Jeremy Clarkson is a big fan of the Lexus LFA. Actually, Clarkson is more than just a big fan of the LFA. He has gone on record saying that of all the cars he has driven, the LFA stands out as his singular favorite, the best one he’s ever driven. Mind you, Clarkson first got a whip of the LFA back when it launched in 2010. He had another crack at it in 2013, but for the most part, it’s been almost a decade since he dropped at the altar of the LFA, loudly proclaiming at as the GOAT of all cars he’s driven. It is fascinating, then, that after all this time, after having driven hundreds of newer, faster, and far more powerful cars, Clarkson is still effusive in his praise for the supercar. Despite continuing to struggle to sell the remaining copies of the LFA, Lexus clearly must’ve done something right with the LFA to make the perpetually petulant and grumpy Clarkson wax poetic about his time with the supercar.

Jeremy Clarkson is a lot of things. He’s crass, arrogant, outspoken, and overdramatic. But he’s also consistent, especially when it comes to cars. When he likes a car, he throws praise at it from all directions. When he hates it, well, he’s just as emphatic about it. But when he loves a car, he loves it to the ends of the earth, and no amount of time or newer cars will make him change his mind. I bring this up because the DriveTribe YouTube channel managed to do a blitzkrieg interview with the man, and one of the questions thrown Clarkson’s way was about his feelings for the Lexus LFA, the Japanese supercar that he first drove earlier this decade.

As DriveTribe put it, “Is the Lexus LFA still the best car you’ve ever driven?”

Now, we have to realize one thing here. In the years since Clarkson first drove the LFA, he’s probably driven hundreds of other cars, ranging from compacts, hatchbacks, crossovers, SUVs, sports cars, supercars, and even hypercars. His catalog of cars driven runs like a grocery list during the Apocalypse. But, believe it or not, out of all those cars, none have been able to unseat the LFA as Clarkson’s favorite. “Yes, it still is,” he said. “The Lexus LFA, principally, because of the noise it makes. That V-10 sound was spine-tingling, and you don’t get that from electric cars.”

He’s not a fan of the car’s seatbelts and he once compared the LFA’s fuel tank to that of a Zippo lighter. He also complained about the lack of storage area and the fact that you’d have to be a vertically challenged sort of individual to feel completely comfortable in the car’s cabin. But none of those issues have been enough to take the joy away from the car’s 4.8-liter V-10 engine. The numbers from the engine paint an impressive picture. It produces 553 horsepower and 354 pound-feet of torque. It’s capable of sprinting from 0 to 60 mph in just 3.6 seconds with the aid of launch control and it can hit a quarter-mile in 11.6 seconds. It also has a top speed of 203 mph, which was an incredibly impressive number for Lexus to achieve at a time when it barely had any experience developing a performance car, let alone a model that many have classified as a supercar.

Lexus LF-A Specifications

Engine Capacity

4,805 cc

Engine Configuration

V10

Horsepower

553 HP

Torque

354 LB-FT

0 to 60 mph

3.6 seconds

Top Speed

203 mph


Clarkson highlighted several things wrong about it, but the biggest complaint people had of it was its $375,000 price tag. It’s more expensive than most versions of Lamborghini’s current lineup, and the LFA was sold DriveTribe To this day, people still cringe when talking about the LFA’s price tag, and the absurdity in that figure is best-reflected in the fact that even with all the things it has going for it, Lexus has yet to sell all 500 LFA units it built. Last year, Lexus sold two units of the LFA in the U.S., and as of July 2019, three more units have been sold this year, leaving only four units still available.

The Lexus LFA is far from a perfect car. But Jeremy Clarkson knows that there’s no such thing as a perfect car. Every car that’s worth its salt comes with issues, but as drivers, you take all of that — the good and the bad — and you drive them anyway. It’s been almost a decade since Clarkson first drove the LFA, and despite all of its faults, it remains his favorite car to drive of all time. Something about that statement doesn’t sound overdramatic at all.

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Read our full review on the 2011 Lexus LFA.

Read our full review on the 2012 Lexus LF-A Nurburgring Package.

Read our full speculative review on the 2022 Lexus LFA Successor.