And, finally, the LFA is a Lexus, a respected brand sure, but one known more for refinement and comfort than speed and awesomeness.
The biggest issue with the LFA was that it simply wasn’t fast enough, despite its pedigreed V-10. Back in my Road & Track days, I set up a small road course at Detroit City Airport, figuring a lap time there would measure all the aspects of a car’s performance like acceleration, braking, and handling. We called it the Motown Mile. Around that course, the LFA lap time was just like, again, a Corvette’s. With high-dollar sports cars, speed and bragging rights trump everything.
That said, the LFA feels special in a way I’ve rarely encountered. The V-10 purrs to a 9000-rpm redline with nary a shutter and a howl that’s dramatic and mellifluous but also subdued. I’ve never heard anything like it. Car companies always brag about how they sweat every detail, but in the LFA you know that was true, as Cammisa so deftly explains in his new video.
Cammisa also points out that the LFA was raced. It’s one thing to build a car that can strut down Rodeo Drive, engine revving and popping, driver basking in the glow of envy from onlookers. It’s another level of engineering prowess to produce a supercar that can thrive on track. The race track proving ground takes a sports car from a fashion object, like a Pagani, to a legit performance machine. [Interestingly, while Porsche is no stranger to the track, the Carrera GT never raced.]
The LFA’s racing story is yet another example of the passion that I love about the auto industry. The business case for the LFA was thin at best. The accountants would never do it, but Akio Toyoda, grandson of Toyota’s founder, pushed it through. He believed in the intangibles that a project like the LFA provides, the opportunity for engineers to stretch and to show the world that Toyota’s about more than the Camry.
I’m a fan of Akio, who more recently said what few in the industry would admit: The rush to EVs was too fast and hybrids are a better option. Indeed, 2024 is turning out to be the year of EV plan rollback. Ford was the most recent, canceling plans for a three-row SUV. Toyoda not only championed the LFA, but he also personally raced one under the name Morizo. Thanks to Toyoda, the company now produces three very engaging sporting cars, the GR86, the Supra, and the GR Corolla.
For me, the LFA’s driving experience and the personalities behind it far outweigh the average performance. When it comes to street cars, I’m a “fast enough” kind of guy, and I remain an LFA fan. In 2022, we called the LFA a car poised to appreciate and put it on our Bull Market List. It’s a dream. Watch and enjoy the video.
Thanks for reading!
Larry
P.S.: Your feedback and comments are welcome.
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The LFA is one of my favorite cars. I think everyone complaining on the single clutch trans on this car I ask, why don’t you complain about it in some other high dollar cars that have it. I think a little Euro bias definitely sneaks in there. Have been in it around town the sound it makes and the way it drives were fine. Driven with some urgency it sounds great and drives great with the trans just acting like an automated manual transmission. Is it perfect? Not at all. However it was fast enough at the time to set a Nurburgring record so just because it can be beat by many newer cars today should not knock it’s performance for the time which is 12 years ago! I’ll gladly take one if someone wants to give me one as I can’t afford one.
Bought a 2010 Lexus LS 460 in 2014 . SIL said drives like the 2005 and 2011 Sienna . Recently daughter bought a 2024 Sienna and 2024 Highlander . I just bought a 2009 RAV4 V6 . SIL says and I agree , they all drive the same . Thanks Toyoda , #1 test driver of all new models .
Toyota stood alone under the pressure of the EV push by the current administration, with the candidate of that party now backpedaling.
Mr. Toyoda wanted to invest in hydrogen but that has issues of affordability of its own but there is an infrastructure already in place (gas stations) that could have readily adapted to that technology. I know there are many that claim hydrogen is expensive to produce but as with anything there is always disagreement. I know EV’s are the direction we are going but again at what cost to construct the infrastructure and the damage to the earth of the mining and to those (which will not be here in US) specifically third world country citizens.
As they say, “Follow the money on anything the Government wants to push, and you will find someone getting rich”.
It’s great that you rich people can talk about six figure cars like everyone needs one, but I think most of us would rather see stories about affordable vehicles. I have been a loyal customer of hagerty for four years and it seems that most of the people here have million dollar cars and get treated like royalty. I would bet that if I had a Lexus I wouldn’t be on the side of the road for three hours when I broke down.
Absolutely not. Last thing I want to read about are affordable appliances I can see on every street.
Bring on the exotics.
Guess what?
My Lexus SC400 DID leave me stranded, and NEVER ran again.
I totally agree, that Hagerty’s attention is unbalanced in favour of the costly exotics.
Thinking Akio drove my 07 ES350 too. Beautifully built–you can tell they used SPC and the ‘Toyota Method’ in building this car. 165K and tight as a drum. A guy we know has over 400K on his–and he just gave it to his mother to drive!
My other daughter had a used 1996 Camry ; hop in and drive like it was “your car” . Next fior her a 2006 Lexus ES 350 , no driving adjustment needed . Except even quieter and very smooth . Consistent quality as experienced by the driver . Have never seen a LFA ; must be special . Don’t really care if it isn’t special enough for some .
I became aware and a fan of Akio Toyoda when he laid out the case for hybrid vs. the full EV push. His motorsports bent is just a bonus and I 100% agree that Toyota has become far more interesting (while still running a business well) thanks to his input.
Toyota is generally a smart company that does smart things. Ages ago on an article here about hydrogen power I said something along the lines of “Toyota doesn’t invest large sums of money foolishly”.
Hydrogen might just make it to cars yet. It will make it to large-scale industrial uses running factories and such. If they refine the tech there is a good chance this is shipping transports future too. Plus there is always blimps. There should end up being a lot of money in that down the road (well maybe not blimps).
Local political control of hydrogen is also an appealing factor that should not be ignored vs. the issues oil and any mined material can have. Hydrogen can be 100% based in the home country.
I agree with the author. The LFA is more than the sum of its parts. It also seems that Akio Toyoda is as much of a “car guy” as only one from Detroit.
Thanks Larry! I’d never even heard of an LFA before (more of a Mini and Mustang sorta guy), but that was a well made and interesting video to watch. And thank you Hagerty, for making cars and driving interesting again!
“The rush to EVs was too fast and hybrids are a better option.”
I’ve considered Akio Toyoda as a sort of “Beacon of Reallity” in the auto industry. Mr. Toyoda I agree on the above. Since the late 2010s, I’ve been telling my friends and whomever else would listen that the rush to developl EVs was going to have a ton of unindended consequences, but led by our government, some of the top people in the car business and some of the editorial staff at “Automotive News”–all of whom were scared s**tless by climate change and threw caution to the wind–well….here we are.
What we need is Mr. Toyoda’s more measured approach.
The LFA to me is a different kind of supercar. More refined, reliable, comfortable and engineered as a whole car. Rode in one back in the day and it was a memory of a lifetime. The sensations, noises and performance were outstanding. There is always something faster. The McLaren F1 is not the fastest, but recognized as an outstanding car. The T50 I am sure will be legendary but probably won’t be the fastest. What they give is a complete driving experience. The LFA provides the same driving experience in my opinion.
Larry, you are a bit behind on your LFA values. One sold at Dana Mecum’s Spring Classic Auction in Indianapolis this may. Hammered sold at $800,000, all in at $880,000. I’ve never driven one, but, I believe it is one of the most fabulous designs since the turn of the century. And this coming from a guy who like you is enamored with the Porsche Carrera GT.