DELICIOUSLY DIFFERENT (some text hidden) --NONE--

By Jonathan Crouch

Introductionword count: 72

The Lexus RC F offered a deliciously different option to buyers in the high performance super coupe segment dominated by cars like BMW's M4. Like its rivals, there's a classic front engine, rear wheel drive set-up, but this contender pairs that with a spectacular old-school normally aspirated 5.0-litre V8 offering a soundtrack to die for. It's not an agile track car but on the road, a great roadgoing experience lies in store.

Modelsword count: 14

3dr Coupe (4.0 V8) - [standard, Carbon, 10th Anniversary Edition, Track Edition, Ultimate Edition]

Historyword count: 572

What, exactly, does the Lexus brand mean to you? In all probability, its very name conjures up images of eco-cenric luxury. Petrol-electric hybrids for plutocrats. Wood and leather with a green conscience. What you're unlikely to picture is something like the Lexus RC F. Maybe though, that's because you don't know Lexus quite as well as you think you do. The company doesn't, you see, only employ enviro-conscious engineers, or experts purely dedicated to ruffling leather and trimming walnut veneer. Some of them are out-and-out petrol-heads - people like Yaguchi-san and Sakamoto-san. History records that for years, these two badgered their bosses to use their brand's technological might for red mist motoring as well as luxurious efficiency. The silky-smooth petrol V8s the brand was bonding to hybrid power could surely be let off the leash once in a whilecouldn't they? Shouldn't Lexus be taking on the Germans at their own game? It was an argument that appealed to the Lexus board and the result, in 2008, was the IS F super-saloon, a storming and rather individual 5.0-litre V8-powered rival for models like BMW's M3 and the Mercedes C63 AMG. Relatively few were sold, but the car was good enough to establish performance credentials that were further proved when the company's LFA supercar was launched to much acclaim in 2009. Unfortunately, the IS F remained a rare sight on our roads, while the LFA lost Lexus money, despite its lottery-winners' price tag. What the company really needed to do was to take its new-found engineering expertise and apply it to something with wider appeal. To a performance car accessible and affordable enough for many more people to enjoy. A car like the RC F, announced in 2013 and launched a year later. The F in the RCF badge designated 'Radical Cup', while the F stood both for flagship and for the Japanese Fuji Speedway where this car was primarily developed. It was based on the brand's RC Coupe, a car primarily targeted at American tastes but also developed for Europe with smaller, more efficient turbocharged power. By 2014, that kind of engine was the sort of thing buyers were expecting even in the most potent real-world performance cars: it was certainly what was delivered by the most direct rival this RC F had to face, BMW's M4. Lexus though, prided itself on not simply copying the Germans and instead, simply uprated the old IS F's normally aspirated old-school V8 for this model - though pared it with a quite astonishing array of driver technology. Buyers were also offered a 'Carbon'-spec model which had a CFRP bonnet and roof and a torque vectoring differential (which was optionally available on the standard model). A 10th Anniversary model to celebrate the F high performance sub-brand's 10th birthday was briefly offered in 2018. Just before minor changes were made for the 2019 model year, including new one-piece headlights and all-LED rear tail lamps, but total power fell marginally from 467hp to 458hp. Adaptive suspension became standard. A 'Track Edition' version was made available in small numbers in 2020. Most of its features were subsequently fitted to an optional 'Track Pack' that could be fitted to an ordinary RC F - things like forged wheels, ceramic brakes and the torque vectoring differential. The 'Track Edition' formed the basis for the final 'Ultimate Edition' model sold between 2023 and 2024, just 30 of which were sold in the UK.

What You Getword count: 325

Do you like the look of the RC F? We do. It looks like what it is: a proper premium high performance coupe that aims to be a more exclusive choice in a market segment dominated by rivals that are merely pokier, be-spoilered derivatives of much humbler models. It's perfect, in other words, if you want to make a statement when it comes to your choice of a car of this kind. You might not want to call it beautiful, but it's certainly extrovert, purposeful and deliciously different. Inside, you sit rather high but well supported on the kind of brilliantly figure-hugging wing-backed sports seats that rivals would include only as an exorbitantly-priced option. Getting comfortable behind the chunky electrically adjustable three-spoke F-branded steering wheel is easy and through it, you view a spectacular instrument panel derived from that used in the brand's LFA supercar. The dial pack offers up a large, centrally mounted rev counter that changes according to driving mode and offers a digital speed read-out to complement the smaller analogue dial placed on the right of the display. Towards the left lies a 4.2-inch TFT screen able to offer up all manner of driving data: a differential torque vectoring monitor, a G-force meter, oil and water temperature gauges, mileage information and a stopwatch for clocking that bridge-to-gantry time at the Nurburgring. As you might well expect, there's not a huge amount of space on the back seats in terms of either head or legroom, but then no car in this class really offers that. At least there are back seats: you don't get them at all on a rival Porsche Cayman or Jaguar F-TYPE. Out back, boot space is a touch restricted too, the 366-litre total about 20% down on the capacity you could expect in a rival BMW M4. Still, it's more than Jaguar offered in its F-TYPE Coupe and is probably just about enough to satisfy this car's GT credentials.

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