You know Glendora Mountain Road. It's been the star of other videos and stories on IL in the past. Well, today we absolutely destroyed it in the LFA. Video after the jump.
Enjoy.
There are few cars on earth more rewarding on this road than an LFA. Faster? Yes. Scarier? Certainly. But more rewarding? No.
Here's what Road Test Editor Mike Monticello had to say about hammering the LFA on one of the world's most challenging driving roads:
"If the rest of this LFA road trip were to go bust for some reason, it wouldn't matter one bit to me. Why? Because we got to run Lexus' supercar up and down Glendora Mountain Road.
Hard.
Great road. Phenomenal car, and finally off the highway and in its element. GMR's twisties showed off the LFA's phenomenal turn-in and road-holding, while its shrieking V10 rocketed the front-engine wonder with scary-fast speed. It's utter fun, but everything happens with the speed of a cracking whip. One hundred percent concentration is required at all times. The 4.8-liter V10 isn't big on torque, but it still has plenty of sauce to break the rear tires loose. Terrific fun, and then you remember you're sliding around an extremely rare $375,000 machine.
The front end is a little vague at times and the steering could offer a bit more weight, especially in lower-speed corners where the LFA will push a bit. But in general, this is a fantastic machine with which to tear up a two-lane mountain road. And man, I've never rev-matched on downshifts so well in my life. I'm awesome. Oh, wait.
One thing's for sure: That triple-outlet exhaust means you have absolutely no chance of sneaking up on anyone. Ever."
So put that in your fun pipe and smoke it.
stovt001 says:
08:44 PM, 04/12/11
The segment in the top picture is my favorite.
blackdynamite0 says:
09:17 PM, 04/12/11
People should actually go on YouTube, post some links, and try to find ANY car with engine notes this good!
Carrera GT and Ferraris DREAM of hitting these notes!
BD
blackdynamite0 says:
09:29 PM, 04/12/11
Many people here (cough1487cough) just hate because they are full of hate.
They wake up in the morning, pour themselves a bowl of hate, pour in some hate, and wash it down with a hot, steaming cup of hate.
This car isn't like other cars, so don't bring up blown cars, or pushed cars, or YOUR CAR!
There is no comparison. Never will be.
Price, materials, R&D, delivery, engine design, body composition, etc.
The ZR1 has more in common with the Civic outside of town that does 9 second quarters on NOS, so leave it out of this, and judge this car on it's own merits. It doesn't need turbos, or chargers, or Dr Frankenstein to come alive!
This car is in a class of ONE!
Deal with it!
BD
speed6er says:
09:33 PM, 04/12/11
How do you find all these empty roads? Where are all the RVs and SUVs I always get stuck behind?
toyotapowerx says:
09:36 PM, 04/12/11
Nice road and your driving was pretty good.
rod_stewart says:
09:38 PM, 04/12/11
"try to find ANY car with engine notes this good"
IMO, the sound in this video is not very good. Muted in the cabin and sporty but lacking bass (almost like a Honda four) at the fascia.
It does sound awesome right at the end with the driveby. Otherwise I was disappointed in this video's sound quality.
And very envious of the driver!!
-Rod
gt500svt says:
09:47 PM, 04/12/11
Having being in the LFA on the race track, I can tell for safety reasons he almost never went all the way up to 9500 rpm.
Still sounds just unbelievable. This car is an absolute masterpiece.
cruiserhead1 says:
10:31 PM, 04/12/11
The video is great! I ride up there all the time and it's the same view... except a LOT slower! LOL
What a fun dream car. Even in the video, it sounds amazing!
morrisg2 says:
10:35 PM, 04/12/11
Watching this in 720p full screen is awesome. Then, an ad pops up in the lower half "Compare to a Yukon XL..." LOL!
jfire says:
10:37 PM, 04/12/11
i love GMR, i used to joyride on this road every weekend with my retuned evo x mr, along with my friends s2000 and sti
bluejuke says:
11:00 PM, 04/12/11
yes very nice exhaust note but...the best? not quite the aston dbs and db9 make better sound and are about 100x better looking. heck i think the v8 vantage exhaust note is up there too. albeit these cars are MUCH slower but also much better looking
bluejuke says:
11:02 PM, 04/12/11
sorry here's a link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaSycweTA3o&feature=watch_response
oldno7 says:
11:53 PM, 04/12/11
Wow. I wish we had roads like that around here.
As for the sounds, I've never heard anything like that on the road before. I'm not going to be picky!
vdo says:
03:48 AM, 04/13/11
One of the most challenging driving roads in the world? You guys really need to fly to europe, this looks like a highway!
2001gs430 says:
04:52 AM, 04/13/11
Excellent driving, thanks for the writeup and video.
1487 says:
06:30 AM, 04/13/11
nice video, still dont like the noises the car is making. Sounds like a saw or some other tool I can't identify right now. When you are driving the 2nd or 3rd most expensive car in the world I'm not sure how it should be expected to be anything but phenomenal. I mean, it costs more than 95% of the homes in the US- it BETTER be a great ride. The reason there arent more $375k sports cars that can do what this car does is that there isnt much of a market for $375k sports cars.
lostboyz says:
07:03 AM, 04/13/11
its not even close to the top 2 most expensive cars, but cost doesn't really matter with cars like this. Its an engineering project for tech that will trickle down. If all you can see is price, you missed the point
a1c_scg says:
07:27 AM, 04/13/11
Sounds great, but hardly the best. Not that it matters, since it's a subjective issue. That had to have been great fun devouring that road in such a machine.
I'd probably go so far as to say it's in a class of two. This and the 599 (GTO). And while that's not to say they're the two best cars in the world, there's definitely no other front-engined rivals.
syrax says:
08:19 AM, 04/13/11
@blackdynamite0:
It is great, but no much better than a CGT: http://youtu.be/7VywRYk3VyA
1487 says:
08:45 AM, 04/13/11
"its not even close to the top 2 most expensive cars, but cost doesn't really matter with cars like this."
Im not thinking of many cars that cost more aside from Veyron. And I'm talking BASE prices. Can you provide the list for me? It's not even close to the top 3? Wow.
lostboyz says:
09:18 AM, 04/13/11
nobody buys a base supercar, but regardless
http://www.thesupercars.org/top-cars/most-expensive-cars-in-the-world-top-10-list-2007-2008/
it doesn't even come into the top 10, unless you are only going off of currently made super cars
sherief says:
10:15 AM, 04/13/11
Gosh, what a hair raising sound. This and the Carrera GT, best sounding cars on earth.
1487 says:
10:29 AM, 04/13/11
lost:
Did you realize we are in 2011 right? Half the cars on that list arent sold. Another 2 or 3 arent sold by major manufacturers. Its one of the most expensive normal production cars sold in this country. The CGT, Enzo and SLR aren't even in production any more. You claimed its not even close to being in the top 3, that's incorrect.
sheikha says:
11:24 AM, 04/13/11
@blackdynamite0: All i hear you say is BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAHHH!!! this is a piece of junk believe it or not! almost $375k you get what ?? a lexus ?? lol thats joke. whatever dude... keep on with your blah blah blah. Post as many facts as you want.... does not change a thing for me.
lostboyz says:
11:37 AM, 04/13/11
@1487, you didn't specify currently made cars, but even then you can add maybach, hennesey venom, special edition lambos, ferrari 599 gto, ferrari fxx, etc. $375k isn't close to the top. That was simply the easiest thing to link to.
1487 says:
11:47 AM, 04/13/11
lpostboyz:
Why would I be comparing this car to cars that arent on sale anymore? That makes no sense. You are wrong, just leave it at that. This is indeed one of the priciest real production cars in the world. And it doesn't perform like one.
letta_rx7ors4 says:
05:39 PM, 04/13/11
1. In top 3(if not #1) in engine notes, on a street car. Where is the App for a ring tone?.........................
2. Inside line is doing a great job on these videos (next time rent the chopper, for the hill scenes)._________________________________________________________________________________
3. As said before, Toyota needs to make this the next supera.
Mark it just a little over $100K.. with a second engine option around $80k(make it a V8 hybrid or something).______________________________________________________________________________
4. Just give me 12% for my consulting fees (but will barter for free test drives=)
lsobboh says:
10:09 PM, 04/13/11
This car makes me feel like a kid. Seriously... I watched this video and wanted to scream: "LET ME HAVE A CHANCE!!!"
bigmik1021 says:
10:24 AM, 04/18/11
I like when the rear kicked out........driving at the edge! This car just sounds amazing /drool.