Lexus is reaching out to the fashionably young by reintroducing a 2-door sports coupe; and it’s banking on time-proven quality and bodacious styling to sell. Who wants a piece of the 2015 Lexus RC 350?
In recent times, Lexus realised that a huge slice of the automobile pie — the premium sports car sector — aimed at younger, sportier-by-nature customers was being devoured by the BMW 4-Series coupe (previously 3-Series Coupe), the Audi A5 and Mercedes’ now decommissioned C-Class coupe. Even Cadillac has jumped on the bandwagon with the ATS Coupe. Now Lexus wants in… and its answer is the 2015 Lexus RC coupe. This is Lexus’s first hardtop coupe after almost 15 years since the demise of its earlier hardtop convertible, the SC 430.
Design & Aesthetics ‘Bodacious to the bone,’ is the phrase that comes to mind when you see a brand-new 2015 Lexus RC Coupe. In the right lighting, and the right trim, this car really looks like something special… something previously associated with the LF-LC concept coupe that inspired its design and, of course, the LFA supercar that preceded it (which, by any measure, was one heck of a car).
The slim squinting eyes, the filter-resembling rear styling cue, and the slim window lines give it the sharpest lines in the industry. The spindle grille remains the crux of the RC’s design portfolio. The 350 gets chrome vertical slats while the F and F-Sport get a more aggressive honeycomb-like texture. All full three-eye LED lighting and tick-mark shaped daytime running lamps are neatly tucked away in deeply contoured front fenders.
The surfaces are much softer in profile, as evident in the gently sloped roofline. The window surrounds have chrome, with a pulled-back effect rearward to create a sense of motion. And the mildly-flared wheel arches give it a latent muscular look. So far, so good!
It is the rear looks that don’t thrill us. Even with all that 3D sculpting, it looks the part of a modern-day Camry with some aftermarket add-ons. The rear bumper is flanked by a slatted feature that might seem enigmatic, but is actually just gimmicky. I’m not too impressed with the trapezoidal fixed exhausts, but that seems to be the way the industry is going. The good bit, however, is that the large tailgate gives you easy access for luggage.
From the fighter jet looks of it, you’d think it would slice through air effortlessly, yet even with door-fitted stabilising fins on the rear lights and a flat undercarriage, it only achieves a drag coefficient of 0.30. Respectable, but not groundbreaking.
Then, come the wheels: the standard 18”, 5-spoke wheels are nice, the multi-spoke 19” ones, not so much. Luckily, the top of the range RC F gets gorgeous 19” wheels. Sooner or later, manufacturers need to understand that rims can make or break the overall appeal of a car.
The interior is LFA-inspired, and happens to be a carbon copy of the IS sedan. It has futuristic elements mixed with some 80s styling: well-defined straight lines interspersed with curved contours. For a car that seems ahead of its time, you have conventional vents in lateral formation. You also have an analogue clock. The temperature controls are pretty nifty: you can either slide up or down to increase or decrease magnitude or simply press the scale touch-sensitive panel.
For a change, the steering is round and not flat-bottomed. It’s still a 3-spoke type but reasonably thick, with an extra-large Lexus badge and aluminium trims on the lower spoke. It comes with plenty of buttons and knobs for telephone, voice recognition, information display, cruise control, and there are paddle shifters behind the wheel.
We like that the shift lever is chunky enough to be gripped and easy to find. You can also dress the cabin up in genuine shimamoku wood highlights, which, apparently, takes Lexus 38 days to build. The roof lining has the texture of Nike DriFit material, although we’d prefer alcantara in the higher models. Funky red upholstery comes only with the F-Sport pack — everything else gets black, grey, beige and brown.
Good news, ladies — there is a pseudo-2-seater in the rear which is best suited as a handbag shelf. Anyone younger than 10 would find it uncomfortable back there, but you do have rear AC vents and a one-button convenience to get into the rear cabin, which is good! Also, it’s good to see Lexus incorporate a sunroof into its curved rooftop.
Powertrain & Performance
Neatly tucked away under plastic panels is a longitudinally-placed 3.5L V6 aluminium block that has both port and direct injection just like the Lamborghini Huracan we tested last week. In the RC hierarchy, the 350 with 308bhp and 378Nm of torque is the sane civilised brother, while the 400-plus bhp RC F is the kook.
The unit is mated to an 8-speed Sport Direct Shift, which is basically a slush-box automatic. Transitioning through gear ratios is smooth, but shifts aren’t nearly as quick as with a dual-clutch transmission, which is especially noticeable during spirited driving sessions. Also, you can’t use the cruise control while on manual mode.
Now, when you buy a sports coupe, you want it to be quick off the line, have power on demand… that kind of thing.
a 0 to 100km/h time of 5.8 seconds and, for most purposes, you have speed, but it’s not as enthralling as we were expecting. It is more comfortable at part-throttle and useful for zipping through town or while overtaking.
There is a Drive Mode Selector to help suit your driving mood. In Sport and Sport+, the dials change from white to red as the revs climb. It does run flat through corners and the rear-wheel drive chassis is rigid enough to handle a lot more velocity and g-force without being thrown off in a turn. The DRS, which steers the wheels, improves turning radius at low speed and stability at high-speed.
Features & Functionality
Lexus, being the luxury arm of Toyota, is bound to equip all its vehicles with the most cosseting features, whether it’s comfort or convenience. The base car — called Prestige — priced at Dh180,000, comes with a 10-speaker Lexus premium audio system, hill start assist, synthetic leather and smart entry as standard.
Up next is the 210k Platinum, which adds Lexus’s slightly-outdated navigation, genuine leather, pre-crash radar, cruise control, electric power steering with tilt and telescope, lane change blind spot and rear cross traffic alert, lane keeping and departure alert. Basically, everything you want in a luxury coupe.
The very aggressively stylised F-sport pack can be added for a few extra thousands. The optional 835W 17-speaker Mark Levinson system is considered credible by most, but we didn’t think it was particularly spectacular. You get two USB ports and aux-in. With the RC, you also get heated and cooled seats, which is always a good thing in this part of the world.
The 60:40 split seat-back in the rear allows you to accommodate items up to 1,500mm in length and with the rear seats in their normal position, the 374L boot can accommodate two golf bags. On the safety front, you have the reassurance of eight airbags, remote anti-theft alarm, front and rear parking sensors, child seat anchors, engine immobiliser, stability and traction control and a rear camera. That’s ticking all boxes!
Verdict
To the self-indulgent individual with singular needs — this is the car for you. The 2015 Lexus RC is a quality proposition that embodies bodacious styling and a feature listing that will trump your comfort needs. Those who wish to take a sabbatical to enjoy the savagery of a full-blown motor can get the RC F; the 350 however, is more an everyday speedster that you can take to work. The lack of an emphatic exhaust note and cramped seats may be a bit of a concern, but that aside, this is will appeal to both the mainstream and the hipster crowd.
