RCF Track edition review

[liambart]

Reads well and looks good. 

https://driving.ca/lexus/rc-f/reviews/first-drive/first-drive-2020-lexus-rc-f

[mrfunex]

Wonder if the revised gearbox mapping is available for other cars...

[Stuno1]

Nice weight saving at 65kg. Would be good if the gearbox could be mapped but I would be more interested in if the engine can be mapped to get the more torque lower in the rev range like these cars. That would be awesome and genuine real world benefit. 

[Guest]

I suspect it is the gears giving the low down down drive - a gearbox is a torque multiplier, that's its job. Much easier than trying to get it from the engine. I would also assume different ratios not a laptop job.

Its like: shall I spend 10 years training my fingers to be like Superman or just use this spanner ( torque multiplier ).

Sent from my BV5800 using Tapatalk

[B1RMA]

I'm sure it's a nice car and may appeal to more buyers but personally speaking I can't see the point. I'm guessing a lot of these are probably sold via PCP deals as that seems to be the way things are these days.

For me if I wanted a more track focused car I'd buy a secondhand and nearly new RCF with AVS, TVD etc for say £45K then buy a track focused car for £25K that way I'd still be under the budget of this new model and be able to get trackday insurance cover for the trackday car allowing me at least 10-12 visits per year. As a few of my friends have found out the cost of insuring their Aston Martins for the day was more than I paid for a year insuring my VX220 turbo track day car, plus you could really enjoy the limits of the car without worrying about binning it.

I enjoy driving but have found these days with sneaky speed camera vans (i do have a Road Angel Pure detector) hiding on my favourite twisty roads those 'moments ' when you can really enjoy your car are becoming less and less.

The standard RCF can still do smooth and comfortable really well then at the press of a few buttons do crazy quite well too. Which was the main reason I bought it as I find more of my driving on todays roads seems to be a little more sedate. OK more focussed cars like the M3-4, Alfa Quad, AMG are perhaps a bit more involving but in my opinion I find I'm not driving at 7/10th's all the time which is what they are good at but I found it a bit too much during an extended test drive in them.

As anyone knows who has owned a car with carbon ceramic brakes they are good but if you go off the circuit into the kitty litter you could be in for a very expensive bill if they get chipped.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, B1RMA said:

 personally speaking I can't see the point.

Me either and what's the betting using it on track invalidates the warranty 

 

[B1RMA]

1 hour ago, Comedian said:

Me either and what's the betting using it on track invalidates the warranty 

 

I agree, oh there irony invalidating your warranty for using your track edition car on track.

[noby76]

45 minutes ago, B1RMA said:

I agree, oh there irony invalidating your warranty for using your track edition car on track.

sure a second hand  Caterham 7, highly tuned Mazda MX-5 or Honda S2000 will be a much cheaper, fun and a better track day car. 

[Stuno1]

Not sure what people don’t get? Yes it appeals to a small audience but it appeals. I love cars like this. You can drive them to a track, European road trips Nd them to Sainsbury. All with having room for kids in the back and golf clubs in the boot. If track days do invalidate warranty that would surprise me and would be daft. 

 

As for the car and what it offers I think it’s superb. 

[noby76]

17 minutes ago, Stuno1 said:

Not sure what people don’t get? Yes it appeals to a small audience but it appeals. I love cars like this. You can drive them to a track, European road trips Nd them to Sainsbury. All with having room for kids in the back and golf clubs in the boot. If track days do invalidate warranty that would surprise me and would be daft. 

 

As for the car and what it offers I think it’s superb. 

Thing is majority of the time it will be an uncomfortable daily drive due to the track setup of the car.. this is a quote from the link below regarding Lexus warranty but don't quote me on it. best to check with Lexus UK

The world's largest automaker agrees with this policy. We confirmed that Toyota's warranty does not cover cars on a race track. And that policy includes performance models like the 2017 Toyota 86 and all Lexus models, including the F Performance line. That's right, the warranty does not make exception for the IS F, RC F, or GS F.

https://www.autoblog.com/2017/02/27/new-car-warranty-valid-race-track/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAH_Okkx1u802K7C0EdI8n_i5ZjJmTVFNz9t_Ziyr6GMd7VmbQHbb3l5pIH8tYH1zxsBZAdw-0Z_nxoXP0LOBCWu53ulz55euaS90Cu1OzcyDJxmtcRGJRkzvD8Jrqk7E1JHIFiV_oeqKcsi0mUhTGbmAgh1K0a3cz_9SGCmxistt

 

[B1RMA]

23 minutes ago, Stuno1 said:

Not sure what people don’t get? Yes it appeals to a small audience but it appeals. I love cars like this. You can drive them to a track, European road trips Nd them to Sainsbury. All with having room for kids in the back and golf clubs in the boot. If track days do invalidate warranty that would surprise me and would be daft. 

 

As for the car and what it offers I think it’s superb. 

My point was that yes it is a nice car but it's fair to say that the RCF is not really that good a track day car, check out the Chris Harris video on the RCF. Very few cars within the sensible price range are good at both road and track. So if you like the RCF for the money if you are inclined to do the track day thing you might as well buy a car more suited and I would dare say more fun on track for the price of a new RCF track edition you could buy a decent RCF and a trackday car and still have plenty of change left to run the trackday car

[Stuno1]

16 minutes ago, B1RMA said:

My point was that yes it is a nice car but it's fair to say that the RCF is not really that good a track day car, check out the Chris Harris video on the RCF. Very few cars within the sensible price range are good at both road and track. So if you like the RCF for the money if you are inclined to do the track day thing you might as well buy a car more suited and I would dare say more fun on track for the price of a new RCF track edition you could buy a decent RCF and a trackday car and still have plenty of change left to run the trackday car

But then you have 2 cars to maintain and all the costs that go with it. Personally I would rather buy the rcf track edition and use it as a toy/weekend car and track car like I did with my lotus Evora.

I can’t comment on how firm the suspension is and as such if it would grate on long road trips but I doubt it would be an issue. For me this is what I wanted from the rcf in the first place. A car that is good on track and on road. No car aiming for both will ever be perfect at both but it’s capable of both with a track bias making it more enjoyable than the current rcf. I think the buyer for this is almost a different person buying the rcf.

[B1RMA]

18 minutes ago, Stuno1 said:

But then you have 2 cars to maintain and all the costs that go with it. Personally I would rather buy the rcf track edition and use it as a toy/weekend car and track car like I did with my lotus Evora.

I can’t comment on how firm the suspension is and as such if it would grate on long road trips but I doubt it would be an issue. For me this is what I wanted from the rcf in the first place. A car that is good on track and on road. No car aiming for both will ever be perfect at both but it’s capable of both with a track bias making it more enjoyable than the current rcf. I think the buyer for this is almost a different person buying the rcf.

I take your point but I've always run a few cars at the same time, and having done trackdays for about 30 odd years now I have concluded personally that there are cars you buy for the road and cars you buy for the track. Having said that you have run an Evora which along with the Boxster S i owned are two of the very limited number of cars for sensible money that can do both very well.

I just think for Lexus to make the RCF a good trackday car it will take more than what they seem to have done to it, but I remain on the fence until a few decent drivers have taken it around a few tracks. But my conclusion still remains the same, buy a decent late RCF and a good track oriented car for the price of one track edition RCF.

I still think manufacturers and salesman who push ceramic brakes for customers to use on a car for track use are just after money/commission because most people I have met on trackdays who have a car with them fitted as standard have taken their ceramic discs off stored them carefully away and bought steel replacements. OK unsprung weight is a factor but as I'm not a driving God I hadn't really noticed much difference in the handling but did appreciate being able to brake harder and later and never boiling my brakes. But all this would be worthless if you chip them on track by landing up in the kitty litter.

[ColinBarber]

On 4/12/2019 at 7:15 AM, Stuno1 said:

Nice weight saving at 65kg. Would be good if the gearbox could be mapped but I would be more interested in if the engine can be mapped to get the more torque lower in the rev range like these cars. That would be awesome and genuine real world benefit. 

There is no gearbox change, other than the removal of snow mode on the 2019 models. There is a tiny physical change to the intake, and the intake control valve opens at a lower rpm.

No changes to the engine for Europe, same as the 2018 model (i.e. down on power compared to pre-2018 models).

There is no change to the rear diff, expect for South Korea which gets a lower drive ratio, for all RC F, not just track edition.