The Lexus RC enters a stacked coupe competition, facing tough opposition from the likes of the BMW 4 Series, Mercedes C-Class coupe and Audi A5. So how does this Japanese competitor compare? Can the Lexus RC stand on its own two feet, or does its sportier brother the Lexus RC F make a more tantalising offer? Will most people prefer a racier driving experience? Mat answers all of the above and more in our 4k review of the Lexus RC.
The lexus rc now this is a really interesting coupe and it’s a great alternative to the german mainstream i mean this car is definitely very distinctive it’s going to stand out in a car park isn’t it and i just love those bold creases in the body work it’s it’s almost like they’ve done origami with metal look a swan fly free little bird fly free the thing i like
About this car is that you know it’s not just interesting on the outside it’s also interesting here on the inside there’s all these different folds and creases about the place and it does look very good now if you look around you can find one or two cheap bits of plastic which just let it down a bit but what it might not do perceived quality quite as well as the
Germans real quality is better than this car shouldn’t break at all in the rare event that it does you’ll then get to visit a lexus dealer and there’s some of the nicest folks on earth along with nurses and people on mdma and these seats they’re lovely lexus does great seats they’re so comfortable in this car and equipment is actually very good so this particular
Model is 37 000 pounds and you don’t really have to spend much on extras because it comes fully loaded pretty much the only ones on this car are the paint scheme and the upgraded infotainment system lexus has tried to go their own way with like this kind of touch pad mouse system like on a on a computer on a laptop and yeah it’s like they’ve tried to reinvent the
Wheel and come up with a square which doesn’t work very well and if you click up there on the card you can see our in-depth video review of the infotainment system and have a look around this car’s interesting cabin and well to finish off one thing i’ve noticed about it is that it lacks a little bit of practicality of the germans for instance the door bins look in
A german car that would fit in the door bin but these ones are a little bit small so yes that cubby spaces aren’t all that good and that brings us on to practicality so to get into the back you fold this seat forward and then it’s well it moves look at the speed of a lethargic snail forwards let’s get this one out your way but at least it moves under electric
Power you don’t have to do it yourself the problem with this car in the back is headroom you can see it’s really really tight you’ve also got very small little windows like portholes for you to peer out off and this seats in my usual driving position knee room is tight as well i wouldn’t want to go too far in the back of this car and then there’s things like this
Like i’m in cheap plastic down here with this little tray which is good for nothing also this car hasn’t got a ski hat so you can’t carry skis and two people in the back the seats do fold down though two-way split but yeah it’s one of the less practical coupes here in the back but you might fit style don’t you you don’t buy for its practicality and it’s a good job
Too because its boot is one of the smallest in this class now the opening it’s all right for getting stuff in and out but there’s not so much that you can actually load in it and it’s even worse with this hybrid version because the batteries eat into boot space so oh look i do have some underfloor storage but it’s only really good for storing your business cards
You do get a few tethering points here and there but on the whole yeah the boot space on this car is lacking compared to its rivals and if you want to see just how much stuff we could or couldn’t fit into this boot click up there to watch our in-depth practicality video you’ll also be able to see what it’s like with two adults in the back of the car and just how
Easy it is or isn’t to fit a baby seat well that’s all the practical stuff dealt with now let’s see what this car is like when you hit the road i’ve always liked lexus’s design but i’ve never been a huge fan with how their cars feel to drive but i think they finally got it right with this rc so the car i’m driving here is a 300h and i’ve got a 2.5 liter petrol
Engine up front mated to an electric motor and it drives the rear wheels via a cvt gearbox but if you twist this knob put the car into sports mode and use these pedals you actually get stepped gears like in a normal automatic it does an okay job of mimicking a normal auto but not quite good enough however if you back off the throttle put into normal you can just
Coast along on electric power alone and then it’s like eerily silent in here and that helps boost the economy so lexus claims his car will do 57 miles per gallon and actually looking at the trick computer because i’ve been driving it pretty carefully i’ve got 50 mpg the only problem is is that well because you’ve got the batteries the motor and an engine it’s
Quite a bit heavy say a or mercedes c-class coupe and that does affect performance so not 60 for this guy is about eight and a half seconds which really isn’t that quick for something that looks so sporty the other options they’re a two liter turbo petrol which is pretty quick or a really quick five liter v8 which is absolutely raucous however there are no diesels
But when you’re not killing that car that and all rc’s for that matter are pretty quiet to travel in and they’re comfortable too if you get the f sport model you get adaptive suspension and it also comes with a limited slip differential which helps boost traction when you’re exiting corners under power though to be fair i don’t think this rc is quite as sporty to
Drive as a bmw four series another problem i have compared to the four series is the visibility it’s just not as good yet the backs pretty bad there’s a huge pillar you might be able to see in the camera at the back as well and you can actually see it better if you click up there to watch my 360 degree video to be able to have a good look around this car’s cabin
By moving your phone about overall the lexus rc is pretty good but it does have a few annoying features seems a bit odd for us mostly high-tech car to have an old-fashioned foot-operated parking brake so let’s just go and style this beautiful car and then stop this horrible bit of plastic trim on it why the touch sensitive temperature control may look pretty
Cool but it’s actually quite hard to get the temperature you want there’s this annoying partition in the glove box which just limits its practicality somewhat however it’s not all bad the lexus rc still has plenty of cool features the headlamps have inbuilt cooling fans to increase the longevity of the bulbs the car sat nav can produce a qr code which you can
Scan with your phone so you can use your handset to direct you the rest of the way to your destination on foot these little winglets there they create vortices to help reduce drag and minimize wind whistle lexus employs special takumi crafts people with over 25 years experience to build this car they even wet sand the paintwork okay then so overall what do i think
Of the lexus rc well its infotainment system isn’t very good and rivals do feel more sporty but it’s still a very pleasant car to drive and it looks stunning now if you click up there you can get more information and find out the best deal you can get on alexis rc at car wow dot co dot uk thanks for watching if you enjoyed this video please like it share it and
Subscribe to our channel now did you spot the easter egg in this video it was the radio controller obviously the lexus rc radio controls get it anyway if you want to see in-depth videos of this cos practicality and its infotainment system plus a 360 degree passenger ride click over there on the boxes on the card up there
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Lexus RC 2018 coupe in-depth review | Mat Watson Reviews By carwow
