Video: Lexus RC F Feature on Top Gear

Posted by Kevin on March 2nd, 2015

The Lexus RC F made its feature appearance on Top Gear tonight with Jeremy Clarkson, and it was an absolute bloodbath — here’s the episode on Youtube, which will certainly be taken down shortly:

Clarkson trading in the RC F for the LFA halfway through the segment speaks volumes on his opinion — here are a few choice quotes:

I really don’t like this car. I don’t like the way it looks, I don’t like the way it goes, I don’t like the way it feels.

But what really annoys me, what really gets my goat, is that I know Lexus can do so much better.

I know that [the LFA] costs about five or six times more than the new RC F. And I know it’s full of carbon fiber and all sorts of clever engineering that you can’t reasonably expect to find down the fiscal food chain. But surely, they could have captured the spirit of this car, the essence, its soul, and transplanted that into the RC F.

(For whatever reason you want to watch the full review and the video is missing, Reddit has a full thread devoted to watching the episode.)

Comments

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DDas
March 2, 2015

Wow. That's horrible. The RCF is honestly an excellent vehicle. Yes, Lexus still has to work on things (like weight) but other than that, Lexus has done a fantastic job with it. I suggest everyone go on YouTube and dislike this video. It deserves it.

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DoingDamage
March 2, 2015

Damn shame. I've heard other reviews that weren't fond of the car either. At the end of the day, it will probably be more dependable than the others in the segment, but if it's not as fun as the others, then why buy it? I'm still cautiously optimistic about the GS-F.

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corradoMR2
March 2, 2015

As predicted, he was going to trash the weight, handling, and acceleration. What he (and some of the purists) fail to evaluate and notice is the RCF is a superior real world car.

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Factoryspirit
March 2, 2015

I'm a huge Lexus fan who prefers it over the European offerings, I always defend them when they are questioned, but I am disappointed in what was a pretty clear, no brainer for Lexus. They invested major money on building the LFA to gain carbon fiber, weight reduction knowledge, and eventually have it trickle down into their other F models, and the very first F model to follow goes completely the opposite direction. It's inconsistent and very disappointing. The next issue will be in the lighter weight, yet severely underpowered GSF going up against the competition. It's always one thing lacking that can make them the best in their competitive class.

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krew
March 2, 2015

Testing the connection.

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Hamed Al Sayes
March 2, 2015

I kinda agree about this ... Because people in here Middle-East specifically the UAE. It is REALLY HEAVY for an amazing car like this WORST then that it is a COUPE car! but still I would LOVE to get it for my daily drive!!

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Axel
March 2, 2015

lol as lexus enthusiast never take these negative reviews serious. Clackson is going to change his mind soon about this car. He didn't give the car to the stig because in a shot track like top gear track this car was gonna embarras the M3. since when the RCF cant corner like he claims. Remember when the LFA came out, he bashed it just like this.

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Jonas
March 2, 2015

Disgracefull. Clarkson that is. It is obvious that he kept an LFA waiting by, to use after he put the RC F of tracks. Conclusion, he was biased and knew he would cut the RC to pices before he Evenås har tried to drive it on track. The guy is not serious. Even worse, it was just a show. Make the most for the money. Looking careful on many rewievs, the RC and the BMW are just different cars, turbo and V 8... Looking even more carefull, the M4 had the fastast lag, but many slow ones to, would just Love to see the RC and the M4 compete over 10 or more laps, the RC just punshing out similar Times', the M4 puts the tail out, and you have to be a stig to do better... You dont ned to like lexus ut Clarkson, realy the Guy is just a joke...

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ACEtheOG
March 2, 2015

The RC-F is a good car, but it's achilles heel is it's weight. Imagine the conversation right now if the RC-F (1800ish kg) weighed in M4 territory (1600ish kg)? To put the differential into perspective, thats two, 200+ lbs adults! While I agree the RC-F does a great job at hiding the weight, the laws of physics remains. Clarkson was over the top and he does paint an unfair picture, but Lexus chose to make this thing heavy and it's what everyone is pointing at. I'll wait till I drive it, but I think the new C63 is going to crush this segment.

J
Jonas
March 2, 2015

Tried to make a comment earlier. Shame on Clarkson. The rewiev Wasa obviously biased. He just kept an LFA on the side, just to change for, after he ditched the RC? Direct evidence, that he had decided to kill the RC, before even driving it on track. Conclusion, he just makes a stunt, for the hel and money of it... Seriously, no way. The RC and the M4 are just different, V8 and turbo blaha... And the RC is just better, all around and for daisy use... Other rewievs suggest, the M4 had the fastest lap, of meny. But the RC had similar laptimes all the time, the M4, tail out all over, had many laps with bad laptimes... Should be interesting to see them compete 5, 10 or more laps... You need to be a Stig to even hade a chance, buy the most drivers world fare better with the RC... Clarkson, you are a joke, a pence serious guy, but noe, pohhh, Will never look at top gear again...

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phm14
March 2, 2015

The RCF "review" is exactly the type of drivel I expect from Clarkson. He did the same thing to the ISF, which I own and love. He drools all over the BMWs he drives, which makes me wonder what kind of compensation he receives for being such a pathetic shill. The RCF and M4 were timed around the same track with Randy Probst driving with a .3 second lap time difference. Clarkson is an asshat. Buy a new BMW today, and within a year, the stats indicate you'll be on a first name basis with your local service adviser inside of a year.

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LexusSteve
March 3, 2015

Jeremy Clarkson proved, he doesn't get the point of Lexus F. He complained about the 1.) weight 2.) power 3.) looks. I had a good laugh watching him put it into expert and put it in the grass. I also re-fell in love with the LFA. Clarkson had a negative opinion of the car before he even drove it, and it shows. If he did a blind test drive of the car, (i.e. no logo's, not knowing the weight) I bet his review would be different. Anyone can purposely drive a car into the grass, by purposely trying to make the car handle worse than it does. It was a rather childish 'review' in my opinion, if you can even call it that.

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DoingDamage
March 3, 2015

I think I get it. Lexus prides itself on dependability. It wants all its cars to be daily drivers without having to bring it in to repair this and that. So, its F cars are more sportier versions, but they won't go crazy. The LF-A showed what they could do, without limits. The LF-A was meant to be owned by millionaires. The F cars are for regular people looking for a more dependable sports car than your M class or AMG. While the beemers and benzes will beat them in a straight line, how happy will the owners be after 3 years? While i think this is small wake up call for Lexus, having people complain about the weight and lack of spirit, they do what they do well: make dependable cars. Lexus is the tortoise in the race.

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RCF Grandpa
March 3, 2015

The RCF is a fantastic car. I had an ISF, owned Corvettes and other muscle cars. This tops them all!

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LexusSteve
March 3, 2015

He totally had The STIG test it, and when he saw the numbers, he was like "I can't trash the RC F with those respectable numbers. Lets not show that segment." This is mass media at it's finest. I still laugh when he switched it to Expert mode, and my immediate thoughts were: "Clarkson, you're no expert. SMH." Clarkson did 2 things to make the RC F look bad, and he failed in doing so. He 1st tried to show how bad it handled, which was really a display of how he cannot actually drive, and then he tried to compare the RC F to a $400,000 car. So yes. The RC F sucks... but only when compared to the LFA. Not bad for a ~$70,000 car.

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PaulA
March 4, 2015

Question: Which weighs more, the RC F or Clarkson's ego ? Every time I watch one of these "Genius in Residence", I forget this is a televison show. Telivison shows need money to keep the power turned on. That money comes from advertisers and industry sources. When a person is given this type of job, and they are paid not so indirec It just so happens When I watch this guy I have the urge to jump into the screen and ask him how many customers on their way to school drift their RC at every turn in the road? When was the last time your Uncle bought a new car only to later see Clarkson's show and find out the car is to heavy!!!! Now that is a real slap in the face! "My car is too heavy and this man say's that's bad.....I'm not sure what parts are to heavy? Is there a support group for an obese RC F?" Paul LOC

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Ion Adrian
March 7, 2015

How long it takes for Lexus to make a (very) good turbo engine for RC F and put it on the car to teminate the BMW M4, because I think will do easily ?!!!? ....

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Jonas
March 10, 2015

Just love apple ... Död not check the text, but presume you understand...

Video: Lexus RC F Feature on Top Gear

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