Tuesday 4th March 2014

Lexus: Geneva 2014

Lexus is getting serious about chasing the Germans on road and on track

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How many times have we got excited about the prospect of a hot Lexus to rival the BMW M3? Generally only for our hopes to be dashed in reality. And yet, we still felt a flutter of excitement when we clapped eyes on the Japanese firm's 450hp RC F here at Geneva 2014.

That might have something to do with the ludicrous splitter, arches and diffuser/rear wing combo on the new RC F GT3 racing concept sitting right next to it - but as Lexus' most powerful V8 model ever and styling inspired by the LFA, the new coupe could have what it takes in its locker to topple the forthcoming (and most likely mighty) M4.

And here's the one you can actually buy

Other firsts include a new torque vectoring diff at the rear, which should improve agility, and a combination of Atkinson and Otto cycles used in the motor for high power when you want it and improved efficiency for when you don't. There's no official word on how fast the RC F is, but with 383lb ft on tap, 4.5 seconds from 0-62mph seems reasonable. The M4 does it in 4.1.

We're hoping Lexus has developed the RC F alongside its GT3 concept cousin and thrown a few performance parts the road car's way. Even breathing through an air restrictor, the modified V8 in the race car churns out 540hp. Tipping the scales at 1,250kg it'll doubtless be fast in a straight line, but with Porsche, Audi, McLaren, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bentley - well, you get the picture - all competing in GT3, the Lexus has its work cut out.

A few more points of note at Lexus: the standard 3.5 V6 RC Coupe now gets an eight-speed auto 'box, while the F Sport trim joins the cooking range.

 

 

 

[BlueEyedBoy]

Take away that stupid grill, and that looks quite nice.

[vz-r_dave]

I like it, whilst the front end is a little extreme it makes the M4 look like a 420d

[Stig]

The RC is one of those cars that looks better in the metal (having just returned form Geneva) than in the pics (and in the pics it's none too shabby). Design is a good balance between aggression and sophistication - though obviously that's subjective.

Some very clever stuff going on to get the engine to run dual cycle (Atkinson/Otto) and refreshing to see that the headline model doesn't rely on Hybrid, though there's a 300h to satisfy that requirement. No 'torque fill' needed here

Will be interesting to see how it fares dynamically, but certainly looks promising.

GT3 looked great. Again, hope it lives up to the looks in terms of performance on track, but as per the article, GT3 is a very competitive class.