RideLust

Thumbs Up: German car luxury, Japanese car price

Thumbs Down: Option packages quickly add up

Buy This Car If: You want luxury and reliability at a reasonable price point

There are things in life that require a bit of experience, or maturity, to appreciate. Caviar is a good example, as is a fine single malt scotch. It isn’t that you can’t develop a liking for either at a younger age, it’s just that you don’t necessarily appreciate them as much as someone who’s been around the block a time or two. Read More…

For the vast majority of us, the Lexus LFA is, was and always will be pure unobtanium. Love it or hate it, the $375,000 supercar is an example of what an automaker can do with a blank sheet of paper, an unlimited budget and an engineering staff that’s unwilling to compromise about any aspect of the program. Maybe because of it’s price or it’s rarity, it’s hard to get worked up about news relating to the LFA. It’s unlikely that Lexus will build a follow-up model, and most of us will never get a turn behind the wheel of one, so what’s the point? Read More…

The Lexus LFA costs around $400,000, has a 552-hp/354 lb-ft of torque V-10 and will run up to a top speed of 204 mph. These are impressive numbers, especially for a limited edition car with no history or pedigree behind it. The LFA was an exercise in design and engineering for Lexus that apparently worked because all 500 of these little Japanese beauties have been sold to lucky owners around the world. Motor Trend recently got a hold of one but instead of illustrating the finer points of the car, they simply decided to beat the crap out of it instead. Honestly, I can’t say I would’ve done any different because let’s face it, this sucker screams! Click through for the video.
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Thumbs Up: The most comfortable compact I’ve ever driven

Thumbs Down: Even in Sport mode, the car isn’t sporty

Buy This Car If: you want a premium alternative to the Toyota Prius

Hybrid buyers are a fickle bunch. Toyota seems to sell all the Prius models they can build, yet luxury hybrids like Lexus’ HS 250h sit on dealer lots month after month. When Lexus announced that they were launching the CT 200h in the U.S. market, I’ll admit to scratching my head. If Lexus couldn’t sell the HS 250h, I wondered, what made them think they could move the CT 200h in substantial volumes? Read More…

If you’re a fan of Best Motoring, you probably know that the popular automotive video series has been cancelled, the victim of declining revenues. What better way to end your run that to go out with a supercar smackdown, pitting the Lexus LFA against the Nissan GT-R, the Corvette ZR-1, the Porsche 911 GT2 RS and the Ferrari F430 F1 RSD? While all of the cars are street legal, the Ferrari and the Porsche are definitely intended more for track days than for rush hour commutes. Best Motoring opted to use Fuji Speedway for the battle, and kicked it off with an F1-style standing start. Which car is fastest over three laps? Who leads going into turn one? Can the fastest road-going Porsche ever built hold its own against Japan’s finest? Watch the video below for answers. Read More…

Image: Gazoo Racing, via Autoblog

One of my press fleet cars for this week is Lexus’ new CT 200h hybrid. After spending a few days behind the wheel, I understand the car’s popularity. It’s well-appointed, supremely comfortable and not at all a bad choice for urban driving. Despite what Lexus’ ads would have you believe, it’s in no way, shape or form a sports car. Even in “Sport” mode, which calls up a tachometer instead of a power monitor and lights the dash in red, acceleration is best described as “leisurely”. The steering, however, is nicely weighted and the CT 200h is fairly nimble in the twisties. I’d even consider one if I had the type of commute I used to (110 miles a day in rush hour traffic), but I definitely wouldn’t consider building a race car for next year’s One Lap of America from a CT 200h.

That didn’t stop Gazoo Racing from building a CT 200h to run in last weekend’s six hour Adenauer ADAC Rundstrecken-Trophy at Germany’s Nürburgring. Built to compete in the S4 class, the Gazoo Racing CT 200h had a few minor improvements done to make it more competitive: first, the stock car’s 1.8 liter engine was yanked out, replaced by a higher horsepower 2.4 liter variant. The electric motor, controller and batteries were left alone, and the car did indeed run as a parallel hybrid. At start up and under regenerative braking, the car’s engine isn’t used, preserving fuel and reducing overall tailpipe emissions. There’s no word on how the CT 200h did overall, but I promise an update as soon as I can find the results.

Source: Autoblog

Apparently Lexus has decided to take the wraps off of its new LF-Gh Hybrid Concept a few weeks before its official debut at the 2011 New York International Auto Show. The big sedan, which I have to say is quite fetching, seeks to bring together the perfect combination of performance, style, and efficiency. From a styling perspective the designers at Lexus have really done their homework as the car has managed to blend powerful and aggressive design into a package that still exudes elegance. Looking closely you can see queues from the Lexus LF-A super car in both the front fascia and sculpted rear tail lights which helps signify the direction in which Lexus is heading in from a performance standpoint.
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Thumbs Up: It looks good and it’s put together well.

Thumbs Down: Needs more horsepower.

Buy This Car If: You want an affordable Lexus that’s entertaining to drive.

In the span of a week, I put over 800 miles on the 2011 Lexus IS250 with the F Sport Package. You’d think that it would be easy to write a review about a car after spending that much time behind the wheel, but it isn’t. In fact, I have to admit that the IS250 leaves me a bit stumped: the F Sport suspension is a bit harsh for long freeway drives and the car needs a serious infusion of horsepower to be competitive with it’s main rivals. The interior lacks the room of others in the class, and the rear seats don’t even fold to accommodate oversized cargo. Despite this, I’m actually going to miss the car, because I really did enjoy driving it. Read More…

This is Tiff Needell, he’s the host of Fifth Gear, Britain’s other automotive based television show. He’s also a former professional race car driver which means he can also really wheel a car. Over the last year or so Lexus has been touting their $375,000 LFA as the end all be all when it comes to super cars. It’s powered by a 552 hp V10 that produces 354 ft-lb of torque at 6800 rpm, and takes it to a top speed of 203 mph. This is all fine and dandy except for three things. First off they’re only building 500 of them. Second, Paris Hilton owns one (which kinda’ spoils it for me) and third their $375,000 price tag is nothing short of ridiculous. Lexus’s goal with the LFA was to show the usual suspects (Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche) that they’re not only capable of making a world class super car, but that they can blow the competition out of the water. Those are big goals for the same car company that builds the budget minded Toyota Corolla. So, does the LFA live up to all the hype? Simply click through the find out.
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A 2008 Toyota RAV4. Image: Toyota

This is not rehashed news from last year, I promise: Toyota has announced the recall of some 2.2 million vehicles to address the issue of floormat entrapment of the accelerator pedal. The recall, voluntary on Toyota’s part, will end an NHTSA investigation into the automaker to determine if enough models and variants were recalled in the last round. Vehicles affected by this recall (and approximate numbers) are listed below. Read More…