Why are some cars four-lug and some five-lug? Options

[Coomer]

Why are some cars four-lug, while others are five-lug? To me, it seems like a lot of nicer cars have five-lug.

For example, the third gen. Integras are all 4-lug, except the Type R which is 5-lug.

The fourth gen. Celica GT and ST in the US are 4-lug, but the nicer GT-S and even nicer All-Trac are 5-lug.

The fifth gen. Celica ST is 4-lug, while the nicer other models are all 5-lug.

So why do manufacturers decide to make some cars 4-lug and others 5-lug? It seems to me like 5-lug maybe adds a bit more weight, but is marginally safer because it's one more lugnut for protection in case others fail. It also seems slightly more expensive to make a 5-lug setup because of more materials. But I dunno...anyone have any good explanation for this?

[mr_dude]

Plus the big factor - weight. I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot more in the years to come. I'm actually surprised the GT4 isn't 6.

I wonder how much money one less lug saves.

[Kwanza26]

Plus the big factor - weight.  I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot more in the years to come.  I'm actually surprised the GT4 isn't 6.

I wonder how much money one less lug saves.
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1 lug probably saves $$$$$... really... ;]

Actually, although weight is a logical reason, isn't the main one. The ITR is the lightest of all of that gen's Integras. As for the GT4, it doesn't really need 6 lugs. Even toyota's pickups still run 5.