Lexus RC F 2020 Long-Term Test #3

I totally get doing long-term tests of new vehicles. But of a naturally aspirated V8 rear-wheel drive two-door (yes you have to specify the number of doors these days) 2+2 coupe such as the Lexus RC F that costs $136,636 (plus $5000 for Enhancement Pack 1 in the case of our test car) before on-road costs?

Man, if you haven’t made up your mind at first stop-in-your-tracks sight of this muscular sports car and its punchy price then you’re a tyre kicker. Of fantastic 19-inch Michelin Pilot Sport 4S rubber in this case.

And a tyre kicker is what I most definitely am as well… I still reckon $20,000 is a lot to spend on a car.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t like the Lexus RC F. The thing that really appeals is that lump of an engine up-front and those two driving wheels down the back.

Scan the price guides and you’ll quickly realise there’s precious few such cars now on offer in a market that was once dominated by such things … and you didn’t have to pay about three times the average annual Aussie wage for them either.

So what’s left? There’s the Ford Mustang GT of course – a very similar concept. Then there’s the Chevrolet Camaro SS, locally converted to right-hand drive by the Walkinshaw Group. Sadly, not many of them left these days.

If you’re not worried about retaining natural aspiration then there’s the locally enhanced R-Spec version of the Mustang and the ZL1 Camaro. Awesome supercharged beasts both and much closer in price terms to the RC F than the standard models.

Or for something completing bonkers what about the twin-turbo V8-powered Mercedes-AMG C 63 S. Granted, it was a better comparison when it came with a 6.1-litre nat-atmo V8. But still bonkers.

OK, so I won’t detail the equipment levels of this car yet again, but rest assured it has got heaps of stuff standard – leather trim, a ripping Mark Levinson stereo and great seats that look a bit like they came out of an alien spaceship.

The Enhancement Pack 1 comprises 19-inch forged alloy wheels and a tilt and slide moonroof.

The Lexus RC F comes with a four-year/100,000km warranty, which is one year more than Audi and BMW but one year less than Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar and Volvo. Every one of those brands bar Lexus offer unlimited kms.

A couple of customer service features Lexus is pumping hard are its new app and Platinum level of its Encore aftersales program.

The app gives you access to the various features of Encore, which has recently added Platinum for owners of swankier models including the RC F.

Through the app you can access other Lexus models for eight-day loans available four times over three years. An LX 570 to go off-roading perhaps, an LS 500 limousine to shmooz in and so on.

There are also valet parking vouchers for major shopping centres to cash in and lifestyle events to experience.

Sweet!

The Lexus RC F comes with all the safety equipment you would expect. Eight airbags for a start, autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian detection, lane departure warning with steering assist, blind spot monitoring with rear cross traffic alert and a reversing camera.

It doesn’t get an ANCAP crash test rating though. It’s too expensive and too rare for such things. But it’s hard to imagine Lexus building something shonky. It sure feels tight and solid riding around inside.

When it launched in 2014 the Lexus RC F was really highly anticipated. It took over the mantle from the IS F as the Japanese luxury brand’s tuned-up hot-rod model and was a really big deal.

The 351kW/530Nm engine was a co-development with Yamaha of the IS F’s 2UR-GSE DOHC V8. An all-new cylinder-head, many lighter parts and a raised 12.31 compression ratio were all part of the package, as was the adoption of the Atkinson cycle alongside the Otto cycle to improve cruising speed fuel economy.

Lexus also eschewed the dual-clutch trend, sticking with an updated version of the eight-speed torque converter auto with four driver-selectable modes including manual, which is operated at the lever or via paddles on the steering wheel.

Underpinning the Lexus RC F is fundamentally the same architecture as the mainstream RCs. The platform combines the front-end of the GS large sedan, the middle section of the mid-size IS250C hard-top convertible and the rear-end of the IS medium sedan.

All RCs share the same 2730mm wheelbase, but the F is slightly longer, wider and lower. They also share suspension design fundamentals – double-wishbone front and multi-link rear – but the F's hardware is overwhelmingly bespoke.

Overlaying all that is a Torsen limited-slip differential, a brake package including 380x34mm spiral-fin front discs and six-piston opposed callipers and those Michelin tyres developed specifically for the RC F.

Initially, the Lexus RC F was criticised for being too firm in its suspension settings for the road, but it moved to adaptive variable dampers in 2016 and made further tuning charges to the suspension and steering in 2019.

All that work on the chassis has paid off for the Lexus RC F. It is now quieter, calmer and undoubtedly better riding than the original – I know for sure because I’m still trying to iron out the kinks from 2014!

In Normal drive mode I could live with the ride, happy in the knowledge it can be dialled up to stupidly rigid Sport S+ setting and be enjoyed a racetrack.

But I’d be enjoying that engine even more. What it lacks in outright urge compared to supercharged and turbocharged bent-eights, it makes up for in sheer aural presence. It really does sounds so good.

In the more aggressive drive modes it’s also very responsive to a light touch of the throttle pedal in a way turbo engines can’t quite manage – even the excellent almost lagless examples of today. Set this way the auto becomes an aggressive obvious thing in a most un-Lexus way.

This is no bottom-end lugger either. Peak power is at 7100rpm, peak torque over 4800-5600rpm. So rev it and enjoy it, you must do it. The reward is a 4.5sec 0-100km/h sprint (in theory anyway) and the punishment is fuel consumption that steeples way beyond the 11.2L/100km (on premium 98 RON) official claim.

But I gotta be honest, the Lexus RC F is not any more compelling to drive than a Mustang GT with adaptive dampers. That too delivers plenty of driving thrills and sounds brilliant.

Inside the cabin is where the RC F really does stake its claim compared to most rivals, at least in terms of the quality of materials and the way they are put together.
I like how deep you can sit, the chubby rim of the steering wheel and the connected feel of the flappy gearchange paddles.

Other stuff, like the irksome touchpad controller, the micro-sized minor gauges in the instrument panel and the touch-sensitive sliders that act as temperatures adjusters range from intensely annoying to just that bit weird. I never did figure out how to manually tune the radio.

Like the exterior design, there is stuff here that seems more about being different for the sake of it than actually being better than the controls adopted by those pesky methodical Germans.

What fun it was to have such an exuberant machine as the Lexus RC F parked in my garage for an extended period. It’s an eclectic combination of retro powertrain, extreme styling and sophisticated tech.

There’s nothing especially logical or remotely practical about the RC F, but if it pulls at your heart strings and you can afford it, I can’t think of no reason to caution against buying it.

But what do you care – you’ve already made up your mind, haven’t you!

How much does the 2020 Lexus RC F Enhancement Pack 1 cost?
Price: $136,636 + $5000 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 5.0-litre petrol V8
Output: 351kW/530Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel: 11.2L/100km (ADR Combined), 14.1L/100km (as tested)
CO2: 254g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: N/A