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Lexus builds final LFA supercar

Lexus has officially built the very last LFA. The 500th Lexus supercar rolled from the company's Motomachi facility on December 14th wearing all of the goodies of the Nürburgring package and white paint. Toyota's Lexus division started production on the car exactly two years ago on December 15, 2010 and built just one unit per working day. A total of 170 workers were hand-picked to handle parts manufacturing, assembly and painting for the LFA project. While Lexus has made it clear it will produce no more LFA models, lessons gleaned from the vehicle's construction may translate into other future products.
Specifically, Toyota says it may employ its carbon fiber reinforced plastic experience moving forward. As you may recall, the LFA made extensive use of CFRP and carbon fiber, and Lexus even created a special rotary loom to stitch together the supercar's A-pillars. Take a look at the brief press release on the last LFA below.

2016 Lexus IS 200t Quick Spin

When Lexus revamped its IS sedan for the 2014 model year, the car polarized in terms of design, and offered bipolar driving experiences, trim to trim. The entry-level IS 250 used a 2.5-liter V6 that felt like a lightweight for the segment. The stronger 3.5-liter six, especially when tied down to a car with the F-Sport package and subsequent handling improvements, was more of a sporting thing. Thankfully, Lexus has replaced the base powerplant for the IS with an up-to-snuff turbo 2.0-liter four. I drove the newly christened IS 200t for a week – with that enhancing F-Sport pack – and found it to be a vast improvement. Modest-budgeted buyers with eyes for Lexus' edgy styling seem to be in good hands. Driving Notes If the "200t" part of the model name looks familiar, you've probably seen it affixed to the rear end of Lexus' new NX small crossover. Of course the IS is lighter than its crossover sibling. Meaning the directly injected turbo engine's outputs of 241 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque are more thrilling in this application. At more than 3,500 pounds, the IS 200t still isn't exactly rapid – Lexus rates the 0-60 time at 6.9 seconds – but the torque pop is enough to jet around town authoritatively. Being a newly minted engine and a Toyota-brand product, you'd expect the IS 200t to be class-leading (or right there) in terms of fuel economy, too. With ratings of 22 and 32 miles per gallon, city and highway, it isn't. Both the BMW 328i (22 City / 34 Highway) and the Mercedes-Benz C300 (25 City / 34 Highway) do better, and while making similar power. The eight-speed automatic transmission is quite well suited for the brand and the car, I'd say. It mostly stayed out of my way, while in D, shifting unobtrusively during normal driving. The paddle-shift option is great for the occasional flights of motive fancy, but it's not lightning-quick, nor super engaging. Handling is nippy with the F-Sport package, at least within the normal boundaries of public roads. The car stays neutral and flat under cornering loads, and the front end feels rather light and quick to turn in. Of course, take the same corners more aggressively, and you'll feel the car default to understeering, with power cut on exit until all four wheels are fully set and gripping. Don't expect to slide the IS around, in other words. The chunky steering wheel feels good in the hand, and doesn't have the unsettling lightness I remember from the last-generation IS 250.

Lexus gets top brand marks from Consumer Reports; Ford, Jeep hit hard

Consumer Reports has released its 2014 Car Brand Report Cards, with Lexus again reigning at the top and doing so with the same industry-topping score of 79 that it registered in last year's Report Cards. This year, the institute credited its lineup for being "usually quiet, comfortable, and fuel-efficient," noting it's the only brand on the list "to achieve an excellent average overall reliability score." The Car Brand Report Cars list is meant to rank the best all-around vehicles based on CR testing and reliability results tallied by subscribers it surveyed. Each brand included must have sufficient test and reliability data for at least three models, a standard which left out 11 marques including Fiat, Jaguar, Land Rover and Porsche.
This 2014 Brand Report Cars edition is the first of a new format in which sub-brands have been broken out from their parent brands, with Acura using this year to move up the leaderboard into second place with a score of 75 for its "reliable, well-finished and somewhat sporty models." The top three was rounded out by Audi, climbing from eighth to third by scoring a 74 for "well-crafted interiors, nice handling and good gas mileage." Audi scored highest in the road-test portion, its improved reliability aiding its rise. The top nine was completed by Subaru, Toyota, Mazda, Honda, Infiniti and Mercedes-Benz.
Ford and Jeep weighed in at the other end of the rankings, Jeep taking the lowest overall score in the road tests and hampered by "a mix of spotty reliability." Ford was sunk by reliability issues with its MyFord Touch infotainment system which consumers found troublesome enough to negate its cars earning "solid test scores" for being "very nice to drive." Perhaps the rumored switch from Microsoft to Blackberry's QNX for the next generation SYNC will help them out. Cadillac's score also took a hit for infotainment reasons after it was the leading US brand last year, the CUE system in the XTS dragging Cadillac to the bottom of all General Motors brands.