Top Gear

[stevet]

The RC is on Top Gear tomorrow. As long as they don't prattle on about how much better the M4 is on the track it should be good.

[wendle]

i don't think it matters how good it is, Jeremy Clarkson is driving it, and you know how much he likes Lexus cars (NOT).

except when his ford kept breaking down and he called out Quentin Wilson in his LS400 to come and rescue him on more than one occation.

[rayaans]

i don't think it matters how good it is, Jeremy Clarkson is driving it, and you know how much he likes Lexus cars (NOT).

except when his ford kept breaking down and he called out Quentin Wilson in his LS400 to come and rescue him on more than one occation.

He did rather like the LFA though didnt he?

And the latest NX review by him was pretty decent considering the car's flaws. He also mentioned that he liked the look of the RC-F when it was on their news "sitting around the TV" bit last season.

[mikeyv]

Piston heads did a test v M4 last week and, amazingly, the overall opinion of the forum was definitely pro Lexus, a first in my experience, particularly when the opposition is BMW.

Maybe the tide is on the turn, lets face it, exclusivity has gone now, German cars are as common now as Fords and Vauxhalls once were.

[aviator888]

Slated on Top Gear :/ as excpected..

[Stuno1]

He liked it then!! Lol

[stevet]

Yes, exactly how I thought. Didn't test driving down normal roads where 99.999% of time they are driven.

[matt-c]

Did any of you actually expect the car to be tested on normal roads in everyday mundane situations? Of course it's going to be tested on their track and pushed hard. If you want to know what it's like on the A1 and B1043, go book yourself a test drive at Lexus. ****....

[wendle]

Slated on Top Gear :/ as excpected..

FOR SALE

Lexus RCF, excellent condition, low millage, only problem is

it wont go sideways round a track, offers.

[LexIS200Sport]

All said and done, I'm still baffled as to why the RC-F is so heavy!?

A smaller 2-door coupe that weighs as much as my battery-laden GS??

I mean Nissan managed to pack AWD into the GT-R and it still weighs less!

[mikeyv]

Forgot it was on, so didn't turn tv on till he was wrapping up the "test", saying not worth handing to stig.

Having watched the rest of the utter tosh, I wish I'd forgotten altogether.

You can never find an avalanche when you need one.

[3 MSF]

Shame they DIDN'T give The Stig the car as he would've made Mr Clarkson look the fool. How can you even listen to a man that goes on about a car having 'more torques...' - not exactly familiar with terms you might reasonably expect of a qualified, knowledgeable automotive journalist...

He hadn't a clue about how to set the car up, and the torque vectoring differential told him who was boss when he tried to drive it like a lunatic. The Stig would've certainly showed a very different car, one more capable than Mr Clarkson was qualified to show.

I own an M4 and had the pleasure of test-driving the RCF today and they are very different vehicles, so why insist on judging all by the same limited criteria? In numerous ways, the Lexus gives so much more on the 'emotional quality' front, and would, without a doubt, provide you with a more than credible alternative as your every-day driver.

Poor show Jeremy - very poor.

[Stuno1]

Whether he liked it or not it should have been given a chance to put in a time.

It wasn't just this part of the show that was awful. The entire show was poor. It is getting worse and worse with every passing year.

[lee789]

Jeremy Clarkson hates most cars that costs less than £100k, especially if they have a Lexus badge. Apart from the LFA, I don't think he has ever had anything nice to say about the brand. Top Gear is utter contrived rubbish now, and last night I found myself hoping that Hammond would get mauled by a grizzly, and Clarkson and May would get marooned in a snow drift, and perish from hypothermia. The show now has very little to do with cars, and more to do with three middle aged men acting like silly schoolboys, obsessed with their own genitalia. My money is on Clarkson making more inappropriate comments, and being sacked before too long. As cars are the second biggest purchase most of us make, there really should be a decent weekly TV show that looks at ORDINARY cars in a sensible and informative way.

[aviator888]

Jeremy Clarkson hates most cars that costs less than £100k, especially if they have a Lexus badge. Apart from the LFA, I don't think he has ever had anything nice to say about the brand. Top Gear is utter contrived rubbish now, and last night I found myself hoping that Hammond would get mauled by a grizzly, and Clarkson and May would get marooned in a snow drift, and perish from hypothermia. The show now has very little to do with cars, and more to do with three middle aged men acting like silly schoolboys, obsessed with their own genitalia. My money is on Clarkson making more inappropriate comments, and being sacked before too long. As cars are the second biggest purchase most of us make, there really should be a decent weekly TV show that looks at ORDINARY cars in a sensible and informative way.

Very fair comment :) Clarkson has got one good characteristic- he does not give a **** when it comes to car reviews. While most motor journalists are too scared to say anything negative, because they would be out of work very soon after.

That being said, every single Lexus indeed gets badly slated on Top Gear. Who can afford the LFA? Very few people in this whole forum have even seen one in real life.

[Scoops]

I quite enjoy Top Gear and to be honest I wasn't surprised with the review - he is pretty clear about the kind of car he likes and while the LFA is out of reach for most normal person I feel he wanted the RC to be a cheaper LFA..

I guess the only people to tell will be those who have had the M4 and can say from experience what the difference really is. The driving you or I would do if we had either vehicle isn't even comparable to a Top Gear track test of course but then they weren't really trying to give a balanced car review were they?

I don't think M4 and RCF drivers are really looking for the same thing but Lexus don't help themselves by directly pitching the two against each other. If you have seen the comparison video from Lexus they talk about the greater power output but don't compare them driving directly. They don't talk about weight but they do talk about extending sun visors and a frameless rear view mirror!! Holy moly, if you were in the market for either cars would that even be on the radar?

I get the need to flag the RCF as an M4 rival from a sales perspective but from what I have read and as 3 MSF states above, they really are very different cars..

[3 MSF]

Have Lexus pitched the RCF up against the M4?? I thought that was more the media; Lexus have been at pains to state that they have built the car from the aspalt up with the goal of providing 'accessible driving performance'. I've not seen any official Lexus material pitting the RCF against the M4, although I think we have all naturally assumed this, and the media have cemented that belief, but Ian has correctly underlined (IMHO) that they are vehicles with completely different characteristics; one is a track car for the road, and the the other is a powerful. luxurious GT 2+2...

[Scoops]

Have they pitched it against the M4? I would say so - check this out:

I get what you are saying though - the media need an angle and it is easy to stick the two together when, as you say, they aren't the same thing. In fairness to Lexus UK they aren't mentioning the comparison from what I have seen.

For the record I would be happy with either vehicle!

[lee789]

I'd take the RFC over the M4 anyday. Whatever Clarkson says, the car looks stunning to me. Who cares if it doesn't handle like a racing car under harsh acceleration around a track. The M4 is a fine vehicle, but it's a BMW. Virtually everybody and his best mate owns a BMW, and they all look similar, and they all have virtually identical generic interiors. Boring. Aside from that, you can spend 20% or more of the basic cost of the car to get to a decent spec level. At least with Lexus you get an excellent amount of standard kit, fixed price servicing, reasonable extended warranty costs, and good parts availability. You are also driving something a bit special and much more individual.

[3 MSF]

Very well put Lee. I couldn't agree more...

[Venator]

http://www.pistonheads.com/tv/film/bmw-m4-versus-lexus-rcf-drag-race

[lee789]

From the video it seems that Top Gear might have fixed the drag race they had last week. The RCF is clearly ahead, although the M4 is catching up quickly. It either proves that what Clarkson says is biased tosh, or he can't drive.

[3 MSF]

Well, he put the RCF into 'expert' then rapidly went off into the grass...

Nuff said :D

[lee789]

How true. I think he displayed his contempt for Lexus by refusing to "waste time" sending the Stig to do a lap. Either that or he was afraid he would be shown up as a true "gentlemen's sausage".

[wendle]

I pick my RC-F up tomorrow and the least of my concerns are

what Mr Clarkson thinks of it, 0-60 times and how fast it will go round a
track.

However it seems to me like you can fix any drag race, in

the clip it looked like the BMW had major traction problems with smoke Cumming
from the rear tyres for most of the race, the BMW as mentioned above seem to be
catching the RC-F quite quickly towards the end of the race, so if the drag
race was 300 yards longer the result may have been different, which I find odd
because most of the reviews I have read have said that the RC-F lacks low end
torque so the race should have been the other way round with the RC-F catching
the BMW up.

So only 14 hours to go, am I excited well yes, will I sleep

tonight well no actually I start work at 10.30pm till 05.30am.