2014 Detroit Auto Show: 2015 Lexus RC F Coupe
M4-baiting RC F is one spicy piece of sushi
By Imthishan Giado
Everybody’s gunning for BMW’s M cars these days. Audi’s got the S- and RS- lines, Mercedes pumps out a billion hand-built AMGs every 30 seconds…and now serene Lexus have jumped into the fray with this V8 beast, their first genuine run at Munich’s brass ring.
I like the old IS-F a lot and putting it in a sexy new suit can only be A Good Thing. When I reviewed it over a year ago I felt sure that Lexus would not bring that fire-breathing V8 for this car, the torque too soft too low in the rev range for most day-to-day driving. They haven’t…sort of. This is an all-new V8 that only shares a cylinder block with the outgoing motor, every moving part being reported of new design. Expect 480bhp from this rev-happy thunderbolt (the five-litre displacement remains unchanged) though the torque figures have yet to be revealed, with a eight-speed auto to send power to the rear wheels.
In the the execution, the body deviates from the stanadard Lexus RC Coupe by being exceedingly pumped up from the A-pillar onwards, with a unique fascia featuring Lexus’s still-hard-to-love new front end, a carbon fibre roof that reportedly nearly 6kg over the stock steel top and a bulging rear end with the traditional stacked quad tailpipes. Which following tradition, probably aren’t real this time either.
No big changes for the interior, aside from the rampant use of carbon fibre on every conceivable surface and alcantara for the bits you sit on. The wheel is RC F-specific with an oval bottom and four display themes – probably Mall, Fast, Faster, and OMG. The RC F has no official release date in the region; expect to see it show up on our shores by the end of the year.
I think this car will give the BMW M4 a very hard time.