Apparently the yet to be released $400,000 Lexus Supercar with nearly 560 horsepower is not quick enough for the tastes of some. Lexus is apparently planning to release the LF-A Nürburgring Edition which packs an additional 10 horsepower and a stiffer suspension among other slight improvements. No word yet on the cost of these tweaks, but once you are toying around in the $400,000 range an additional $100,000 is probably fairly inconsequential to prospective buyers.
The utterly bonkers track-spec of Lexus' forthcoming $400,000 monster
A potential LFA buyer lessee has leaked the lease pricing for the car to the guys over at Autoblog, and as expected, it’s going to cost quite a lot, to say the least.
Now, the lease option might’ve made you excited. After all, you couldn’t afford to buy, but the lease option should be much cheaper. Well think again. Leasing the LFA will cost you $12,398.44 a month for 24 months. That adds up to $297,562.56 worth of lease payments over 24 months. Yeah, not really cheap if we’re honest. At the end of the lease, lessees can pay $93,750 to purchase the car.
However, even if you have the money, there are still more obstacles to get around. First off, Lexus has to choose you to lease an LFA. You can’t just walk in to your local dealership and ask for one. All chosen people will be notified between March and June 2010. If you’re chosen, you have ten business days to head to your local Lexus dealership and deposit $10,000. Then you have to pass a credit check. If you pass it, you have put down another deposit of $50,000. Immediately before delivery, the customer has to pass another credit check. Oh, and keep in mind that because of the limited production of 500 units, not all people will be able to purchase one. You’ll have to get a move on if you want one.
Once you’ve passed all that, the biggest cost of the whole process steps in. Remember that $12,398.44 per month figure earlier? Yeah, you have to pay for all 24 months up front (Excluding the $60,000 paid in deposits) thanks to Lexus’ 1Pay Lease Program. So that’s $237,562.56. Lexus claims that this one time payment will be cheaper than if you were to make payments every month, and they’re probably right. Nonetheless, it just makes it even more out of reach for the general public, although I suspect that’s the purpose. After all, they stated a while back that they only want the classiest of people driving their LFAs.
We’re not done yet however. There’s also a $700 acquisition fee, tax, license, title and registration fees, insurance coverage and a 15,000 mile per year mileage limit. If you exceed that limit, you’re charged $0.20 per extra mile. Also, the vehicle will be inspected for excessive wear, and if anything is found, the lessee has to pay to get it repaired.
Despite being a lease though, lessees can customize their car with a choice of colours, configurations, interior materials and optional extras. To add insult to injury though, many of these customizations will cost you extra money. For example, leather stitching in a choice of nine custom colours costs $1,000, polished wheels costs $2,500, and if you want it painted in matte black, which I personally would, prepare to cough up a whopping $20,000.
Long story short: The Lexus LFA is ridiculously expensive. You can read more details on the lease, as well as the option extras, below.
Pricing Announcement
Lexus LFA Pricing Announcement
Lexus is pleased to announce the launch of the LFA, Lexus’ first ever supercar that delivers world-class design, performance, and cutting edge technology.
A Race Car that is Street Legal A radical departure from standard Lexus development, a band of engineers approached the LFA from a non-traditional angle, pushing their technological, material, and engineering boundaries every step of the way. The result, a tour de force powered by a 4.8L V10 engine that generates 552 hp and a remarkable 9,000rpm redline. Reaching 60 mph in 3.6 seconds with a top speed over 200 mph = Super High Performance! This race-inspired power plant is mated to a uniquely developed six-speed Automated Sequential Gearbox (ASG) with paddle shifters for ultimate driver control.
Weight-saving measures were implemented in every area in the development process. The LFA features advanced Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) construction for its chassis and much of its bodywork to deliver a light, extremely strong, and impact-resistant structure. It also has carbon ceramic brake discs, and a host of other technological marvels.
Production and Pricing Start of production will begin December 2010. Consumers will be able to choose from three configurations at the Base MSRP price of $375,000.
⇒ Configuration 1
Leather or Alcantara seats and trim in three standard colors
⇒ Configuration 2
Configuration 1 plus Navigation & Mark Levinson
⇒ Configuration 3
Configuration 2 plus Lexus Enform™ with Safety Connect™, which provides Destination Assist, eDestination, Automatic Collision Notification, Stolen Vehicle Location and Enhanced Roadside Assistance; Lexus Insider™; Voice Command; XM® Satellite Radio, XM NavTraffic®, XM NavWeather™ and XM® Sports & Stocks (includes 2 years of XM & Telematics subscription fees).
Consumers will have a tremendous amount of customization opportunity with each LFA thanks to: Exterior
10 Standard Exterior colors that may be chosen at no additional cost
20 Special Exterior colors (Note: These require additional lead-time for the order/production cycle)
3 Wheel finishes*
1.⇒ 6 Brake Caliper colors*
Interior
3 Standard Interior colors in Leather or Alcantara
9 leather colors and 7 Alcantara colors*
An interior divided into multiple zones, each customizable by several colors, down to the stitching itself
*Please note: Some customization selections have additional costs. Please see Appendix for detailed information
Customer Notification
Customers will be notified within a March – June 2010 timeframe of their opportunity to order a Lexus LFA. Due to the limited production of the Lexus LFA of 500 cars globally, and customer response which has exceeded the number of available cars, it is possible that not all customers who expressed interest will have an opportunity to order a Lexus LFA.
Once customers are notified of their opportunity to order a car, they will have 10 business days to place a $10,000 deposit with, and submit a credit screening form to, their dealer. A customer must obtain credit approval in order to remain eligible to order an LFA. If the customer’s credit has not been approved, the customer will not have the opportunity to order an LFA.
Once credit is approved, the customer will deposit an additional $50,000 with their selected dealer at the time they place the order for their car. A second credit approval immediately prior to the scheduled delivery date must also be obtained in order for the customer to take delivery of the LFA.
If you have any questions about the notification and/or ordering process, please contact [REDACTED].
LFA Lease Program is through Lexus dealer and Lexus Financial Services
All LFAs will be available only through a 1Pay 24 month lease via your Lexus dealer and Lexus Financial Services (LFS). You will have the option to purchase the Lexus LFA at lease maturity.
1Pay Lease Program for 24 months The LFA 1Pay Lease program is structured for you to prepay all monthly payments in a single payment at lease signing. In general, this single total lease payment is less than the amount you would pay over the life of a conventional lease.
How will the 1PAY lease work?
¾ Special reduced lease rate will apply.
¾ 24 monthly payments are calculated and collected in one lump sum (1PAY) at lease
inception. ¾ Any deposits made on the LFA will be applied to the 1PAY amount due
What will payments look like on a 1PAY lease?
Rates used to calculate payments are for example purposes only and are subject to change and will vary depending on final price of the vehicle and credit qualification.
Lease payments do not include acquisition fee, sales tax, license, or title & registration fees.
A $700 acquisition fee is due at lease signing. A security deposit is not required.
The lease example above assumes a mileage limit of 15,000 miles/year.
LFS Lease FAQs
What is the credit application process?
The credit application process is a two-step process:
Step 1 – Complete a credit application which will be reviewed by your Lexus dealer and LFS at the
time the first deposit of $10,000 is placed with the dealer.
Step 2 – Upon vehicle arrival at the dealership, a second review of your credit prior to delivery of
the LFA.
Is there an acquisition fee due?
Yes, the standard acquisition fee of $700 will be due at lease inception.
Are there any additional fees due at lease signing?
Yes, all sales and/or use tax, license, title and registration fees are collected at lease inception.
How about Insurance coverage?
Customer is responsible to provide insurance coverage information to the dealer at lease
inception and maintain coverage throughout the lease term.
Can customers purchase the vehicle?
Per the terms of the lease agreement, at the end of 24 months (lease maturity), the customers may
purchase their vehicle for the purchase option amount listed on the agreement.
What happens if the customer wants to turn in their vehicle prior to the lease maturity date?
Per the terms of the lease agreement, the vehicle cannot be returned prior to the lease maturity
date.
Is the lease transferable?
No, during the term of the lease, customers will not be able to transfer the lease or vehicle to third
parties. However, in the event of a deceased consumer lessee, the consumer’s estate will have the
option to transfer the lease to a qualified transferee.
Can I lease the vehicle in my business name?
Yes, you can elect to lease the vehicle in your business name.
If the customer does not purchase the vehicle at lease maturity, are they responsible for any
excess mileage, or wear & use charges?
Yes. Per the terms of the lease agreement, any mileage that exceeds the amount listed on the
lease agreement will be assessed a charge of 0.20 cents per mile for each mile that exceeds the
contract limit. In addition, the vehicle will be inspected for excessive wear & use and any resulting
charges are the customer’s responsibility.
APPENDIX
Customers can choose between 3 configurations: All at $375,000 Base MSRP INTERIOR COLORS APPENDIX cont’d
Configuration 1
Leather or Alcantara Seats & Trim in three standard co lors
Configuration 2
Configuration 1 plus Navigatio n & Mark Levinson
Configuration 3
Configuration 2 pl us Lexus Enform with Safety Connect, which p rovi des Destination Assist, eDestination, Automatic Col lision Notification, Stolen Vehicle Location, and Enhanced Roadside Assistance; Lexus Insid er; Voice Command ; X M Satell ite Radio, XM NavTraffic, XM NavWeather, and XM Sp orts & Stocks (includes 2 years of Telematics subscription fees)
Exterior Colors
- 10 Basic Colors
No Cost
- 12 So lid Colors*
$3,000
- 7 Metallic Colors*
$3,0 00
- 1 Matte Color
$20 ,000
- Custo m Co lors
TBD
Wheels
- Painted
No Cost
- IS F Finish (Dark G raphite)
No Cost
- Polished
$2,500
Brake Caliper Colors
- Black, Red
No Cost
- Yello w, Blue, Silver, Gold
$1,000
Interior Colors
- Red, Black, Camel Yellow
No Cost
- Stitching (9 special colors)
$1,000
- Steering Grip (9 special colors)
$1,500
- Seat Front (9 special colors)
$2,50 0
- Seat Back ( 9 special colors)
$2,50 0
- I/P & Door (9 special colors)
$2,500
- Carpet (black, cream , red, camel yellow, blue)
No Cost
- Floor Mats (black, cream, red, camel yellow, blue)
No Cost
- Headliner (black, red, camel yell ow)
No Cost
- Metallic Ornamentatio n (satin silver or blackish brown)
No Cost
Seats & Trim
Alcantara Seats
No Cost
Alcantara Trim
No Cost
Headlamp Washer
$100
Winglets
$200
* Special Selection Colors will only b e available for LFA s produced from December 2011.
BANGKOK, 21 Maret 2010 - Pertarungan di segmen kelas sedan terasa begitu ketat. Setelah Honda City meluncurkan New Honda City versi facelift, kini giliran Toyota dengan Vios yang bersalin rupa. Awal Maret lalu, Toyota Thailand telah meluncurkan sedan 1.500 cc yang telah direvisi itu ke pasar.
“Kami melakukan perubahan pada sedan laris itu, baik pada tampilan luar maupun dalam,” ujar sumber Toyota Thailand seperti dikutip theauto.
Sementara itu, situs autoincar.com memperlihatkan sedan andalan Toyota itu kini menggunakan grill anyar berbentuk v-shape dengan sentuhan chrome dan lampu belakang multi-reflector. Sedangkan di bagian kaki-kaki, velg ukuran 15 inci dipadu dengan ban 185/60 R15.
“Ubahan lainnya terlihat pada lampu spion yang kini memiliki lampu sign,” sebut sumber Toyota
Pada bagian kabin, aura kemewahan terpancar dari kulit kelas wahid yang membalut tuas transmisi dan lingkar kemudi. Bahkan, kini Toyota kontrol audio diletakkan di lingkar kemudi sehingga memudahkan pengemudi untuk memilih dan memindahkan saluran hiburan yang diinginkan.
Sementara untuk menambah kenyamanan dan kemudahan sepanjang perjalanan, Toyota menambahkan piranti Multi-Information Display (MID) yang menyajikan beragam informasi. Walhasil, tampilan Vios anyar itu tak hanya memancarkan kemewahan tetapi juga selangkah lebih maju dalam teknologi penunjang kenyamanan.
Tetapi untuk dapur pacu, Toyota Vios facelift itu masih menggunakan mesin lama. spesifikasi lama. Mesin 1NZ-FE DOHC 16 Valve VVT-i 1.500 cc itu mampu menyemburkan 109 daya kuda pada 6.000 rpm dan torsi 141 Newton meter pada 4.200 rpm.
Lantas kapan Toyota Indonesia meluncurkannya di tanah air? “Tidak lama lagi. Pokoknya tahun ini, apalagi Vios merupakan salah satu sedan laris Toyota . Sehingga kami juga harus memberikan penyegaran untuk memberikan yang terbaik bagi pelanggan,” papar sumber di Toyota Astra Motor.
Sebelumnya, disebut-sebut Vios facelift itu bakal diboyong ke arena Indonesia International Motor Show 2010 pada Juli mendatang. Di situlah Vios ini sekaligus diluncurkan.
The SNL skit below parodies the Toyota break failure situation, showing a couple whose breaks give out as their Pirus careens about. The joke: it’s a Ford commercial.
When I viewed this parody advertisement for the first time, the pre-roll (actual) advertisement was for Toyota—explaining how their people were dealing with the recent design problem.
I like to think there is a marketing manager/media buyer from Toyota somewhere pulling her hair out about this.
Of course, Toyota could have asked for this placement as well, just to let you know it is all a joke. In that case, that marketing manager/media buyer is pretty suave.
Also, I think the parody advertisement would have been better if it somehow rehashed Ford’s history of designing defective cars – e.g., the Ford Pinto.
The big news this week was an effort to preserve Frank Lloyd Wright’s Bradley House in Kankakee, one of the epochal early Wright Prairie Houses. Blair Kamin did a bangup job of covering the issue in the Tribune here. A local Wright in Kankakee group is trying to raise money to buy the house and make it a house museum and education center. The bottom line is the $1.9 million price and the more immediate concern of an additional $100,000 for the down payment beyond the $70,000 already raised. I can recall when the house was law offices and Kamin’s article notes that the owners for the last 5 years, the Halls, have been ideal, keeping it together and restoring it. With 100 art-glass windows, the house could be worth almost as much in pieces as it is put together. The real challenge is not simply the purchase price, but the ongoing operations, since house museums rarely generate more than a quarter of operating costs from admissions. The Bradley House either needs an angel to subsidize the purchase and an endowment, or it needs more angels like the Halls who will care for it as the treasure it is.
My other news clippings this week included a plan to restore the iconic 1957 Inland Steel Building using the Cook County Class L landmark tax incentive, which basically halves a commercial building’s tax liability for a decade. What’s the catch? It has to be a locally designated landmark and you have to spend half the value of the building on the rehab. The announcement came just days after the death of Bruce Graham, the Skidmore, Owings and Merrill architect who designed the building, or rather, completed the design that Walter Netsch had started, making the building a rare collaboration between the two SOM protagonists.
Inland Steel has a fascinating landmarks history. On a flower planter near the Monroe entrance you can find a 1960 plaque from the first, toothless 1957 Chicago Architectural Landmarks law, an add-on to the famous zoning ordinance that doubled the city’s density. Inland Steel was included in “Chicago’s Famous Buildings” and considered a Chicago Landmark WHEN IT WAS BRAND NEW! It epitomized the structural bravado that seemed the salient characteristic of Chicago School architecture, carrying its steel frame on the OUTSIDE and creating completely open floor plans serviced by a separate, windowless tower than contained all of the functional necessities. It is such an icon modern starchitect Frank Gehry is a partner in the building and has designed a new desk for the lobby.
Finally, Wrigley Field announced it wanted to put up a giant illuminated Toyota billboard above the left-field bleachers. What can I say – Toyota and the Cubs: what a co-branding opportunity!
Two teams you can trust – until September comes!
Don’t put the brakes on the Cubs season!
As if Toyota wasn’t enough of a target for regulators and Congress, now it is going to be a target for MLB sluggers?
All joking aside, Wrigley Field is a landmark and the signage would presumably have to be approved by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks. It is a big sign, and it is structural. There are plenty of other signs in and around Wrigley Field, so the question is not whether a sign would be allowed but what kind of sign and how big.
Also, Wrigley has had a fair amount of changes approved by the Commission, including an addition in the bleachers that reached out over the public sidewalk at Waveland and Sheffield Avenues and the new club building that appeared last year on Addison.
Time will tell.
Careerbuilder put out a list of the most outrageous excuses for being late to work.
Here’s the list:
I got mugged and was tied to the steering wheel of my car.
(And my car’s a Prius)
My deodorant was frozen to the window sill.
(I didn’t know taxi drivers used deodorant)
My car door fell off.
(It’s a 1 AD Yugo)
It was too windy.
(And that was just from all my hot air)
I dreamt I was already at work.
(Then I dreamt I was fired)
I had to go to the hospital because I drank antifreeze.
(And now the damn car won’t work because I put coffee in it)
I had an early morning gig as a clown.
(I know…what bozo would come up with that excuse?)
A roach crawled in my ear.
(Now I’m starting a business as a roach motel)
I saw an elderly lady at a bus stop and decided to pick her up.
(She was great in bed)
My dog swallowed my cell phone.
(But now the reception’s much better)
*****
Willblogforlols is written for entertainment purposes only. This post was intended to be funnier, but the dog ate my humor.
Andrew Wisot is a freelance writer for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and an US Weekly Fashion Cop who’s “between jobs.” Andrew will blog for LOLs until he’s employed again or 50,000 miles, whichever one comes first.
Recently the media has had a field day with the malfunctioning accelerator mechanism installed in some Toyota vehicles, and I was going to return the favor by bashing the media, but I decided to do a bit of research first. I was online, looking for an image of an emergency flasher button to insert in my post, and stumbled upon something a bit more interesting.
The italicized text is an excerpt from “Don’t Panic in the Drivers Seat”
“. . . we were sailing the Buick down the freeway when I got pinched behind a slow big rig. When the lane opened up I floored the accelerator and the engine went directly into warp drive. When I cleared the truck and let up on the gas nothing changed, we were still accelerating rapidly and the pedal was stuck on the floor.
It took me less than a second to realize this was a bad thing. I quickly pulled back into the right lane — no doubt to the consternation of the truck driver — flipped the transmission into neutral and slammed on the brakes as I crossed onto the small shoulder, with the engine over revving badly. I brought the big frigate to a stop and turned off the ignition.
This all transpired in just a few seconds, so quickly in fact that the people talking in the back seat didn’t know what had transpired. When I pulled off the road, one of them asked, “Do we have a flat?” Go here to read the whole post:
Stepping on the brakes IS NOT the answer to the stuck accelerator pedal problem. Disable the beast by shutting off the power source – TURN OFF the engine! And like the person in the quote above DON’T PANIC! Easy to say I know.
And this bit of advice is for CNN, highway patrol officers and the rest of the media as well: stop sensationalizing tragedy and dispense some useful information for a change. .
Here you go:
As soon as you think something is not right with your vehicle’s accelerator, put the transmission in neutral (that’s the “N” on the transmission display panel), then TURN OFF the ignition and turn on the emergency flashers (that’s the button with the red triangle on it). Yeh, I know the car will be hard to steer and the brakes will feel like they’re not working, but at least you won’t die or be seriously injured.
