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Bidding for this Nurburgring special LFA, one of only 64 built, reached over $1 million in just a few days. How high will it go?
• This 2012 Lexus LFA is low on miles and has a $70,000 Nürburgring package; few copies of the already rare Japanese supercar were sold this way.
• The Nürburgring package bumped total power output of the Yamaha co-developed V-10 engine to 563 horsepower and added carbon-fiber goodies plus special wheels and tires, among other extras.
• According to the vehicle's Carfax report, this 2000-mile LFA was delivered to Massachusetts in 2012 but would later transfer ownership to Florida and Montana, and it eventually found a home in California where it's listed today.
UPDATE: The Lexus sold for $1,625,000.
Many comment sections, out there in the infinite web of the internet, quickly devolve. So if you scroll deep into the comments of the Bring a Trailer listing for this nearly new Lexus LFA, you won't be surprised to see things get a bit emotional. "The only two-pedal car I lust after," one comment adds. "OMG, I just wet myself," another reveals. "Makes my heart beat way too fast this early in the morning," says a third reader. All of them can be forgiven, however; they're salivating over this 563-hp LFA, a car built to do battle against Ferraris that cost nearly double its price. It came with a 4.8-liter V-10 co-developed with Yamaha that could scream to 9000 rpm. And when it screamed, it sang. This 2000-mile example on Bring a Trailer—which, like Car and Driver, is part of Hearst Autos—is far from ordinary. All emotion inspired by it is legitimate.
Of the 500 cars produced during the LFA's two-year production run, only 64 were built with the Nürburgring package, and very few of those were delivered to the U.S. The $70,000 package added 10 horsepower, different wheels, more aggressive performance tires, carbon-fiber spoilers, and a lighter battery. The six-speed automated sequential transmission was also tuned for quicker shifts. It was offered in Whitest White, Black, Matte Black, and this listing's cheddar-colored Orange paint color. The interior was given extra carbon-fiber treatment, and Lexus went as far as removing the floor mats—an immediate safety requirement for any track day.
Why not the Tokyo Expressway Edition, or the Mark Levinson Bass Boost Custom? Because the German track's 12.9-mile loop is where the LFA was developed. And it didn't hurt that the pre-production LFA won first in its class during the 24 Hours of Nürburgring in 2010, beating out race-car versions of the Aston Martin V12 Vantage and Rapide, as well as entries like the Audi R8 and Chevy Corvette.
Lexus stamped a 7:14.64 production time with the Nürburgring Package LFA at Nürburgring Nordschleife. That's quicker than cars like the Ferrari 488 GTB, the Porsche 911 GT2 RS (997), and just a second slower than an attempt with the $847,975 Porsche 918 Spyder.
The quickest LFA we've tested achieved 60 mph in just 3.6 seconds, continuing to a quarter-mile in just 11.7 seconds at 125 mph. That's quicker than the 612-hp Ferrari 599GTB Fiorano we compared it against.
Every LFA purchase came with a pair of Tumi carbon-fiber suitcases, a carbon-fiber key, and two normal keys that look like they belong to the family's 1995 Lexus ES. That's all included in this auction, as well as a copy of service receipts and the original window sticker.
With the auction set to end on Friday, March 18, bidding is up to to $1.6 million. That's more than triple the car's original $445,000 MSRP, and still more than twice as much after calculating for inflation. There are five days left for that bid to climb before No. 349 of 500 gets a new home. And we're sure the emotional pitch of the comments section will only get more interesting as the auction continues.