2012 Lexus LFA Whitest White #475 - Devanning, Delivery, Photos, & Dyno
#1
2012 Lexus LFA Whitest White #475 - Devanning, Delivery, Photos, & Dyno
After a couple months of owning this vehicle, I finally have time to post my experiences of owning this amazing piece of machinery. I wanted to have the time to get to know the vehicle and provide my own judgement. Throughout this post, I will include my experience of the devaning and delivery process, as well as my thoughts on driving characteristics. Also, I will explain the process of a subtle mod that JoeZ and I managed to add to enhance the vehicle's appearance. Last, I will include the dyno videos, and the numbers for this car done at SP Engineering. Hope you all enjoy and my apologies again for taking my time.
#2
The Devaning & Delivery
As you can see from the pictures and videos above, the car was delivered in a container on a special rack designed to transport the Lexus LFA. These racks as displayed in other LFA deliveries by Flipside909 were reused to transport additional LFA's to their destinations. My friends and I were invited by Lexus corporate to experience the "devaning" process of the vehicle. There were three standard (white, white, red)LFA's and one (white) Nurburgring Edition devaned on that day. It was an amazing experience to see how the cars were taken out of the containers in person and I want to thank Lexus corporate for allowing my friends and I to attend.
After the car was loaded up onto the Toyota delivery truck, it stayed a day back at the port for storage. Then it was sent to Longo Lexus dealership because I requested my friend James Nguyen and Yong Chung to sell the vehicle to me. The car sat at Longo Lexus for two days because the Lexus corporate tech went through a long pre delivery inspection through a binder that was a few inches thick! I did manage to meet the tech and he customized the vehicle to the personal preferences I asked Lexus corporate to implement.
As soon as all the paper work was handled for the vehicle, I waited a few days to pick up the vehicle because I had Bain from Doza Designs to clear bra the whole front hood, bumper, A-pillars, fenders, lights, handles, and rocker areas.
I took delivery for the vehicle from Longo Lexus on Dec. 24, 2012 because I wanted it to be a Christmas gift that would satisfy me for several years.
As you can see from the pictures and videos above, the car was delivered in a container on a special rack designed to transport the Lexus LFA. These racks as displayed in other LFA deliveries by Flipside909 were reused to transport additional LFA's to their destinations. My friends and I were invited by Lexus corporate to experience the "devaning" process of the vehicle. There were three standard (white, white, red)LFA's and one (white) Nurburgring Edition devaned on that day. It was an amazing experience to see how the cars were taken out of the containers in person and I want to thank Lexus corporate for allowing my friends and I to attend.
After the car was loaded up onto the Toyota delivery truck, it stayed a day back at the port for storage. Then it was sent to Longo Lexus dealership because I requested my friend James Nguyen and Yong Chung to sell the vehicle to me. The car sat at Longo Lexus for two days because the Lexus corporate tech went through a long pre delivery inspection through a binder that was a few inches thick! I did manage to meet the tech and he customized the vehicle to the personal preferences I asked Lexus corporate to implement.
As soon as all the paper work was handled for the vehicle, I waited a few days to pick up the vehicle because I had Bain from Doza Designs to clear bra the whole front hood, bumper, A-pillars, fenders, lights, handles, and rocker areas.
I took delivery for the vehicle from Longo Lexus on Dec. 24, 2012 because I wanted it to be a Christmas gift that would satisfy me for several years.
Last edited by CrazyMPG; 02-28-13 at 03:04 PM.
#3
The Drive on Glendora Mountain Road aka GMR
The following day which was Christmas gave me the opportunity to drive the vehicle with a few friends in their BMW M3, Lexus GS F-sport, and my wife driving the GT-R. The mountain roads gave me a good understanding of the handling characteristics of the vehicle. It always felt planted and it gave me good confidence in the corners. I didn't push the vehicle hard because it was still limited to 7000 rpm which would only be released after I drove it for 315 miles. Nonetheless, we all had fun driving around the mountain and we managed to find a perfect spot for some video shoots I plan to do later.
The following day which was Christmas gave me the opportunity to drive the vehicle with a few friends in their BMW M3, Lexus GS F-sport, and my wife driving the GT-R. The mountain roads gave me a good understanding of the handling characteristics of the vehicle. It always felt planted and it gave me good confidence in the corners. I didn't push the vehicle hard because it was still limited to 7000 rpm which would only be released after I drove it for 315 miles. Nonetheless, we all had fun driving around the mountain and we managed to find a perfect spot for some video shoots I plan to do later.
Last edited by CrazyMPG; 02-28-13 at 02:46 PM.
#4
The Goodies
The car does come with quite a few goodies that Lexus decided to give to buyers. They give a Lexus LFA indoor car cover (not pictured), and a Lexus branded trickle charger (not pictured) so the battery doesn't deplete while you leave it in storage. They send you a few weeks later the Tumi designed Lexus LFA luggage that includes the VIN number of the vehicle on each luggage. Another few weeks later I received a Laser etched sculpture of a Lexus LFA with a base that displays the number of my vehicle and a hard cover book that shows the story of the building of the Lexus LFA.
The car does come with quite a few goodies that Lexus decided to give to buyers. They give a Lexus LFA indoor car cover (not pictured), and a Lexus branded trickle charger (not pictured) so the battery doesn't deplete while you leave it in storage. They send you a few weeks later the Tumi designed Lexus LFA luggage that includes the VIN number of the vehicle on each luggage. Another few weeks later I received a Laser etched sculpture of a Lexus LFA with a base that displays the number of my vehicle and a hard cover book that shows the story of the building of the Lexus LFA.
Last edited by CrazyMPG; 02-28-13 at 02:47 PM.
#5
The Photo-shoot
As soon as my friend John Zhang of ****** found out I managed to purchased a Lexus LFA he wanted to shoot it right away. He informed me that he wanted to shoot the car bad but never could find an owner that would let him. As you can see he takes amazing pictures and he does a lot of spectacular work on photo-shop. I am very happy with his work and it does bring out the beauty of this vehicle. Just for fun, I brought the GT-R to the photo-shoot because I wanted to have him photograph both super cars from Japan together.
As soon as my friend John Zhang of ****** found out I managed to purchased a Lexus LFA he wanted to shoot it right away. He informed me that he wanted to shoot the car bad but never could find an owner that would let him. As you can see he takes amazing pictures and he does a lot of spectacular work on photo-shop. I am very happy with his work and it does bring out the beauty of this vehicle. Just for fun, I brought the GT-R to the photo-shoot because I wanted to have him photograph both super cars from Japan together.
Last edited by CrazyMPG; 02-28-13 at 02:48 PM.
#6
Installing JDM/Euro side markers
My biggest grip I had of the Lexus LFA was the side markers that came on US-spec vehicles. They look like the yellow reflectors off bicycles. I wanted to replace them ASAP but it took quite awhile to procure them because Lexus corporate in the United States was not allowed to order them from Lexus Japan because the VIN number had to be from a Japan/Euro LFA. JoeZ however managed to work some back channels and he got the pair for a decent price! Major props to Joe because it was looking like a dead end for me.
The install took a few hours because we were being very careful not to damage the car. I used to be a collision repair technican so I knew a bit about removing parts from cars and I still had all the tools. As you can see from the pictures, the JDM/Euro side markers do bring out the car a lot more than the standard flush side markers. I am very happy with this small and probably only mod I will do on this vehicle.
My biggest grip I had of the Lexus LFA was the side markers that came on US-spec vehicles. They look like the yellow reflectors off bicycles. I wanted to replace them ASAP but it took quite awhile to procure them because Lexus corporate in the United States was not allowed to order them from Lexus Japan because the VIN number had to be from a Japan/Euro LFA. JoeZ however managed to work some back channels and he got the pair for a decent price! Major props to Joe because it was looking like a dead end for me.
The install took a few hours because we were being very careful not to damage the car. I used to be a collision repair technican so I knew a bit about removing parts from cars and I still had all the tools. As you can see from the pictures, the JDM/Euro side markers do bring out the car a lot more than the standard flush side markers. I am very happy with this small and probably only mod I will do on this vehicle.
Last edited by CrazyMPG; 02-28-13 at 02:48 PM.
#7
Lexus LFA #499 event
Joe and I were invited to a private event for the delivery of the last Lexus LFA in the United States #499. We met with Roy Mallady and were surprised on how easy going his personality was. We also met a few journalists that wanted to cover the event and it was a truely unique experience.
Joe and I were invited to a private event for the delivery of the last Lexus LFA in the United States #499. We met with Roy Mallady and were surprised on how easy going his personality was. We also met a few journalists that wanted to cover the event and it was a truely unique experience.
Last edited by CrazyMPG; 02-28-13 at 02:49 PM.
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#8
Lexus LFA Dyno Session
Recently I took the car to SP Engineering to satisfy my curiosity of what numbers it would show on the dyno. My friend Eugene has worked for SP Engineering for around 15 years and he wanted me to bring the car over because he had never seen one in person and it was a great opportunity to promote SP Engineering with a very rare vehicle on their dyno. The dyno they use is a Dynojet and they dynoed the car in 5th gear with traction control off and on sport mode with shift speed at 7, which is the max. The dyno numbers are SAE corrected with smoothing set to 5. As you can see from the video and picture that the numbers are very consistent.
Dyno Run 1
Dyno Run 2
Dyno Run 3
Recently I took the car to SP Engineering to satisfy my curiosity of what numbers it would show on the dyno. My friend Eugene has worked for SP Engineering for around 15 years and he wanted me to bring the car over because he had never seen one in person and it was a great opportunity to promote SP Engineering with a very rare vehicle on their dyno. The dyno they use is a Dynojet and they dynoed the car in 5th gear with traction control off and on sport mode with shift speed at 7, which is the max. The dyno numbers are SAE corrected with smoothing set to 5. As you can see from the video and picture that the numbers are very consistent.
Dyno Run 1
Last edited by CrazyMPG; 02-28-13 at 02:50 PM.