1st Generation Lexus RC 300, 350, F and Track Edition Megathread

mikeavelli

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Faisal Sheikh

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That blue is gorgeous. RCF is now in its 8th year of production. It must be one of the longest selling Lexus models ever. Next year must be the last year since the RCF GT3 racing campaign will also end by 2023 (thus, eliminating the need for a production road-going version of RCF in order to fulfill homologation requirements).
 
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mikeavelli

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That blue is gorgeous. RCF is now in its 8th year of production. It must be one of the longest selling Lexus models ever. Next year must be the last year since the RCF GT3 racing campaign will also end by 2023 (thus, eliminating the need for a production road-going version of RCF in order to fulfill homologation requirements).

He is right. The IS F was 7 years. RC F is now 8. Where does the time go!
 

Gecko

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It genuinely looks pretty. I wish that the normal RC F was like this out of the gate and the Track Edition was even better than this.

Agreed. With the birth of F SPORT Performance, I think the type of execution we see in the RC F TE/Fuji Speedway Edition is Lexus' vision for future F products.
 

Smychavo

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I've been as interested in this car as the LC, and the Supra. How's it stack up driving-wise against those two? How good is the audio system on the RC F by comparison? Seeing the used prices for them seem very compelling despite the current state of things.
 

Faisal Sheikh

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I've been as interested in this car as the LC, and the Supra. How's it stack up driving-wise against those two? How good is the audio system on the RC F by comparison? Seeing the used prices for them seem very compelling despite the current state of things.

As you can see from review videos above, RCF and RCF TE most directly compete in the M4, C63, RS5 or Mustang GT, Mach 1, Camaro SS segment with focus on similar attributes. Luxury, practicality, street drivability combined with track performance for a few track days a year. LC500 is a full-on luxury, halo car that was built with the similar focus as Aston Martin cars, S-Class or BMW 6-series as the closest examples. I see it as a modern day V8 Vantage. While they both have the same engine, the dimensions, size, weight, figures etc. are all different.

Supra on the other hand was developed a small, 2-seater sports car and it has a turbocharged i6 engine (B58) so it is like a Cayman, BMW M2 or 12c. Small and lightweight car that is still comfortable and daily drivable, but has a small trunk and no rear seat.

Regarding audio, I have the 17 speaker 835 watt Mark Levinson system in my RCF carbon/TVD. It is a great system, but I rarely ever use it since I drive the car for the driving experience/sound. I don't know how it compares with LC500, but I assume LC500 has the better ML stereo as it is a newer more up to date version of ML system as RCF was designed way back in 2013.

Nowadays, even the cheapest mint condition, lower mileage (30 - 50K miles) and well maintained old 2015-2016 RCF are around $50K and a few grand more for the carbon fiber/TVD version 2due to inflation and chip shortage.

This is a video of my RCF in a tunnel with some mods on it so you can see why I never use my ML stereo. Still audio does not do justice, though. This soundtrack is not possible in the Supra.