Images
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.
+ More
History
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.
+ More
What you get
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.
+ More
What to look for
This is a pretty bullet-proof high-performance car but there are still plenty of things to look for. There was a recall for a delaminating fuel line which could cause petrol to leak directly to the engine. And we've heard of trouble with the dampers in the high pressure fuel pumps (the RC F has two) which make a chirping sound when they start to go wrong. We've heard of a few early RC Fs with poorly applied rear wheelarch sealer, which could lead to water ingress and eventual rust.
Some owners have reported problems with cracking or delaminating dashboards and trim panels, and we've had similar issues on the exterior carbon pieces, were fitted. Look out for interior squeaks and quotes particularly from the seatbacks during adjustment. Some owners experienced HVAC servo motor malfunctions, usually at around 25,000 miles, which stop the passenger side vent from blowing cold air. In few cases, the amplifier for the Mark Levinson premium sound system could malfunction when it got hot. Inspect the expensive big wheels for scrapes and scratches. Obviously insist on a full service record.
+ More
Replacement parts
(approx prices based on a 2019 RC F - ex Vat) Lexus parts aren't that much cheaper than those you'd get from the premium German marques, so don't expect big bargains here. An air filter is in the £15-£70 bracket. Transmission fluid costs around £21, while a 500ml container of brake fluid costs around £10. Standard intermediate services will cost you from just over £520, with full services coming in at around £960 from authorised centres. You'll need between £340 and £435 for front brake discs. And from £350-£480 for high performance brake pads. A replacement rear spoiler will cost around £3,000. You need £1,800 for the two main pieces of dash trim and the driver's door card. Replacement pumps out of warranty cost about £1,000 each. If you need to replace the torque vectoring differential, that really will be expensive; think in terms around £20,000.
+ More
On the road
So, what's it like? An experience to be sure. You settle into the high-mounted wing-backed racing-style seat, grasp the chunky three-spoke F-Sport steering wheel and brush your brogues against the drilled steel pedals. There are only two of these because all RC F models have auto transmission, an eight-speed Sports Direct Shift set-up with steering wheel change paddles. An auto 'box is the only way of properly harnessing the prodigious torque from the fiery beast that beats beneath the bonnet, a revised 467hp version of the same 5.0-litre V8 that powered this car's IS F predecessor that initially developed 467hp, but was later (in 2019) tuned back to 458hp. Prod the starter button and it bursts menacingly into life. You're ready.
That V8 is old-school in character, heavy, sonorous and, perhaps most significantly, normally aspirated in an era where almost all of this car's rivals favour turbocharged or supercharged forced induction. Time to press the reset button in your head and ready yourself instead to enjoy this car for what it is, not for what you might be told to expect it to be. And what it is offers up a delicious, involving and in many ways spectacular experience. Key to that is the fantastic soundtrack inspired by the ballistic LFA model, properly angry and utterly un-Lexus. Give the V8 its head and you get all sorts of pops and crackles on the overrun too. It has to be one of the best-sounding engines in any sports coupe this side of supercar money. Maybe the best.
62mph from rest is dealt with in only 4.5s and the 400m mark flashes by in just 12.5s. More importantly, the 50-75mph overtaking increment takes just 3.5s. Get an RC F on the Hangar Straight at Silverstone or an unrestricted autobahn and you'll keep going to 168mph.
+ More
Overall
Lexus brought us here a super-coupe that was good looking, beautifully built, agreeably rapid, lavishly equipped and every day-usable - a combination of qualities that its predecessor, the old IS F, never quite nailed. It's properly charismatic too - that amazing-sounding 5.0-litre V8 engine sees to that. This extracts a penalty in terms of efficiency if you're comparing against BMW and Mercedes rivals but in return, you get yourself a road racer that's a far more interesting, individualistic choice.
In summary, if you're in the market for something of this kind, we'd urge you to look beyond the press reports and make your own mind up about this RC F. If somebody offered us one of these or a BMW M4 to drive every day for a year, there's no way we'd choose the German car - and we didn't think we'd be saying that before we picked up the keys to this Lexus. It's old school in feel but new wave in execution. And there has to be room in the market for that combination.
+ More
Have you considered these alternative models...
Find a Review
We have over 500 new and used car reviews to help you find your next car.
Browse reviews and model guides for all makes
