Rob RCF

Wow that monthly payment. My biggest problem with PCP is that they always have a really low cap on the deposit. You can increase the deposit amount which lowers the monthly payments, but only up to some low-ish percentage like maybe 10 or 20% of the total value. As an aside I think the track edition is pretty underrated if not for the high price. It's annoying that it gets the EU nerfed engine, but the weight savings and small improvements they have made all over the car should add up to quite a lot. You would get a lot of people trying to race you with that huge fixed rear wing though!

For the record, I'm now booked in with my RCF.

And on top of that I bet fuel economy was similar or worse than the RCF? Have you still got it?

Nice car! Years ago I knew the owner of the Dorset Japanese Car Club and he had a black RX7. One time he took me out for a drive in it, not the fastest thing by todays standards, but still a memorable drive as it was probably my first time in a legit sports car. We got a clear run on the dual carriage way and he put his foot down, the thing had no trouble pulling at higher speeds and felt very stable as it did so. I just remember the power being super smooth and linear. Special feeling car. I was driving a Honda CRX at the time, so an RX7 was practically an exotic car to me.

Barbeque might be a bit ambitious for April! Count me in though, I'll bring the RCF.

I've never been to Japfest, what exactly does a club stand entail? Is that how you exhibit your car rather than just leaving it in the car park?

There's a pretty good writeup here: https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a15103905/whats-the-diff-we-put-torque-vectoring-to-the-test-feature/ The main takeaways: Everyone seems to agree that they make vehicles feel more nimble. The planetary gearset acts as an overdrive gear to spin the wheel faster, the clutch pack slips against this "pushing" the outside wheel. Real world testing does show improved lap times and cornering g-forces.

I've seen that one too, he talks about how the clutch packs work, but not the planetary gearsets. It seems like very few people fully understand how they work.

Good info though it did feel a bit glossed over at the end. I wish they had gone into more detail about the difference between braking the inside wheel and actively sending torque to the outside wheel.

The press and hold method doesn't appear to work in my RC F. The button also looks different, wider with a third symbol showing the fresh air intake. It can be accessed through the menu though.

Huh, I assumed the auto button was just to allow it to recirculate air based on humidity or something. Didn't realise it has an exhaust gas sensor. Will try this in my RC. Thanks @sergeigto It tells you the feature is there, but gives no indication of how to access it.

Why bash EV cars? Electric is more promising than hydrogen or e-fuels.

Part of the beauty of the LFA is its relative simplicity - light weight, naturally aspirated V10, rear wheel drive. Twin turbocharged V8 hybrid sounds overly complex and heavy. But you never know, maybe they have found a way to make it smaller, lighter, more elegant. I kind of wish they would just stick to one thing though. If electric is the future then they should be trying to build an electric LFA eventually.

Don't tempt me! It's almost always a struggle to put power down this time of year, even with good tyres.

It's pretty cool, but I like the car OEM for now. And I like having an active wing to play with. Maybe once it's working properly the novelty will wear off.

And here's the owner's manual: Bit confusing having seemingly conflicting information!

Esso Synergy 99 is special though because it's 0% ethanol, unlike V-Power and Momentum etc. https://www.esso.co.uk/en-gb/fuels/petrol#:~:text=Although our pumps,Supreme%2B 99 pumps. In fact if you don't drive yours much then you have even more reason to use it because unlike ethanol-containing fuels it won't absorb water over time.

The RCF manual recommends 98 RON, but says you can still use 95 RON with no harm to the engine or driveability. The wording isn't totally clear, but the way I see it you should use at least 98 RON if you want the best from the engine (and the full 471bhp). For what it's worth, I've been using Esso Synergy Supreme 99 for about 3-4 full tanks now and I do think the engine feels a little better in its willingness to put out power, although it took at least 2-3 tanks of consistently using the same fuel. I realise that this could just be placebo, but there is good reason to believe that running the car consistently on a good fuel will make it perform better because the KCLV (knock correction learn value) is likely to improve.

Congrats! Looks clean. I'm a bit envious of your red leather interior. Enjoy it. I find it's a well balanced car overall in that it does everything well - looks good, comfortable, has a luxury interior and of course plenty of performance. It's also a really nice cruiser and even gets 30+ mpg on the motorway. And people respond well to it, though they usually don't know what it is. How are you finding the transmission? That was my biggest sticking point when I first got mine. Now that I'm more used to it and how it reacts in different modes and such I actually do like it. In fact the whole car seems to get better over time. There are quite a few of us in Hampshire, so keep an eye out. How does it compare to the Boxster?

Yeah, I saw one with a guy who owned a towing company and it managed to start a 6.0 truck with ease even though it only had 2 bars of charge. He said it gets used daily as well. Very reassuring, and honestly I'm surprised they don't cost a lot more. I picked one up at Halfords - even got a decent deal with my trade card. Assuming it lasts a few years it will pay for itself in peace of mind alone, even if I never have to use it.

Thanks for posting btw. I went to try and buy jumper cables a while back, but they didn't have beefy enough ones for the RCF and most cars would probably struggle to start it anyway. That power pack looks to make a lot more sense.

On the RC there's a keyhole hidden under the lip where the boot release is.

Huh, surely no one is starting a car through the cigarette lighter plug. The starter motor draws what like 700 Amps while the cigarette lighter wires can take maybe 30 lol. I thought @B1RMA just meant to get accessory power or maybe to charge the battery up a bit.

I'd be inclined to agree. Surely the whole point is that it's an override that can be used when the car is dead and you need to get it into neutral. Don't we get a flathead screwdriver and a few other tools under the floor in the boot tray? I'm sure that would fit.

Since I bought my RCF 6 months ago my active rear wing has had a problem where it would sometimes not activate/raise up. I first noticed this when washing my car, I would turn on the ignition and hit the spoiler button... nothing. Hit it again, maybe hold it down, then I would hear some clunking sounds coming from the rear. However then I would go for a drive later and it would work as normal again, raising up once I got over 50mph and responding to the button pushes etc. Recently this had been happening more and more frequently until I started noticing it refusing to raise up while driving as well. Well, I've now had Lexus Guildford take a look at it and after a bit of testing and me trying to explain how to reproduce the problem over the phone, they have actually found a problem with the mechanical linkage/motor which apparently is falling to bits and needs replacing. Not too surprising given the clunking sounds and reluctant/slow operation I experienced. As far as I know this will get sorted under warranty, so no issues there. Currently waiting on parts. I have heard of people having problems with the rear wings getting stuck up in the US, but iirc that was only on the earlier cars and had a recall. This seems to be a different problem with the wing getting stuck down. Hopefully it's just a one-off.