Car & Driver Comparison: Lexus LFA vs. Ferrari 599 HGTE

I'm officially happy now. RIP Hiromu Naruse

That's really good news.

nice one!! :) i believe the test was done on a rainy day, maybe the handling of the car really showed on the wet track just like on the top gear track :)

Lexus did a wonderful job. LFA was not only the superior handling car, more athletic and agile, but also was the quicker car in the 0 - 60 mph and 1/4 mile as well. The GTB was quicker from 130 mph onwards. The test was conducted at 1800 meters above sea level. That really shows LFA (and 599 GTB) at ground level have 1/4 mile times of 11.2 - 11.3 seconds (which is what all other 599 GTB tests have shown).

It was already established in European tests that LFA is faster around Nurburgring by 10 seconds. Both conducted by SportAuto. Now, it is a pleasant surprise that LFA is faster even in a straight line to the 1/4 mile than the 599 GTB.

WorldofLuxury wrote:I’m officially happy now. RIP Hiromu Naruse

I cant express it better ! RIP

Hiromu Naruse legacy will live on through the LFA's legacy as Toyota/Lexus' first supercar And the greatest car ever built in Japan. Now no one can deny that Lexus has built one of the world's legendary cars with the LFA For those who feel Lexus has something to prove, validation can reach you at 200 MPH Rusty 8-)

Finally the LFA gets the respect it deserves.

Fake and ***! ferrari is and always will be ferrari! It's experience what counts!

@AmericanCitizen: C&D has always awared wins to Ferraris and they never ever gave Lexus any wins. They place Lexus near the bottom. This time C&D gave LFA the win, which tells how exceptional LFA is. Haters like you are completely brainless. The 'experience' is where the LFA is superior to the Ferrari. Clearly, the whole world is lying about the LFA being the most exciting and adrenaline rushed supercar of today. Dumb haters and name badge worshippers like you never realize and never are willing to give respect. You are a disgrace to the name of 'enthusiast'.

American Citizen is a typical fanboi. A lame excuse of an 'enthusiast'. Nothing, but a typical hater. Like the saying goes 'haters gonna hate'. Even when every single review of Lexus LFA is nothing, but glowing by the most anti-Lexus people, even when LFA is more responsive, better sounding, faster around the race track and lighter, nimbler, in SportAuto Germany supertests, Lexus LFA having a much faster Nurburgring lap time, NO!! Lexus cannot be that good. No way. It is a Lexus. It is impossible for Lexus to build a supercar that is superior to a Ferrari. That is denial of a typical fanboi and a hater. Lexus made a supercar that is superior to the more expensive 599 GTB HGTE. S*CK IT UP!!

Ok, that might sounded like something hard on you to understand! 1. Do you know where is the Ferrari 599 HGTE among the other Ferraris (size,class...etc.)to compare to? 2. Have you seen the "GUMPERT"! developed in 2005! Do see some match? 3. Do you know that Lexus, and after 10 years and after assistance for english, german, ameriacn scientists, they presented the first super car! How many of them out there? and what is the price on them comparing to other supercars? 4. I'm too happy to see new supercar in the market working it's way to compete with some super cars, but not the top super cars! 5. Do you want me to talk about the material used in the car? 5. leave the streets for germans, leave the skies for americans, and leave the electronics for japanese! To: playstations fanboi ;-)

You are clueless, sonny boy. All I can say, Ferrari has never made a car that is remotely as F1 as the LFA V10 at 9500 rpm. You have no clue what you are talking about. For the price and luxury, 599 GTB HGTE is the only Ferrari right now that is in the LFA territory. None of the Ferrari supercars (except the stripped down to the bone 599 GTO remotely use carbon fiber). Strip out the luxury of 14 speakers from the LFA and trim the weight of 200 - 250 pounds and then let's see what happens. LFA already beat the LP570-4 superleggera, GTR, SLS AMG, Porsche 911 Turbo S and Weismann GT in the "AutoBild supercomparo". The 458 Italia was wearing optional stickier Michelin Pilot PS2 tires (not the standard Bridgestone S001), which put LFA at a disadvantage since LFA has the temporary S001 Bridgestone tires for the comparison. Let's see a comparison again when the LFA production-spec tires are on it and has proper sticky tires on it. LFA is 70% carbon fiber. Though, the review says 458 Italia can compete with the LFA in terms of performance numbers, it cannot compete with the LFA in terms of luxury, finesse and driver oriented approach. And 599 GTO is stripped down to the welds for weight reduction and has absolutely no street usage and has a roll cage so no LFA is apples to oranges with the 599 GTO. LFA is still in its pre-production trim and about to get the production tires on it, which just got finished testing this week. Once the production model fully comes out with the production tires on it, let there be a comparison with 458 Italia and st*pd haters and fanbois like you will eat your own words. @GT500:

AmericanCitizen wrote:Ok, that might sounded like something hard on you to understand!1. Do you know where is the Ferrari 599 HGTE among the other Ferraris (size,class…etc.)to compare to?2. Have you seen the “GUMPERT”! developed in 2005! Do see some match?3. Do you know that Lexus, and after 10 years and after assistance for english, german, ameriacn scientists, they presented the first super car! How many of them out there? and what is the price on them comparing to other supercars?4. I’m too happy to see new supercar in the market working it’s way to compete with some super cars, but not the top super cars!5. Do you want me to talk about the material used in the car?5. leave the streets for germans, leave the skies for americans, and leave the electronics for japanese!To: playstations fanboi

I agree with GT500. Haters are gonna hate. How dare Lexus makes a supercar from scratch with everything purpose built for it sharing nothing with any car and beat Ferrari. These hater European snob fanbois are everywhere and make me s*ck!! Ofcourse, LFA is about offering extreme performance, technology, driver experience and response without compromising on the luxury and convenience as well as amenities. Ferrari 599 GTB HGTE is the only car (even with a $30,000 handling package) that can offer all of that (still not as good as the LFA in luxury) and LFA is still better in straight line and around the race track as well as offers a more rich driver experience. http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/5853/autobildsportscars458it.jpg Did anyone mention full weight LFA being faster in a head to head race (AutoBild Germany) than the LP570-4 superleggera stripped down with Corsa Pirelli super slick tires around Nurburgring??? Let's see a stripped down version of the LFA with 250 pounds of luxury shaved off and then bring Gumpert shumperts, Nobles into the picture. These cars much like the 599 GTO are stripped down to the bones trading luxury, amenities and convenience for only track performance. ofcourse, the haters will always just talk about the performance numbers completely being ignorant of the luxury, amenities and the driver oriented experience and the sensory overload LFA offers.

I hear Ferraris (F430, 360 etc.) all the time and sound like utter sh*t in real life. Buzzy, rattly, farty and so much drone. The flat plane crank is to blame for the extreme lack of octave harmony. The 599 GTB V12 is the best sounding Ferrari today. It is one of the best sounding cars out today. LFA V10 having heard it in real life is unlike anything I have ever heard in the supercar world. Only Porsche Carrera GT comes close, but it is pure F1 racing car noise especially the wail at 9500 rpm is simply EPIC!

Geez!! Which American, German scientists are you talking about?? Quote your source and post an actual factual source. There are absolutely no American and German scientists involved in the LFA development. I am sure you are ignorant enough to not know the chief tester of LFA (Hiromu Naruse RIP) was a guest consultant for Ferrari for 30 years and Ferrari used to seek his help for developing chassis and suspension. Look up who actually named Hiromu Naruse the "Nur meister". It was Ferrari that nick named him "Nur meister" for his expertise in automobiles. Oh yeah, 10 years in development for LFA. WOW!!! That is so shocking. Right?? Get your facts straight you hater fanboi. IT TAKES 8 - 9 years to develop a state of the art supercar from the ground-up that shares nothing! 1 - LFA chassis was switched from aluminum to carbon fiber 5 years into production where they scrapped everything and re-started development of the car from scratch. 2 - LFA is the first supercar with everything purpose built for it. EVERYTHING!!! Every other supercar developer re-uses engineering, technology and parts from the parts bin and from the previous generation. Do you know 458 Italia is still using bits and pieces from the old 430 and the engine shares many components with other Ferrari engines?? Lexus developed everything for the LFA from scratch picking up nothing from the parts bin and have no engineering and R&D re-use available.

AmericanCitizen wrote:Do you know that Lexus, and after 10 years and after assistance for english, german, ameriacn scientists, they presented the first super car! How many of them out there? and what is the price on them comparing to other supercars

I hope you guys right! I love Lexus, and I'm not to any car's manufacture side (even the Ferraris M&M colors!) but I hope to see more of the LFA in the future! it's just born! It's great, but not the best! It's a super car, but not the super car! I mean we need to see the reproduction, sells value etc. after 10 years lol I just wanted to say that the test conducted wasn't reliable and official! lol and it seems that trying to compare it to the italia 995 to me is not more that "a name competition".

@05RollaXRS: Oh i forgot! Yes! super cars all about sound! lol

You don't have to look very far to see how it would be down the road 10 years from now. LFA is only 500 in total ever built. In 1967, Toyota built its first supercar again with the chief tester being Hiromu Naruse called 2000 GT, which could go around the track faster than the Porsche 911 in the 60s. Ofcourse, being a Toyota the 2000 GT they proved to be extremely reliable and bullet proof. Toyota built only 363 2000 GT in the 60s. Now?? today if someone has kept his 2000 GT in mint condition, the 2000 GT in mint condition could easily fetch upwards of $200,000 - $250,000. It is easy to see LFA will be worth a lot being only 500 and having the Lexus reliability and quality. Regarding the review, it merely confirms what everyone knew already shown in Germany tests like the SportAuto super tests being the faster, nimbler and more driver and track oriented supercar while 599 GTB being the more GT car. Despite that masterpiece 6.0 Liter V12 from the Enzo, 450 pounds of extra weight on the 599 GTB seriously hurts its athletic ability. The GTO 599 brings the weight down to the LFA territory, but is stripped down to the welds and is built with only the track in mind. It is not even a fair comparison with the LFA. Maybe, when the Nurburgring edition LFA comes out, it will tell if it gives up as much luxury for track focused performance. Ofourse, in the Ferrari line-up the 599 GTB HGTE with the addition handling package is the only car that is apples to apples with the LFA considering the mix of luxury and performance while being at the same price point.

AmericanCitizen wrote:I hope you guys right! I love Lexus, and I’m not to any car’s manufacture side (even the Ferraris M&M colors!) but I hope to see more of the LFA in the future! it’s just born! It’s great, but not the best! It’s a super car, but not the super car! I mean we need to see the reproduction, sells value etc. after 10 years lol I just wanted to say that the test conducted wasn’t reliable and official! lol and it seems that trying to compare it to the italia 995 to me is not more that “a name competition”.

I didn't read in here more than a "wikipedia" copy and paste! But some is true! By the way, you mentioned the "EVERYTHING"! what about safety features? lol

AmericanCitizen wrote:@05RollaXRS: Oh i forgot! Yes! super cars all about sound! lol

Its a huge part of the experience in an expensive supercar that tells of its roots from racing. It SHOULD sound like a racing car. Lexus put the F1 racing car sound in the LFA to create strong ties with its origin from racing in the 24-hours endurance series races around Nurburgring. Lexus has used the LFA engine completely in stock trim with limit at 7500 rpm and restricting the power to 500 HP to meet the class requirements (SP8 stock class) for the Nurburgring endurance races and developed the street car using the experience from the LFA racing car.

Woah, just opened this thread up -- I didn't realize things had gotten so heated. I've cleaned up a couple comments for language but didn't delete anything. Still, I'm going to lock this thread even though I love to watch 05RollaXRS dropping knowledge. 8-)