Lexus RC & RC F Chief Engineers Discuss the Coupe’s Weight

I don't see why you guys care about the weight so much, it has the tech to back it up with performance. The TVD helps you throw this car in corners with ease and 0_60 in 4.3 sec is in no way bad from a NA engine. Mercedes got away with heavy cars and their cars drove like boats, jag got away with heavy cars and nobody seems to care that the challenger weighs 400 pounds more than this AND it drives like a boat...this is heavy but doesn't drive like a boat on wheels like the other heavy weights do and it's still fun to drive and I applaud lexus for that. Get over it and stop holding weight against it on paper when it doesn't affect it in reality...I mean, on top of all that you still get 25mpg out of this heavy V8...what more can you ask for?

I have to tell you...if i gonna buy a performance car then without even thinking its going to be the RC-F...and i dont care for the weight because i am not gonna drive it on race tracks...but in order for lexus to be the best it has to go on diet....i know that lexus is the best but the other people dont...so they have to prove that they are the best by beating the best....thats the hall story...

i think they need to eliminate body roll, yes the examples you brought up were good, but how many of them suffers from a body roll that affects the cars cornering if they lower the weight and eliminate the body roll they will have a pretty much perfect car

It's funny you brought up sony tho because I said a similar thing once before...but unfortunately rumble affected game play which messes up Sony where as weight isn't hindering this car much That's actually more like how BMW is now saying they don't need hydraulic steering anymore and the way it's messing up the heritage of their cars

The weight will not hinder me from getting this car, Lexus is my obvious choice for a high performance coupe, but you have to factor in prospective RC F buyers, this might push them into another direction.

Lexus clearly stated even the LFA was not as light as was expected but it still ended up being the best. even the IS f sport is heavy but what it did to the 3series? wait for the compatitive tests lol, it not over until the fat lady sings. one thing i garanteed the RCF can exit the corners much cleanly then the M4. and that for lap times

No completely wrong. LFA has not parallels regarding weight or driving dynamics with the RC-F. Lexus LFA weighed between 3400 - 3500 lbs, which was considered lightweight for its time. A carbon fiber Aventador weighs 4100 lbs despite having rear mid-engine configuration which helps in making the car lighter since there is no prop shaft etc. Most importantly, everyone who drove the LFA said LFA felt lighter than it actually was because its chassis, suspension, steering and engine was so responsive that it made the car hyperalert on the race track. You are also wrong regarding LFA's acceleration. LFA never got out accelerated by most supercars. it was near the very top in terms of acceleration on the race track based on satellite GPS data and it helped LFA putting down those super fast lap times. It had some of the highest speeds on the back straights compared to other supercars. The only issue was launching due to lack of enough sticky tires that could allow it to put all those 553 HP down off the line. The 125 - 126 mph trap speed was one of the quickest in its time before F12 and Aventador, MP4 etc. came out. In a Top Gear episode, LFA beat the Viper SRT-10 on the Vegas drag strip everytime according to TG despite having less horsepower. Still, LFA doing 11.4 - 11.6 seconds with 124 - 126 mph trap even with a weak 3.9 - 4.2 seconds 0 - 60 mph shows how powerful the car was despite being handicapped off the line with poor traction.

Agreed. LFA is considered the greatest because it did everything exceptionally well and its engine is simply unmatched even to this day in terms of throttle response, sound and ability to rev to 9500 rpm. LFA was plagued with poor 0 - 60 mph times because it was a very difficult to launch due to lack of traction and also a conservative launch control, but once at a roll, it had absolute monster acceleration right up to 285 km/h.

"The 125 - 126 mph trap speed was one of the quickest in its time before F12 and Aventador, MP4 etc. came out." if i'm not mistaken the ferrari enzo, SLR and CGT had higher trap speeds, think it was something closer to 130mph "In a Top Gear episode, LFA beat the Viper SRT-10 on the Vegas drag strip everytime according to TG despite having less horsepower." if you paid notice to the race than you would notice that jeremy NEVER had wheelspin when taking off, while both vanquish and viper suffered from it, think it was the combination of sticky tarmac and low torque

It might be sticky compound on the race track. However, LFA has massive wheel spin issues off the line. If you read most of the reviews said with lack of sticky tires and massive power combined with no inertia, it either goes up in smoke or the car bogs off the line. LFA is geared very short combined with an engine that has almost no inertia, it makes a lot of "virtual torque" in the lower 4 gears.

SRT-10 Viper was wearing Cup 2 racing slick tires while LFA was wearing just the normal S001 tires. There might be compound powder on the race track, but LFA's short gearing gives it lots of torque multiplication to the wheels and the engine spins up faster than just any other engine out there. The automated gearbox might have been an advantage as well. Regarding the trap speed. I said, "one of the highest". Not the highest. Still, they were tested in different times. SLR had mostly 125 - 126 mph trap speed as this C&D test shows: http://media.caranddriver.com/files/mercedes-benz-slr-mclarenmercedes-benz-slr-mclaren-specs.pdf http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/coupes/112_0501_2005_mercedes_benz_slr_mclaren/specs_price.html

the spoiler is to keep the car stable and planted at high speed. it stays down on eco mood to avoid drag to save fuel. just because BMW dont have it now lexus must take it off to be like a BMW? Please guys, just leave lexus alone. this car perfoms and these nothing wrong with it. if the extra weight means im getting a much safer car and rigid car then im down with that.

I never mentioned BMW lol, was just giving a suggestion of what I saw could be a way to remove what I saw was unnecessary weight... I hope you dont buy that line about the car being heavier so its "safer"? In the words of Kasama,“Body structure, very good rigidity and passive safety and big diameter tyres, then the body weight becomes a little heavier,”... I always thought, and some others who are real, also say that they needed all of that extra bracing to make up for the fact that they used different chassis' for this car and had to make sure to brace it extra strong so that it didnt fall apart lol, "safety". I think that had to add a few hundred pounds. Why didnt Lexus go with a bespoke chassis? I dont know, I hope it wasnt to save money, because they are at least at the moment suffering reputation wise. If you havent noticed the topic is up for discussion worldwide whether you consider it to be necessary of attention or not. I am a fan not a fanboy so I can willingly point out if something needs to be improved. I dont just try to gloss over it, when I hold other brands up to the same scrutiny. I got mad when the M cars started getting heavier, and all the reviewers paid so little attention to it. I was just mad that they were getting heavier period, because I am a car fan; I knew the reviewers would let BMW slide, just like they did for the last RS5 and C63 which were in the same ballpark as the RC. Now that a Lexus is heavy its the end of the world. As I said before the car is great even with the weight problem, and I hope to be getting one in the future. I am just not blind or stupid when it comes to sportcar performance targets, neither is the chief engineer, “It’s always better to be lighter,". Now at least we know why it took them so long to release the full specs, because they would have got roasted on this since it got announced earlier in the year. Look at how Mercedes just released everything about the new C63 in one day. BMW also does the same, showing at least they are not hiding anything, and making excuses for it after.

lol it being discussed because it a lexus notice when they mention the RS5 they start by making an excuse for it "the 4 wheel drive Audi" . if the weight was soo bad and effecting the drive, why ain't we seeing massive complains of oversteering? To me some of the reviews were really dumb, they couldn't point out what the car was doing wrong and had the gut to say M4 win just like that. The IS is also rigid and heavy lol and that car excels in crash tests. so why shouldn't i believe lexus if they say it also about safety? Weight issues will be determined by lap times. sometimes u might thing u feeling weight when it infact the it the speed you going that is too much and u dont notice because the care is easer to drive then let say a BMW M4

Exactly leopard08. l'm with you

hahaha lol even the LFA was not that light with all the carbon firbe and it took others a while to admit it as one of the best car ever made. IS f sport is also very heavy yet it outperforms the compation. dont you guys ever learn? So please guys leave lexus alone, lexus has long proved they can overcome weight.

Neither the LFA or ISF weigh nearly 4000lbs. And from the reviews, it does seem like its affecting the performance - both acceleration and handling.

You cant go read reviews that are based on one track and call it portable data. again LFA is very heavy for an all carbon firbe car and it get out accelerated by most super cars and yet it still the best car. What you guys are saying about the RCF is invalid for now until it is properly tested against it compatition

LFA weighed 3400 - 3500 lbs, which is still considered very light for supercars considering Aventador and F12 both weigh over 4000 - 4100 lbs. Even the SLS black series with all of the interior stripped out weighs 3700 lbs. LFA is considered the greatest because unanimously, it is deemed as a car that does everything exceptionally well. Not the fastest, but the greatest once everything is put together. The engine is also unmatched. Even acceleration wise, LFA had some of the fastest back straight speeds on the race track as it trounced majority of the supercars with more horsepower around the race track. At Nurburgring, LFA Nurburgring Edition hit 298 km/h on the long straight, which is still considered one of the fastest speeds on that straight. The 124 - 126 mph trap speed was a good indicator of how fast LFA was despite having poor traction off the line due to lack of proper grippy tires and a very conservative launch control that cut power. In some tests, they were getting 4.0 - 4.2 seconds 0 - 60 mph, which is laughable since they were stomping from idle without any launch. Still the 1/4 mile times mostly were between 11.4 - 11.6 seconds for European and American tests, which was considered one of the quickest back in 2009 - 2010.

the LFA was not heavy if we compare apples to apples SLR: 1700kg+ one-77: 1700kg+ LFA: 1600kg+/- front engined carbon fiber chassied cars are rare so there aren't alot of cars to compare

LFA was not heavy at all even for a carbon fiber super car. It was a front mid-engine layout so inherently it was a heavier than rear mid-engine design. Still most exotic super cars were heavier than the LFA. Porsche Turbo S, Audi R8 V10, SLS AMG, Ferrari 599 GTB, Ferrari 599 GTO, Ferrari F12, Aventador, LP560-4 etc. all of them were heavier than the LFA. MP4-12C is lighter than the LFA by 300 lbs because it has a rear mid-engine configuration, which eliminates heavy components like the propeller shaft etc. Most importantly all of the critics agreed that LFA handles like no other car. No hint of understeer. It had an extremely responsive engine and a rear biased chassis and suspension, which made it more oversteer and easily break the rear loose.

Indeed there is not a lot of innovation in the RC F, but that goes for the M3/M4 also. However, then engine is innovative, and probably one of the biggest advancements in NA high performance engines, for road cars. I hope we'll one day get camless engines. That would be a HUGE step for ICE.