ty for your efforts! from your experience, how do you feel about the performance of the wiper? does it have efficient coverage? does the triange of non-coverage impede your vision?

Hey spoon808, I have actually tried twice to get the pictures but the lighting makes it really difficult to see the water right on the windshield. I have a couple ideas for my next try to make it work.

hey, just wondering if you ever came around to using the wipers~

ty (: i'll look forward to it

I haven't activated the wiper on the LFA yet. Next time I wash the car, I'll check it out for you.

this may be a strange request, but if you ever had gotten to turn on the LFA's windshield wipers, i'm quite interested in seeing a picture that shows the coverage of the single wiper (if you ever get the LFA dirty or in the rain) are the missing areas where the wiper does not cover intrusive to your driver vision?

hey dude I remember reading that you were getting an LFA sometime in Feb and were going to post pics. have you gotten it yet?

In response to TommyJames, my view on exotics is that they are not a rational purchase. I've expressed previously on these boards that I'm not concerned with resale value and I fully expect the LFA to depreciate at the same or perhaps even a greater rate than recent exotics, such as the last couple generations of Ferrari vehicles. I'm perfectly fine with that; in fact, given the current state of the exotic market and the global economy (or perhaps more so, the economy in the US) I think it'd be crazy not to expect that as a very reasonable possibility. That's how I look at "protecting myself" - accepting that possibility as a reality and realizing that I'm perfectly fine with it before doing something stupid like spending $400,000+ on a car.

I realize that I do not have the same outlook as other buyers - I suppose many of the threads on fchat complaining about staggering depreciation on recent Ferrari models demonstrates that. But the bottom line as I see it is that exotic builders are not in the least bit interested in their buyers' financial investment in their product. Ferrari wouldn't play the games they do if they did care about their buyers (I only mention Ferrari specifically because that's the only process I've experienced). Of course, this may change as they find historical buyers revolting (as, perhaps, you might consider doing?) and/or potential buyers unwilling to play. After all, that's one big reason I've never bought a Ferrari, because I won't involve myself in bribing Ferrari dealers in some asinine premium-payment buyback scheme just to jump a multi-year waitlist with no guarantee of not having to do the same thing generation after generation.

Hi Gengar,
Sounds like you're serious about your LFA purchase and I wanted to give you a better, less public answer to your questions. I am considering the LFA, but only if it will hold its value so I'm very serious about my homework. I don't like pissing away money. One thing I'd strongly advise is to pin down Lexus regarding actual sales in the US based on representations they made. I will do the same thing in late February when I drive it.

I'm sure your other exotic owning friends will tell you that depreciation on any of these cars can be a very big deal. The reason I say this is because of what Lamborghini did when sales got slow in 2008. In 2007 and in early 2008 they were claiming that production was sold out for a year when in fact it wasn't. The market for the LP640 had reached its saturation point and they were quietly selling cars with what's called "trunk money" meaning they heavily discount cars that were moved by a specific date. This allowed the dealers to lower the prices of the cars, again quietly, by as much as $40k per car, and that in turn caused the market to collapse even faster. New Lamborghinis that sold new in late 2007 for $470k (all options), were suddenly worth $380k wholesale and customers were taking $100k hits in 2008 and 2009, bringing down perfect cars with low miles by $200k, leaving many owners who financed upside down. Most of these cars had fewer than 5,000 miles on them so do the math per mile! OUCH! I was extremely lucky because I had a buyer willing to pay a lot for my LP640 because it's the actual car used in the Forza game. I still had to write a big check for my SV, but by then I knew the game. I've been offered $600k for my SV and I've not taken it yet and that will make up my loss on my LP640 putting me at close to even money. The reason this car is worth so much is because they only built the one for the US market in that color and it's an extremely popular color. It's a Canadian buyer who wants it.

The new LP700 will sticker with most options for $430k and it will beat 0-60 in 2.7 seconds, so probably 2.5-2.6 and it will do 220+. It will also do the quarter mile in well under 11 seconds. I'm 10.9 in the SV, so I'm guessing 10.5 or somewhere around there. Track numbers have not been released yet. They are also going to allocate 5 per dealer in 2011, which is about 150 cars, yet there isn't a market for 150 cars in that price range yet, so my guess is they will not hold their value. Very low mile used in a year will be sub $400k. Ask Roy Cats.

I've raised hell about it with Lamborghini corporate because it's not helping any exotic owner. They should allocate no more than two cars per dealer for at least the first year.

The point is, if you get the LFA and demand is low and Lexus floods the market with some of the remaining 500, my guess is that the LFA's value will probably be half in two years or less given the competition. However, if REAL buyers (not dealers) snap up the cars, (this is why the truth right now is so important) and there aren't that many in the US, you will do extremely well and the value should hold just fine.

AutoWeek does say they are selling 60 additional cars in the US market, but they are not saying if this is a part of the 150 originally allocated, or if it's now 210, something I'd definitely want to pin down. 210 cars in the US market will not hold their value for at least twenty years or more. You have to get the numbers to below 50 to see real appreciation over time. There aren't enough collectors to dry up 220 of anything exotic that isn't priced either a fraction to begin with or very old.

Please don't assume I'm right about any of this and I strongly suggest you also ask your friends who also own exotics. Meanwhile, if you can get something in writing from Lexus about their actual sales and plans for the remaining cars you should be able to protect yourself. This is why I'm on the forums as I consider it a part of my homework.

I do want the car to do well as I want all exotics to do well, but for that to happen, all of us have to have a great experience owning them or we won't see any exotics from any brand. I hope I fully answered your question.

Tom Nault