There is a news reported today that Toyota’s chief test driver, 67-year-old Hiromu Naruse, has died in a crash on highway 410 near the Toyota’s workshops at Nürburgring race track in Germany. The chief was driving the upcoming Lexus LFA Nürburgring Edition at the time of the accident, and reports say he goes around into oncoming traffic and collided head-on with two others test drivers in a BMW 3-series. The two BMW test drivers survived the crash, though one is reportedly still in critical condition. Police are investigating the crash and have yet to determine its cause.

This prototype of a special edition version of the LFA that he was driving when the accident occurred was reportedly worth 1.5 million euro.Which equals to about 6 Million Ringgit Malaysia.

Moving backward on Hiromu Naruse background, he was heavily involved with the development of the Lexus LFA supercar, along with many other past sports cars from Toyota’s history since he joined the company in 1963.

Motoring Enthusiasts today call him the “Godfather of the LFA” though he was involved in the development of sports cars for Toyota. From all you can name it, 1965 Sports 800, 1600GT, 2000GT, all generation of the Celica, AE86, the 1^st and 3^rd generation MR2s, Supra, Altezza, 2^nd generation Prius to the latest Lexus LFA. Naruse-san was responsible for all of them, and now he’s gone.

On behalf of Team FastMotoring, we express our condolence to Naruse-san and Rest in Peace.

[Photos From Autoblog]

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Lexus LFA – a car that we would like to call priceless in our world. There’s not much publicity on the Lexus/Toyota Supercar  - a car built with many carbon fiber and hardcore  materials. That does  not mean Toyota/Lexus is not showing off their new racing blood icon. The firm has just released a clip showing of the Lexus LFA roaring V10 Engine that would break a glass just with the LFA sound generate from the engine to the exhaust. We were thinking this could make be a another marketing gimick that you can alter the pitch on the audio system. However, Toyota/Lexus claims that the firm actually hire a physicist to calculate what kind of glass to use that the frequency of the sound generated by LFA would shatter the glass. The Lexus LFA is pulled and station in a static position just like when we dyno our cars. Check out the video below to see it for yourself.

And, if you like the sound of the Lexus LFA (that screaming V10 sound), you can download the ringtones created by Lexus below.

Lexus LFA_Ring Tones in Mp3

Lexus LFA_Ring Tones_iPhone

The Lexus LS 460 Sport and LS460L luxury sedan has been recalled previous due with a flaw on the Variable Gear Ratio System which is a part  that affect the electronic steering system that can cause the steering to unable to be centred up to 90 degrees. This may occur after the driver has turned the steering wheel fully in one direction then quickly attempt to turn it back to the center position. Much like doing a very quick U-turn.

Driver will notice the affected vehicles VGRS system will do the auto-correcting withint 5 second. However that’s rather slow under the extreme driving circumstances. This will not happen during normal daily driving.

The VGRS or know as Variable Gear Ratio System is a feature in Lexus LS 460 to help easier handling and better stability to the vehicle by altering the the gear ratio.

As for Malaysia, the Lexus LS 460 Sport and LS 460L is affected.Lexus Malaysia has taken initiative to contact all it’s owner. Lexus Malaysia also mention that there’s less than 10 units of Lexus LS 460 is affected. In fact, there’s actually less than 10 unit of Lexus LS 460 sold in Malaysia. Lexus has initiated Special Service Campaign for the Lexus LS460 owner, to perform the parts replacement, the process will take less than an hour to perform. Lexus will notify the owners once the parts is available.

Lexus Malaysia also ensures the customers that has just booked the Lexus LS460 recently that they will perform corrective measures before the delivery of the luxury sedan.

However that’s not the case in the United States. The United States has issue a stop sale to it’s all Lexus LS 460 variant and LS 600h. ( standard and long wheelbase model). Toyota has fixed the problem of the new batch of LS 460 and LS 600 from the assembly line and the new vehicle will only reach the US Lexus dealder in middle of June. A total of 3,800+ owners are effected in the United States.  Read the recall summary from the US government.

Owners of Lexus LS460 are urged to avoid turning the steering wheel rapidly. For more information on this recall for Malaysia Lexus LS460, please contact Lexus Malaysia at 1-800-8-LEXUS (53987).

When the talks turns to saving fuel during fuel price crisis, the hybrid engine powered car naturally rise to the surface. In the other hand, a lot of people didn’t know that diesel powered car are also as efficient or even more efficient than hybrid car. Unfortunately, this rarely gets mentioned and discuss in Malaysia. In general, a lot of people here are not aware and secondly are due to poor quality of diesel in Malaysia. Therefore, there wasn’t many range of Diesel powered vehicles in Malaysia except for trucks and commercial vehicles.

In fact, the modern diesel engine is designed to be even more efficient, powerful, low emission and low fuel consumptions.

Consider this which tested in USA: Combined city and highway fuel economy for Lexus HS250h hybrid car is 35 miles per gallon. For Audi A3 TDI diesel car, it is 34 miles per gallon. Furthermore, in highway driving, the Audi considerably even tempting with 42 miles per gallon over 34 miles per gallon on Lexus HS250h.

Back in 2008, Volkswagen AG has extended their low emission Bluemotion range in UK across Golf, Jetta, Passat and soon to Scirocco Sports Coupe.

Putting a side of the price tag of Hybrid Car. Both type of power plant designs still required fuels to be powered and both produce emissions as well. For the hybird, it still required battery cells to be in-placed. From here, I would say that Diesel powered will be even more Eco-friendly and Greener. Lastly, I hope Malaysia will be able to upgrade and supply higher quality Diesel in very near future.

We managed to get hold of the leaked JDM brochure of the 2010 Lexus LS ahead of its official launch from our reliable source. The visible changes made to the Lexus LS 460 and the gas-electric LS 600h include new front and rear bumpers and lights, turn signals integrated into the mirror housings, and of course, new set of wheels.

Interior wise, the cabin gets a mild refresh as well to integrate a night vision system into the instrument cluster, right in the middle of the speedo. There’s also a customisation program called L-Select, and the anticipated LS-Sport “Version SZ”, characterized as an aggressive take on the luxury yacht with a more assertive aero package, wheels and grille treatment. 

[more:Click here to check out the scanned brochure of 2010 Lexus LS leaked brochure]

Lexus is coming after the BMW 1-series and Audi A3. Lexus will reveal it’s five-door compact hatchback at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Sources claims that they will be using the Toyota Auris platform and will be the first front-wheel-drive Lexus. Rumours also state that as alternative for people who want to save to the world, there will be a hybrid model powered by a 147 HP 2.4-liter four-cylinder Atkinson-cycle gasoline engine and a 40 HP electric motor for a combined output for 187-horsepower. Likely will be badge as a BS OR CS 250h.

From the rear, it looks like the car is inheriting part of RX450h SUV (the higher end model of Toyota Harrier).It is reported that the new Lexus hatch that the upcoming Frankfurt Lexus Five-door hatch car will be virtually identical to the showroom-ready version. It will be on sales in UK sales in late 2010, with a price of £16,500.

Also proposed to the Lexus Five-door Hatchback is with stop-start technology and regenerative braking, it will be extremely fuel efficient but also promises hot hatch performance. Entry-level engines will be taken from the Toyota Auris range, and are set to include a 1.6-litre petrol unit.

Every year journalist all over the world gather to test-drives and choose their favourite World Car of the Year (WCOTY). The 2010 World Car of the Year Nominees list is out. And the Nominees for the Overall World Car of the Year: 2010 are,

• Audi Q5
• BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo
• BMW X1
• BMW Z4
• Buick LaCrosse / Allure
• Cadillac SRX
• Chevrolet Camaro
• Chevrolet Cruze
• Citroën C3 Picasso
• Honda Insight
• Hyundai Genesis Coupe
• Hyundai i20
• Infiniti QX
• Jaguar XJ
• Kia Cerato Koup / Forte
• Kia Sorento
• Kia Soul
• Lexus HS250h
• Lexus RX
• Mazda3
• Mercedes-Benz E-Class
• Mitsubishi Outlander
• Nissan 370Z / 370Z Roadster
• Nissan Cube
• Nissan Patrol
• Peugeot 3008
• Porsche Boxster / Cayman
• Porsche Panamera
• Renault Scénic
• Subaru Legacy / Outback
• Toyota Prius

The voting and test-drive process will take place from now until the April 1, 2010 for the annoucement of All World Car award winners at New York International Auto Show.

For more info, you may refer the official World Car of the Year 2010 awards website.

In the July issue of Best Car magazine, it disclose that the Lexus will reveal a sportier variant of its LS 460 luxury sedan at the Tokyo Motor Show in October 2009. The magazine claims that the car will carry the SZ moniker and that it will feature a subtle aerokit that includes a new grille treatment plus uprated Brembo brakes and BBS alloy wheels shod in chunkier tires. The LS 460 SZ is estimated to cost in Japan between 9 and 10 million Yen.

However, this news is still a speculation by BestCar. Let’s see what the official will be announcing in this coming Tokyo Motor Show.