LFA Appreciation | Page 11 | FerrariChat

LFA Appreciation

Discussion in 'General Automotive Discussion' started by Sterling Sackey, Jan 23, 2018.

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  1. sunline

    sunline Karting

    Dec 23, 2004
    155
    Ashburn Virginia
    Full Name:
    Ken
    Sterling Sackey
    Great work here!, Although I have seen 90% of what you posted, there was still some great videos and information that I had never seen before which I found fascinating. I hope you end up with the privilege of owning one of these cars. As kev360 has mentioned, unlike the Ferraris I have owned, you essentially just put gas in the car and enjoy driving it year in and year out. Plus it’s value rises annually instead of deprecating which brings a smile to any owners face. Good luck in your pursuit!
     
  2. Sterling Sackey

    Sterling Sackey Formula 3
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    Exactly my thoughts!
     
  3. Sterling Sackey

    Sterling Sackey Formula 3
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    Thank you for your kind words, I do hope to own one at some point, it is certainly an undervalued car which will help my pursuit immensely. :)
     
  4. min3040

    min3040 Rookie

    Dec 5, 2015
    20
    Fairfax, VA
    Full Name:
    Chris Hong
    I bought #413 LFA last year spring. This car really exceeded my expectation. The car has very unique sound and tone. And build quality is second to none. She will be next to my Speciale for long long time.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
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  5. Sterling Sackey

    Sterling Sackey Formula 3
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    Love it! Any photos?
     
  6. min3040

    min3040 Rookie

    Dec 5, 2015
    20
    Fairfax, VA
    Full Name:
    Chris Hong
  7. Sterling Sackey

    Sterling Sackey Formula 3
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    Another big LFA Nurburgring sale recently at Amelia Island. The value on these begs the question - why are buyers paying so little for the "standard" LFA which is substantially similar the Nurburgring?

    Makes zero sense to me, but as usual this aberration in the market will correct itself with time...

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  8. obbob

    obbob Formula Junior

    Aug 14, 2017
    774
    So jealous. When I bought my Speciale, the only other car I was considering was the LFA. Was really hard to choose which one I wanted. In the end, I chose the Speciale since I prefer its looks and gearbox. I love the car and want to keep it forever, but from time to time I wonder if I should have got the LFA instead, especially since the Speciale is a depreciating car while the LFA seems to be appreciating ever so slightly.
     
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  9. ferrariwithsnowtires

    ferrariwithsnowtires Formula Junior

    Dec 17, 2005
    545
    My best guess is it is being treated like the NSX Type R.

    Higher performance sub brand of an already limited number of cars.

    As I have mentioned before, when I received my allocation, I spoke with a local dealer principal and he asked if I was thinking about the Ring version. I was like no way, it looks terrible. He felt they wouldn’t be the way to go due to the extra cost and the visuals.

    Now I see how oops I made, market loves exclusivity.

    I saw one a few times that was being stored at the local exotic storage garage. I absolutely hate the canards and big fixed wing. The only parts I liked were the front cf under spoiler and the cf interior trim
     
  10. Sterling Sackey

    Sterling Sackey Formula 3
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    That's fine, but I see the following differences in terms of the analogy:

    1. The production number difference between standard NSX vs. NSX-R is a huge one, whereas all LFAs are rare cars. The entire LFA production was similar in number to the original Gen 1 NSX-R production @ 500 total cars.

    2. The standard NSX was a mix between GT-car and track-capable sports car, similar in purpose to a standard Porsche 911 Carrera. The NSX-R was an all-out track car. As for the LFA, the standard car is a track-focused supercar, and the Nurbrugring just increases that track focus - not as big of a delta between the two as NSX vs. NSX-R.

    For me, the standard cars should be worth at least 2/3rds of the value of a Nurburgring, and 3/4 would not be unreasonable either! I think, perhaps, uninformed buyers are getting the impression that the standard car is more of a GT car, which I wouldn't blame them for given the subdued looks - if only more people could drive one to get an understanding of how singularly focused it really is.

    As far as the Nurburgring aesthetics, I love it, and would take a Nurburgring every time, but I wouldn't pay the price premiums we are seeing today, that's for sure.
     
  11. ferrariwithsnowtires

    ferrariwithsnowtires Formula Junior

    Dec 17, 2005
    545
    Have you had a close look at the rear wing?

    It is a tacked on mess.

    The regular car was carefully imagined. What other car has a profile of a wave for a side air intake? The wretches who got the ring edition project butchered the poor thing. Canards, why not put neon lights on the underside too?

    I kind of think the general issue with the valuation of the regular car stems from all the berating it received when released. Once you drive one, the experience carries the day.

    At least we seem to be seeing some price appreciation for the regular ones.

    I guess the ring prices are just related to the constraint regarding how few are in the US. I never saw anything from Lexus to confirm that they built the full 50 that were in the plan if 50 takers out of the 500 ticked the ring edition box on the order sheet. Noting that many of the cars ordered were by the dealers after 1) Lexus lied and gave a large group of dealers allocations and 2) when many potential buyers bailed out and there were even more allocations that ended up with the dealers (like the root beer on creamsicle mess that High Price Herb Chambers ordered and quickly ditched after the car was delivered to him and was laughed at by his staff).

    Then if we go by ratios, like 174 of the 500 cars came to the US, which would translate to 17 or 18 ring cars in the US. We would have to imagine a good chunk of those went to early adopter collectors and will never be traded. So not a huge surprise that you gotta fork it over to get one at auction.

    The guy in Chicago with the ring car uses his on the track. He moved dozens of his toys somewhere else so I can't go visit it anymore.

    My plan is to keep building my real estate machine, add an R36 when they come out and then an LFA sometime in the future (maybe when I retire in 6-7 years).
    Then I can have my Honda, Nissan, Toyota supercar garage.
     
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  12. Sterling Sackey

    Sterling Sackey Formula 3
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    Well, clearly the market is siding against you. :)

    I would pull out all the data Lexus released on how the aero changes for this special track version helped the car achieve a world record Nurburgring time, but it's likely going to be a wasted effort as you have your opinion set.

    As far as the looks of a wing and canards, they work perfectly to these eyes for a purpose built track-focused car, just as they do on one of my other favorite 2010s legends, the 997 GT3 RS 4.0. I don't recall neon underglow being an option on that car either, but I'll have to check my Porsche brochures.

    Anyway, my point about the standard LFA was not a put-down of the Nurburgring, rather the opposite - I feel the standard car contains most of the greatness that the Nurburgring does and deserves to be valued as such.
     
  13. Sterling Sackey

    Sterling Sackey Formula 3
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  14. BMW.SauberF1Team

    BMW.SauberF1Team F1 World Champ

    Dec 4, 2004
    14,244
    Whoa that is pretty cool! I never noticed. Any other cars have that? I can't think of any...pretty creative.
     
  15. ferrariwithsnowtires

    ferrariwithsnowtires Formula Junior

    Dec 17, 2005
    545
    You really bring it Sterling, way to go.

    Ok, so you got a big wing, my issue is how they got it there.

    Most cars have struts coming up for a horizontal body panel to support the wing.

    In this case, instead of creating a new horizontal body panel to replace the one that is the retractable wing in the regular car, they just made the whole thing out of cf. to me it has a tacked on look.

    I respect that other folks will like it that way.

    The big thing here is a second generation exotic car market maker, (you) is working to build awareness for the car when you could be moving other cars like LaFerrari Apertas.
     
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  16. energy88

    energy88 Two Time F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Jan 21, 2012
    26,812
    West of Fredericksburg, VA
    Full Name:
    John
    The previous few posts remind me of about 10 years ago when Honda made the S-2000 CR edition. Springs, shocks, wheels, radio & AC delete, steering ratio, and, yes, a big wing on the back. All this enabled the CR to get around the track a bit quicker than a regular edition. Back in the day, the car was not well received by the public and it took several years to sell off the inventory after the S-2000 ceased production. But wouldn't you know it, today the CR is the more valuable S-2000 collectible because it is "rare." :eek:

    Lexus seems to have embarked down the road of big wings and add-on CF doo-dads for a very narrow niche of the market. In 2020, they are going to be offering a special RC F with black hood, colored calipers, special interior, big wing, etc. Thus, Lexus will be giving the Nurburgring editions some sibling company in their garages.
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  17. ferrariwithsnowtires

    ferrariwithsnowtires Formula Junior

    Dec 17, 2005
    545
    Thanks for mentioning the CR

    I had my S2000 from 99-05

    I seem to recall that by the time the CR came out the market had somewhat moved on from the S2000 in general

    Has Lexus released pricing on the trackified RC-F?
     
  18. energy88

    energy88 Two Time F1 World Champ
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    Jan 21, 2012
    26,812
    West of Fredericksburg, VA
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    John
    Not that I've seen, yet. Lexus and Toyota are suppose to be making 2020 announcements at the New York auto show in April.
     
  19. Sterling Sackey

    Sterling Sackey Formula 3
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    Great cars, I have owned three of them, my last was this A/C-Radio Delete (1 of 59) with 3,950 miles.

    You are correct, the public didn't "get it" upon the car's release. A closer look at the spec sheet over time revealed more changes to the car than most realized. Today, they sell for about 2x the value of a comparable regular '08-'09 S2000.

    But, of course, there are over 60,000 "regular" S2000s in the USA, and 699 S2000 CRs, which brings us back to the point I've made here on the LFA vs. LFA Nurburgring values

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  20. Sterling Sackey

    Sterling Sackey Formula 3
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    Cheers to that, I don't mind championing the cars I simply like, even if my time invested is not totally rewarded compared to the more obvious cars out there. Many dealers are in the business purely to move metal, that's not my style
     
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  21. Sterling Sackey

    Sterling Sackey Formula 3
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    #273 Sterling Sackey, Mar 22, 2019
    Last edited: Mar 22, 2019
    I get it, my issue mostly comes when (as can be seen on many, many pages of this thread), the public seems to deride the LFA for things done countless times by other sports & supercars. Another common one is the single-clutch transmission, which was used by all other manufacturers until only a few years before the LFA debuted. People will have an F430 Scuderia or 599 GTB, or better yet a brand new 2019 Aventador in the garage, and meanwhile complain that the LFA has a single-clutch!

    Same goes for this wing & canards debate, I don't see how the examples below are any prettier than the LFA, in fact I think they are possibly worse. The GT3 RS comes up from a vertical, but that surely doesn't make it any better with the scaffolding-like supports, and the Performante sits on the horizontal. That said, I love both of the below cars too, and they are functional cars that serve a purpose, to go fast around a racetrack...

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  22. ferrariwithsnowtires

    ferrariwithsnowtires Formula Junior

    Dec 17, 2005
    545
    Since you brought Lambo into this, I have been fascinated how they can pitch shmushed cf as forged and call that a premium finish. To me the cf magic (after the weight and strength points) are about the visual weave and in the best instances how well the pieces are aligned at joining points.

    Back to the LFA single clutch tranny, Lexus made multiple comments regarding doing it for weight savings and for the "feeling" you get during shifts. I enjoyed the LFA tranny when I drove/was driven in it. My NSX tranny is so smooth it almost seems like it can't be real. Amazing that Lambo gets the money they do for the Aventador to this day with a tranny that isn't up to market standards.
     
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  23. ferrariwithsnowtires

    ferrariwithsnowtires Formula Junior

    Dec 17, 2005
    545
    Time for another youtube video on the LFA

     

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