Until the LFA arrived on the scene, the fastest, sportiest Lexus in the line-up was the impressive IS F.

However, with a £336,000 price tag, the LFA will be more than six times the price of its super-saloon sibling. Is it really that special?

When Lexus unveiled the concept version of the LFA in 2005, it looked stunning on its motorshow plinth, but for various reasons it has taken Lexus another four years to bring its first supercar to fruition and so the shape isn't as spectacular as it once was.

In transition to reality, the concept has lost some of its purity of line too, though in return the LFA boasts a pleasing 'form follows function' look.

Not that we believe for a second that a triple-exit exhaust is a functional requirement... and dramatic as the LFA's detailing is, its neat proportions are what you'll remember it for.

The LFA is relatively wide and very low, but it's not all that long and while there are compromises in terms of packaging (the boot is tiny and the cabin is 'snug'), the compact dimensions make for a car that feels at home on regular-sized roads.

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Inside line

The interior may be a little cosy, but it's certainly one worthy of the elevated price tag. You sit low down in sumptuously trimmed sports seats, which are adjusted by unique, tactile switches. Look around and you'll see that bespoke switchgear is a theme of the interior.

That's if you can take your eyes off the flat-bottomed steering wheel. Now, some people don't like these, but it's difficult not to love the LFA's. Its main construction is carbon fibre, but two soft leather pads are fitted just where you'd put your hands. Behind it is a set of lithe gearchange paddles.

Special as all that is, it doesn't prepare you for the instrumentation, which we can only describe as theatrical. Starting up and shutting down, there's a closely choreographed sequence of lights and needles, while the star of the show is a movable instrument 'ring' that contains a digitally rendered rev counter, temperature, pressure and fuel gauges, along with a read out of speed.

Toggle a four-way switch on the steering wheel and the whole ring moves to the side to reveal an intuitive computer menu system, where you can customise the car's settings.

There's also a rotary dial on the side of the binnacle allowing you to choose your driving mode. Sounds more like a PlayStation game than a sportscar, doesn't it?

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Road test

But no computer game we've ever played can make a noise like the one emitted from the LFA the first time you push the throttle to the floor. Mounted just in front of your feet is a 4.8-litre V10 engine designed specifically for this car. It produces 553bhp at a screaming 8,700rpm and the rev limiter eventually cuts in at 9,000rpm.

As you'd hope, all this wizardry is backed up by suitably supercar-like numbers. They include a top speed of just over 200mph and 0-62mph in 3.7 seconds. No doubt it'll set some lap time record at the Nurburgring too.

That's the test track Lexus spent years developing the LFA on, which indicates perhaps that this Lexus may have something other than luxury on its mind.

Make no mistake; this is not like any other Lexus. It's a raw, driver-focussed machine. We wouldn't describe it as uncomfortable, but neither would we recommend using it to bring your granny to bingo in.

Actually, it's quite an easy car to drive, so your gran could drive herself into town without any fear (other than the bark from the V10 perhaps and its thirst for super unleaded). There's no clutch pedal, so you use the paddles to select gears from the automated manual. It's not seamless - especially at normal road speeds - but it works very well when you're driving as hard as the LFA was designed for.

In this mode the Lexus comes alive, engaging the driver fully in the experience with direct steering, zero body roll and the stirring noise from under the bonnet. Although there are various driving modes and seven different settings for the transmission, the LFA is actually quite an honest supercar, eschewing active damping for a motorsport inspired fixed set-up.

It's quite a benign car at the limit of adhesion thanks to its fantastic balance and the stability control system is quick acting and not at all intrusive to a bit of fun.

In contrast to the suspension layout, the base structure of the LFA is exotic, featuring carbon fibre extensively in the chassis and even the body panels. Lexus is particularly proud of its in-house production techniques and we're assured they'll be used on future models too.

That's the whole point of the LFA: it's a halo model for the Lexus brand, altering perceptions among car enthusiasts while allowing its engineers free reign to develop new technologies for the future. Even at the high price it's unlikely that Lexus will make much of a profit from the LFA, especially as production will be limited to just 500 highly bespoke examples. Orders are being taken now.