Cars don’t come much more aggressive looking then this, except the recently revealed Lexus LC 500 that visually expands on
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
all of the RC F’s best design cues, plus its performance and no doubt price. That future model, just introduced at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, will hopefully be another car for a not too distant review, however the model we currently have available in the here and now is one of the most exciting new sport coupes to hit the premium performance sector for a very long time.
The RC F arrived last year as a powerful complement to Lexus’ equally new compact coupe lineup, the RC 300 and RC 350. The Japanese brand just added the RC 200t as the model’s new entry-level trim, a car now capable of going head-to-head with its turbocharged four-cylinder German rivals. The “F” targets premium competitors’ AMG, M, RS and V performance lines, and does a credible job
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
of both visually wowing with eyeball-yanking contours and viscerally delighting with a level of driving dynamics that live up to said style.
First off, the RC F is a great deal more than a very fast, opulently finished super coupe. Rather, it represents the maturation of this premium brand more so than any other vehicle in Lexus’ 27 years. Toyota’s luxury division has had its milestone moments, its very first LS 400 a great start, followed by the ’91 SC, ’92 ES, ’98 RX, ’06 IS (and of course ’08 IS F that showed Lexus could build a true super sport-sport sedan), ’07 LS 600h L, ’11 GS, ’12 LFA (Lexus’ first supercar), ’14 IS, and ’15 NX, all important vehicles that have helped build Lexus’ luxurious and
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
ultimately dependable brand image. Certainly the original IS F and the glorious LFA showed Lexus was more than just a luxury brand, that it also had the engineering prowess to deliver high-end performance, but the RC F combined the soul of that hyper-sport four-door and numerous exotic design elements from the limited production supercar with Lexus’ new, completely unique design language for a car that’s both striking to look at and brilliant to drive.
Last year’s tester was painted in the awesomely named and beautifully radiant Ultrasonic Blue Mica 2.0, whereas this year’s version came in Solar Flare for an even more vibrant visual statement. If you think the blue car turned heads, nothing can prepare a person for the neck-spinning stares of awe and respect given
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
to this audaciously loud RC F. And I’m not talking about the sound of its 467 horsepower V8, which while sonorous in all the right ways is quite subdued at loping inner-city speeds. I’m talking enough bright orange paintwork to make a row of traffic cones fade to invisible, cones this wonderfully agile two-door will quickly dispense of if set up in slalom formation.
I’ve read many reports comparing the RC F to the long-time class leaders, particularly BMW’s M4 (which replaced the M3 Coupe last year) and Mercedes’ C63 (a four-door, but a coupe is on the way). I’ve spent plenty of time with the M4 and it’s hard to argue against slightly less power and 194 kilos (427 lbs) less mass, the Lexus weighing in at 1,795 kilograms (3,958 lbs) making it a fairly solid ride. This, of course, affects at-the-limit handling, especially amid back-to-back corners
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
when mass quickly shifts from one side to the other, the M4 being the better track star. But let’s get real for a moment, because 99 percent of M4s will never set tire tread on a racetrack, and probably fewer RC Fs, so it’s a moot point. On real roads where most of these super coupes and sedans reside, the RC F is a major force to be reckoned with, and an absolute thriller.
I took last year’s car up a favourite mountainside road replete with long open high-speed stretches, fabulous sweeping off-camber curves, and wickedly sharp sets of reverse hairpins, the pavement smooth in some sections, crumbling and falling away in others, the bed below receding to form rude undulations here and broken from frost heaves for even ruder awakenings there, plus patched portions that
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
sometimes add and other times subtract grip, just the usual real-world realities most of us face when driving our performance cars the way they were meant to be driven. The RC F’s handling was sublime, fully composed, while soaking up all road imperfections and maintaining its line in strict obedience. Traction and stability control off, its meaty rear rubber paints wonderfully predictable and controllable arcs of black melted art across its lane, and then, front wheels pointing towards the straight and narrow, still hard on the throttle, its back end snaps to attention and hurtles the RC F down the road as if its burden of bulk was nonexistent, the sensational sounds emanating from its 5.0-litre V8 and quad pipes vibrating each vertebrae to tingling levels.
This
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
time around I took my bright titian version along the riverbank dykes that surround my sub-sea level city, these posing flatter surfaces albeit myriad complex curves and definite disadvantages if a waterside corner is missed (search “Targa Newfoundland 2011” for insights), while I also bent some rules while stretching its legs through the network of narrow laneways that connect farms and tiny fishing communities to the larger metropolis, this area’s dangers being deep water-filled agricultural trenches lining each road and deadly looking cement culverts every couple hundred feet (I’ve imagined what a high-speed crash might look like into one of these and it would be spectacularly gruesome for sure), the RC F fortunately just as poised and capable on the flats as it was in the hills, its big, fat Brembo brakes making fast work of slowing near 4,000 pounds of heft from rapid fire assault to a snail’s pace as quickly as right foot hits middle pedal, this Lexus a car that always inspires total and complete confidence and therefore my willingness to tempt fate.
The
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
eight-speed automatic shifts so incredibly quick that there’s no need for a complex and questionably reliable double-clutch system, its paddle shifters making the process much more engaging and, in Sport or even edgier Sport S Plus mode, its shifts brisk and suitable abrupt. It’s not the sledgehammer in the back that the aforementioned IS F offered in its sportiest mode, Lexus and its in-house Toyota-owned transmission partner Aisin refining this mechanical marvel over the past eight years. The AA80E is also used by the latest Cadillac CTS, incidentally, and it’s brilliant there as well, although it’s high time the Toyota division applied some of the automaker’s fuel-efficiency technology to non-hybrid cars such as auto start/stop and regenerative braking in an effort to improve the RC F’s gluttonous 15.2 L/100km city, 9.5 highway and 12.6 combined claimed rating, these being fuel saving features the Japanese company helped to developed two decades ago and has had on the market in its HEVs for 15 years, yet
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
its German (and other) rivals are now utilizing wholesale in their conventionally powered models. My only other complaint is an anachronistic foot pedal operated parking brake in a car that should be equipped with a handbrake, or at worst an electromechanical unit. The RC F isn’t alone in this shortcoming, Cadillac’s ATS models also failing to advance beyond such non-performance hardware, but this is hardly a deal-killing gripe with either brand.
Now that we’re talking interiors, the RC F’s cabin is a joy in almost every detail. Of course it includes all the obvious refinements, such as a soft-touch dash top, this one made plusher from a stitched suede-like instrument hood, the car’s door uppers
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
finished in high-quality synthetic too, while the rest of the door panels are just as pampering due to both blue and white stitching plus the inserts and rear portions of each armrest covered in the same velvety “psuede” material.
While Lexus misses the class standard by applying hard plastic to the lower door panels, an oversight that begs for criticism, it’s par for the course with respect to the same less than premium surfacing on the lower dash and glove box lid, although this model’s seats are particularly nice. They’re intricately patterned with white thread, the majority of the leather perforated with a unique blue pigment seeping from within those tiny holes, with deep body-hugging bolsters added to each side, excellent lumbar support down below, and even shoulder strap openings
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
high in the seatback for four-point racing harnesses. Of course, this is more about style than anything track related, as these multi-adjustable perches would be way too heavy for racing, but they’re oh-so comfortable in all the right ways for everyday driving. Of note, however, is a powered lumbar support that’s not vertically adjustable, so it’ll either put pressure right where you want it or rub you the wrong way. I also experienced this problem with the ES 350, which didn’t work for me, but the RC F seats seemed to fit my five-foot-eight medium-build body type ideally so no issues here.
Comfort is critical when sitting back and appreciating the lovely chrome and brushed-aluminum trim that runs down each door, these raised slightly above the panel to allow ambient LED lighting to glow from behind. The real unique pièces de
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
résistance, however, are the woven silver gloss inlays that cross the instrument panel ahead of the front passenger and reach down to surround the window switch controls. They’re actually made from an aluminized fiberglass composite cloth that gets coated in clear resin for 3D depth, the evenly woven pattern giving off a silvery sheen that’s totally gorgeous and unlike anything else in the industry; you can get carbon-fibre inlays instead, if you’re feeling unimaginative.
The RC F’s switchgear is not only the usual high-grade Lexus quality with near perfect fit and ideal damping, but even better because the majority of its buttons, knobs and toggles raise the brand’s bar for interior design, the dual-zone auto HVAC interface even including touch-sensitive sliding controls, all combining with the cabin’s unique angles, creases
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
and cutlines for a more modern, high-tech appearance that fortunately is followed up with some of the industry’s best electronics.
A large high-resolution colour infotainment display is controlled via Lexus’ wholly improved RTI touchpad, while the primary gauge package, inspired by the LFA supercar noted earlier,
qualifies for a review all on its own. It mixes a bevy of digital interfaces with one single analog dial. That would be the speedometer on the right lower side, which isn’t much bigger than the classy analog clock at dash central, most people likely using the digital speedo in the centre of the tachometer more often anyway. The latter is part of a large, colourful TFT display that changes based on the chosen driving mode. Standard mode, which defaults at startup, can otherwise be found by pressing down on a large
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
rotating lower console-mounted Drive Mode Select dial. It displays a traditional chronograph style gauge ahead of the driver, with a black face, white numerals, a blue needle, and the usual red background indicating the engine redline. If you click that dial to the left Eco Drive mode pops up, showing an attractive turbine-style bluish grey outline that replaces the numerals entirely, instead spinning up a brighter blue hue as revs climb. Of course, this feature does more than merely add graphics in new colours, additionally softening acceleration and generally making the RC F a more passive car all-round, which I found ideally suited to city traffic. Flick that controller to the right and the numerals return along with Sport mode, albeit this time much bolder while including a light grey band around the dial’s edges,
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
whereas the redline becomes a red bar and much more pronounced. Another click to the right brings up a new graphic along with Sport S Plus mode, as well as a new font design using gold for the numerals and a new redline motif too.
The gauges to the left also change depending on the driving mode. Normal mode will say just that above a large graphic of the car while pressing the selector, this quickly disappearing to show a graphic of the right-spoke touch-tracer steering wheel control. Press those buttons to the right or left and it moves through the usual multi-info parameters that include directions, audio settings, cruise control, and alerts, plus something unique, F mode.
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
Scroll up and down from any of these categories and it’ll go into greater detail while allowing fine-tuning of specific features. I’ll let you figure out the more mundane settings on your own, and instead fill this page with the more interesting F mode features that include a lap timer, lap history info, a G-Force indicator, tire pressure monitor, and rear wing position controller. There’s a lot more to the RC F’s digital gauge cluster than what I’m prepared to share with you here, including a slick multi-information screen that sits just below and another grouping of digital gauges above, the latter changing depending on driving mode as well, but we’ll leave it here for now.
I should also point out that the Mark Levinson stereo is an incredible bit of audio kit, something I tested to near maximum when Tears for Fears Shout came on the radio, allowing me to play around a little bit with its bass, mid, and treble settings to
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
make this older-school genre sound better; the default settings a bit too mid-centric for my tastes albeit perfect for talk radio; what does that say about this car’s target demographic?
As you can imagine, Lexus doesn’t hold back on standard and optional features with this flagship performance model. That 17-speaker audio system is standard, as is the seven-inch infotainment display that accesses its various features and also adds navigation and a reverse camera, while the standard menu also includes proximity access with pushbutton ignition, auto-dimming rearview and side mirrors, a heatable and powered tilt and telescopic multifunction leather-wrapped steering wheel, leather covered eight-way powered heatable and ventilated front seats with driver’s memory, auto on/off LED headlamps with auto high-beam, dynamic cruise control, automated parking, blind spot monitoring, lane departure alert
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
with rear cross traffic alert, lane change assist, a pre-collision system, a full assortment of airbags with front knee blockers, a useful trunk with a handy centre pass-through, and the list goes on, all for $82,750 plus freight and dealer fees.
That carbon-fibre interior trim mentioned earlier might be a good match if you plan on adding the optional Performance package, the latter a tempting upgrade as it includes 19-inch forged multi-spoke alloy wheels, a carbon-fibre roof (that deletes the sunroof), a carbon-fibre deck lid spoiler, and most importantly a TVD button positioned next to the Sport VDIM (Vehicle Dynamics Integrated Management) off and Snow mode switches on the lower console. TVD is an abbreviation for the electronic Torque Vectoring Differential system that replaces the standard Torsen limited slip diff and allows the choice of Standard, Slalom (think autocross) and Track settings, all of which can be altered further via the aforementioned
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
Drive Mode Select settings. TVD apportions the RC F’s 389 lb-ft of twist to the rear wheel with the most grip whether under power or not, a world’s first for a front-engine, rear-drive vehicle, by the way. When TVD and S Plus mode are simultaneously employed the stability and traction control systems shut down completely (insert smile here) with only torque vectoring keeping the rear wheels at bay, meaning that this is the model to own if you don’t mind going through rear rubber on a regular basis or have rentable a track nearby. The Performance package adds $7,400 to the final tally, so it’s not for the feint of pocketbook, although once you’re up in this heady performance class, why not?
All this go-fast goodness in a car that’s also exceptionally easy to live with around town,
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
thoroughly luxurious, and near exotic in its ability to draw attention makes the RC F one compelling package for discriminating performance car fans, plus a much rarer sight than your average M4, C63 or Porsche 911, all of which can be seen multiple times per day where I come from.
Get ready for nods of approval and leers of respect. Lexus has now earned its street cred, the RC F sure to keep the brand elevated in the minds and hearts of performance enthusiasts everywhere, a model now joined by the equally stimulating 2016 GS F (review forthcoming) and no doubt soon to be taken to new stratospheric heights via a future LC F. Can you see a pattern here? I, for one, love what I’m seeing from Lexus these days. Keep the F models coming, Toyoda-san.
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