i have a new update, my google earth app crashed for some reason and didn't save the other locations i had so i can't place the pin in line with the others i had. but this is the current location as of an hour ago.
by tomorrow afternoon it should be just south of the Bering sea.
as of now it looks like it's got about 2900 nautical miles to go!

just for reference these are nautical miles Japan is approximately 4200 nautical and about 4800 statute miles from the western coast of the US.
so with almost 3,000 miles to go it has been about 1/3rd the way to the US it's been almost 4 days since i started tracking it. my estimate and the ships projected ETA still puts it here at the expected date. which was about 12-13 days at sea.
i did some research on the vessel and its max speed is 16Kts but it averages 13Kts so they should be able to make up for any lost time if necessary and come in right on schedule. i am sure they monitor their speed and distance and know exactly that speed to average to get them to the destination on time.
anyway, here is the latest position i have as of 1 hour ago.

 

Great update - I'm glad everything is on track. I unexpectedly sold my car yesterday a bit earlier than I planned and am now car-less for the next 3-4 weeks until my 3IS arrives. Hopefully no delays in getting over to WI - can't wait!

 

what car did you order?

 

I have not been able to get any new accurate info for the past day or so, but my guess is the vessel is about 1/2 way tot he US by now.
in the meantime I thought I would post a couple pictures of the ship itself.

introducing the Kentucky Highway vehicle carrier!
otherwise known as the SS Rustolium! not a very pretty boat to look at!

 

IS350 AWD F-Sport, Ultra White w/ Red interior, BSM, Nav with MarkLev Audio, and a trunk mat.

My dealer tells me there are only a limited single digit # of US IS350 F-Sports with Mark Levinson AND all-wheel drive. Apparently, for some reason, Lexus did not create AWD IS350's with ML audio hardly at all... but I'm sure this will change next year as the US sees more production.

What about you?

 

I did a nationwide search with 2 dealers and found only 1 that was already a special order (already built and inbound) and a few weeks later another. so mine is apparently 1 of 3 as far as I know.
I think your correct the magic seems to be the ML system. I am not sure about RWD or AWD but I know that getting ML and the pre collision with the rear shade is very hard to find in RWD

mine is Obsidian with Rojas interior. basically every option you can get in the F sport.
I've seen s lot of F sport but almost none with the PCS and even if they got the ML they didn't get the PCS.
mine also has the accessory package. you can tell pretty easily which cars have the same equipment package based on the MSRP mine was 49,400 for a RWD that's pretty loaded the AWD counterpart would have to be just about 50k if it existed and I haven't seen one of those either.

 

by the way my Denver dealer had 2 F sport 350 AWD with ML on their lot the day I went there so I don't know why they are so rare around you.

 

Lexus apparently tries to keep the price of the IS350 under $50,000. So, Mark Levinson and AWD typically are not built together. The exceptions seems to be in the initial allocation in July and in cars bound ffor the Pacific Northwest. I am in the Northeast and had to special order my IS350 AWD F Sport with ML.

 

That makes sense, my dealer didn't really understand why Lexus was producing such low numbers of AWD and ML together.

Also, for those available in Denver or other locations, were they Ultra White w/ Red interior? Because that was what my dealer commented on about Lexus only having produced such a limited amount... it was a combination of IS350 F-Sport with AWD, with ML, and with Ultra White & Red... supposedly extremely rare with that combo (idk where they got their data from, but that's what they were telling me).

As most of us have seen, a lot of folks on this forum have that exact combo but with RWD.

 

I know in Denver one was nebula gray, the other might have been silver, since I absolutely wasn't interested in white I never bothered to look at any of the white ones. but it seems most the ones I see are F sport.

as for black, lot's of people don't like black, but personally I like washing my car! and a little dust doesn't bother me, I have a California duster for that takes less than a minute to clean it up.
nothing else shines like black! nothing else looks as sinister as black, and I've bought only black cars for the past 10 years.

 

I test drove an AWD 350 F-Sport in white and red during the first week of July. That was the first one I saw at a dealership in person. It also had ML.

 

you know what's funny? I have yet to do anything in an IS except start the engine and listen tot he stereo. I have not moved 1 inch in the vehicle so as far as a test drive, I am buying a car sight unseen, but I do have a 2013 GS350 AWD and I am sure it drives very similar just smaller, more nimble and a little faster.

 

I hope 1 of the other 2 is mine since I also got Black & Rioja Red RWD with ML, VGRS, BSM, PCS and Power Rear Sun Shade. But since my dealer isn't even able to tell me my build date I doubt it's mine!

 

that makes 4! lol

 

someones super excited to get their car