2015 Lexus RC and RC F
CreditToyota Motor Sales
Even as Lexus lost its lead in luxury sales to BMW and Mercedes-Benz, largely because of self-inflicted dullness, a philosophical question lingered: Do Lexus devotees even want exciting cars?
Toyota’s race-driving chairman, Akio Toyoda, has vowed to forge ahead regardless, amping up the design and performance of Lexus, the company’s premium division. The largely refreshing RC coupe will help to test that proposition, especially in the guise of the 467-horsepower RC F.
While many luxury coupes appear restrained, this Tokyo prowler looks unleashed. Its Predator mouth might as well drip green blood. The head-trip styling seems inspired by an anime robot factory.
To eyes that prefer a demure look, it’s a bit much. But the Lexus consistently wowed the public on streets in New York and Michigan. And I’m willing to cut this coupe some slack, because the RC shows that Lexus is taking genuine risks as it seeks a potentially fruitful design language.
Say what you want, but the RC is anything but another boring Lexus. And I love that this new model refuses to put on a sedate German suit in an attempt to blend in at the club where Audi, Benz and BMW hang out.
The iconoclastic approach extends to the cabin, which blends luxury and technology in an intimate layout that recalls Lexus’s rare exotic sports car, the $375,000 LFA, including chronograph-style digital gauges with an enormous, configurable central tachometer.
Cocooning sport seats display ultrasupportive winged side bolsters and “integrated foaming” construction in which the upholstery and seat foam are molded together in a single process. They look like something Captain Kirk would choose for his bachelor pad.
The rear seat is constricting in two-plus-two fashion, but the front seats slide forward electrically and reposition themselves once passengers are snug in the back.
The only real negative is the mouse-style touch pad for navigation, audio and vehicle functions. To be honest, it’s an industry abomination, a size 16 Achilles’ heel. Fussy and beyond distracting, it requires the precise caress of a Casanova to operate while the car is in motion.
Unlike most sport coupes, the RC is not engineered as a two-door version of a donor sedan. Instead, the RC combines the front chassis section of the midsize GS sedan, the stiff central backbone of the IS C convertible and the rear of the all-new IS compact sedan.
If the Lexus looks like a video game come to life, the car’s engineers focused on a real world in which crashing and burning doesn’t earn you a microwave burrito and a second try.
Spurred around the Monticello Motor Club in upstate New York, the Lexus was evidently tuned to allow anyone — from novice to expert — to go fast and have fun. The tire grip is monumental, as are the brakes. Push beyond the limits, and the Lexus segues into safe, predictable understeer.
But don’t think this Lexus is slow or dumbed-down. The ready-to-rumble 5-liter V8, strengthened from its last appearance in the IS F sedan, pulls like mad to 7,300 r.p.m. and never runs out of breath. The RC F scampers to 60 m.p.h. in a crackling 4.3 seconds, and Lexus claims a top speed of 170 m.p.h.
The fuel economy — 16 m.p.g. in town, 25 on the highway — is par for this class of high-performance coupe.
The 8-speed paddle-shifted transmission is a brilliant wingman, about as fast and frolicsome as a conventional torque-convertor automatic can get. Summon the Sport mode on the console’s oversize, tactile rotary dial, and the transmission applies artificial intelligence, reading g forces to decide when a shift is necessary.
Oh, and the Lexus sounds glorious, a burly, naturally aspirated V8 rumble that’s impossible to fake.
Driven on another racetrack in western Michigan, the Lexus ran neck-and-neck laps with the formidable BMW M4 coupe, even though the Lexus is chubbier, with a curb weight of nearly two tons.
The RC F also costs decisively less. My test car, wearing a lurid shade of blue, started at $63,325 and reached $73,970 with options. The last M4 that I drove topped $85,000.
Over a week in New York and environs, the RC F also proved easy to live with, perfectly willing to ooze through traffic like a traditional Lexus. It’s not at all high-strung, and the ride on cratered pavement is smoother than the BMW’s.
On the track, I also drove the surprisingly capable RC 350 models, which share their 3.5-liter V6, rated at 306 horsepower, with the IS 350 sedan. Those more affordable RCs start at $43,715. The price rises to $50,630 for the RC F-Sport AWD, which features an adaptive suspension and four-wheel-steering.
As fast, adhesive and athletic as the RC may be, there is something a bit methodical about its performance: This Lexus never seems to sweat.
If the worst thing one can say about the RC is that it feels too stable and confident at rocketing speeds on a track, then Lexus must be doing something right.
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