Dan Neil Reviews the 2015 Lexus RC 350 F SPORT


Dan Neil of the Wall Street Journal chooses style over substance in his review of the 2014 Lexus RC 350 F SPORT:

Online bullying is wrong, OK? So many of my Facebook friends are down on the Lexus RC 350 because it’s a weird fatty. That is so uncool.

There was obviously a lot of anxiety in the styling studio about the RC’s sportiness—and rightly so, since the RC 350 F Sport is escargot fantastique—and that led to the car’s one unforgivable sin: those fake rear evacuators in the lower rear bumper clip. These black composite strakes—like frills, or eyelashes, or nose hair, or hair in worse parts still if you listen to my FB friends—are pasted into the functionless slots. That is a no-no in $50,000-ish sport coupes.

My last, from-the-gut response: Lexus’s design has given this car a highly focused, intense face, a mighty, furrowed brow. But it looks like it’s trying to remember its wife’s social security number.

It’s apt that the title of Neil’s review is “Lots of Pomp, Too Little Circumstance”, as I feel it’s an accurate description of his writing on this occasion — there’s far too much nitpicking and grasping at straws trying to be clever for his FB friends. Not his best work, to be sure.

Read the full Dan Neil review of the Lexus RC 350 F SPORT

Lexus RC: First GenerationReviews
Comments
T
  • T
    ThePenguin
  • May 6, 2015
While I can't say that the rear strakes are my favorite feature of the RC, together as a whole the car looks effing fantastic. Everything works together well. He should have gotten a press car in another color, such as Infrared or USB, so the strakes didn't grab so much attention.
W
  • W
    Willabus
  • May 6, 2015
He makes some good points about the stance and manufacturing process. Fortunately I think these issues will be addressed by the new TNGA platform. Unfortunately the RC models will probably not be updated to this new structure until the next major refresh in 5-7 years.
G
I was in that Facebook conversation! Haha Back in the days, there was not a lot to enjoy in regards to automotive materials, so I was often very excited by Mr. Neil's Wednesday Highway I articles in the LA Times. Then, he moved to WSJ, and I soon realized how relieved I was to stop reading his Lexus bashing. I could not believe how excited I got from seeing his picture and automotive article featured at the LA Times headquarters, and I later understood that I was just excited about anything car-related or Lexus-related. Then, the internet took his place, and reading the usual car magazines was not much fun either. It is one thing to have an opinion, but it is another to selfishly complain about everything with bias. Jeremy Clarkson's articles would praise a Lexus if he honestly enjoyed something; sometimes, he would compliment with a sarcastic complaint, at least. Anyway, things are a little different nowadays, and I am just thankful that I canceled my WSJ subscription and all of its biases in just about every category. Car-loving has returned to this world, and I can certainly thank Top Gear and Disney Pixar for that! What is the point I am trying to make here? Mmm... A non-F V8 RC would be nice! Sometimes, I just want the good ol' cushy Lexus with ample power.

G