Test Driving an RC

[CorkVilla]

I'm thinking of test driving a 2016 RC F Sport with approx 90,000 kilometres. I've never driven one before and don't know much about them. Just wondering what kind of things I should be looking for? 

I'm currently driving a diesel Volvo so this would be quite a change for me. 

[Parker87]

Hello David. It's difficult to know what you should be looking for as each individual's wants and needs are different. However, I'd suggest that, as it's a coupe, you might check that it provides enough accommodation in the rear for your needs. 

Also, I recommend that you savour the quietly smooth drive the car offers, and then have a bit of a play in Sports Plus mode.

Have a good time and please let us know what you think.

[ColinBarber]

Not really any common faults with the RC to look out for. If it's a 300h you are viewing then as with all hybrids check the state of the brakes, especially the rear, for corrosion through lack of use. You want the 12v Battery to be strong - with the vehicle switched off, flash and hold the headlights on for 20 seconds to make sure they don't dim.

Then just check for normal things as with any vehicle - even tyre wear, body panels in alignment, no visible crash damage within the engine bay/boot well etc.

[H3XME]

6 hours ago, CorkVilla said:

I'm thinking of test driving a 2016 RC F Sport with approx 90,000 kilometres. I've never driven one before and don't know much about them. Just wondering what kind of things I should be looking for? 

I'm currently driving a diesel Volvo so this would be quite a change for me. 

Hey man, I was in the same boat as you a couple of years ago. Really love the look of them, but after test driving it and I realised it wasn't the car for me at the time. Nothing wrong with the car at all, it's just my expectations were a little too high. It looks beautiful and sporty. I was expecting it to drive like a sports car and while the handling & seating position are brilliant, it's lacking oomph to back up the looks in my opinion. Mind you, it was my mistake expecting it from a hybrid powertrain that's in lots of other lexuses. It's built for comfortable cruising / commuting. It would make a perfect daily, but it's no tarmac ripper. If you don't care about the performance aspect of them I would say you'll be happy with it. I was only unhappy about it because it would be my only car, so I was expecting a little more fun from under your right foot. To clarify, it isn't out right slow, especially in real life conditions (commuting to work etc). The hybrid system gives you a lot of instant torque so it feels quite good until higher speeds.

As what to look out for.. there isn't much really. Make sure it's got the basics like full service history by lexus (so it qualifies for the 10 year warranty but not sure if Ireland do this), both keys, see how the boot lid feels to close. I know some people had issues with the boot lid but a little bit of WD40 in the latch solved it. Also make sure to try Sport/+ modes compared to eco and feel the difference in the suspension damping. If you can't feel an obvious difference there is something wrong with the dampers. Also an issue some forum members had. Can't remember exactly what the cause was.

Bottom line, it's a great reliable and efficient car for a vast majority of people, but don't be fooled by it's sporty looks like I was.

[Linas.P]

As above I would advise to check the car has service history and qualifies for warranty. There is nothing really known to break on these cars, but they are getting older and being expensive cars when new even small things can cost a lot to fix.

From my experience - check driver side bolster, at 90k I would expect it would have loads of wear on it (could be a point to negotiate the price or ask for it to be fixed). My car in particular had seat motor failure (although I have not heard of anyone else reporting it), it was fixed by warranty but would have costed arm and a leg to fix outside of warranty. I could see it being trouble area as being coupe you need to move the seat to let the passengers in and out and mine just got very slow and weak (I would need to pull myself forward when adjusting the seat for it to move forward as motor was too weak to move it).

As for general expectations - again as above, it is comfortable commuters car, it looks like sports car, but it is not sports car and you will be disappointed if you try to drive it as sparts car. If you look at it like a Prius with very pretty body panels, then you it is great car for that - quiet, comfortable etc. just don't try to push it. Also Eco mode is worst mode for driving and actually uses more fuel, keep it in normal or sport. Sadly, Pre-facelift car won't let you set suspension separately, which is kind of an issue because adaptive dampers pretty much comes in hard, harder and hardest settings, so where you want to be you want to be in Comfort for dampers and in Sport for engine, but to be in Comfort for dampers you need to be in Eco/Normal for engine. Post-FL car allows them to be set individually.

Finally, if car has rotary dial for audio system, then it is base audio... it is quite horrible in my opinion, but ha a listen and decide for yourself. I would say Premium Audio is minimum acceptable for this car (will have touchpad controls) or car may have ML if you lucky. ML/Premium both good, Standard audio is just like cardboard being kicked. 

1 hour ago, Parker87 said:

you might check that it provides enough accommodation in the rear for your needs. 

It doesn't... if one has any needs in the back then probably not the right car. Although load capacity is very functional with rear seats folded.

[CorkVilla]

Hi. Thank you for all the information. The garage that had the car I was interested in advertised it wrong, it is actually a 2.0 litre petrol version rather than the hybrid. I do a lot of driving so the straight petrol would be too expensive for me. However, they just got a hybrid into stock too. It is a 2017 F-Sport in blue with 34,000 miles. They are selling it for just under 32,000 euro. 

Do many of you do big mileage in your RC and how are they to live with? I do approx 17,000 a year.

[Linas.P]

43 minutes ago, CorkVilla said:

Hi. Thank you for all the information. The garage that had the car I was interested in advertised it wrong, it is actually a 2.0 litre petrol version rather than the hybrid. I do a lot of driving so the straight petrol would be too expensive for me. However, they just got a hybrid into stock too. It is a 2017 F-Sport in blue with 34,000 miles. They are selling it for just under 32,000 euro. 

Do many of you do big mileage in your RC and how are they to live with? I do approx 17,000 a year.

I specifically had RC200t, it is horrible on petrol any way you look at it, not because it is straight petrol, but just because it is bad engine, for wrong car, not well integrated into the platform and the car is also rather heavy.  It is more fun to drive than RC300h, but all in all more compromised car than RC300h. As both are slow, but RC300h is at least relatively economical. 

RC300h is not amazing on fuel either, really depends what type of driving you doing, if it is city driving (or any driving up-to 50-60MPH), then the yare good, for motorway driving it is no different from 2.5L simple petrol engine that has to haul heavy Battery in the boot. Any speeds over 60MPH it is not amazing and similarly sized petrol car would be same or even better on fuel consumption. 

Honestly, if you doing motorway driving and 17,000 miles a year, then you need diesel. Hybrid is not even close to diesel, particularly not RC300h F-Sport with 19/35/265 tyres in the rear. 40MPG on the motorway would be as good as I would expect it to get, you can get higher if you don't go past 60MPH, but I tend to drive little bit faster so 36-40MPG was what I have seen on RC300h (RC200t was more like 24-26MPG, in the city 20MPG).

Can't say if 32,000 Euro a good price or bad price, as the prices in UK are different... it would be RC-F money in UK to be fair with you. As funny as it is RC-F also has better fuel economy from it's 5L V8 than RC200t - go figure!

[CorkVilla]

I do mainly dual-carriageway / town driving. I don't do any massive motorway mileage but my daily commute is about 20 miles each way. I currently get 40mpg from my Volvo diesel so that's not a massive difference in economy.

[Linas.P]

1 hour ago, CorkVilla said:

I do mainly dual-carriageway / town driving. I don't do any massive motorway mileage but my daily commute is about 20 miles each way. I currently get 40mpg from my Volvo diesel so that's not a massive difference in economy.

It will be better than diesel in town, but worse on motorway, but yes near 40MPH should be achievable. Still 20*2 per day only accounts for ~8800miles... other driving is then motorway?

Well I guess it is not much of an issue in Ireland when maximum speed is even lower than UK... hybrid does okey up-to 60MPH... it is more of an issue in Continental Europe where where regular speed is 90MPH.

[DavidCM]

I've had a 2020 RC 300h for just over 2 years now.My mpg doing local short journeys ranges between 38-43 , depending on weather/temperature.

Last April,I drove from Hampshire in Southern England to Donegal/Fermanagh and averaged about 45 mpg,driving right on or around the speed limits all the way.

The car is extremely comfortable,quiet and relaxing to drive...but it's no Porsche but again,no Porsche size bills.It just wafts around with completely adequate performance.Legroom and to a certain extent,headroom, are pretty limited in the rear.

In summary,I've owned much faster cars,better handling cars but none of them approach the RC for both a relaxed drive and ownership experience.If you can stretch to it ,go for a facelift 2020 on F sport with Takumi pack.

[Littorio]

I do approx 16K miles per year in my 2018 RC300h F-Sport I average around 42MPG doing 25mile each way commutes mainly in 'Comfort' mode, don't use Eco mode as that is worse on fuel economy and slower to pick up on acceleration. The best speed for economy is 73MPH indicated which is actually 70-71, my speedo reads 2-3MPH fast, I average 550mile to the tank and on premium fuel normally get 2MPG better than on regular but I normally only use premium every third fill. Remember the RC is a GT not a sports car but in Sport + mode it can bring a smile and flick it into that mode for a quick overtake. 

Recently I fitted a custom axle back performance exhaust and a K&N air filter, the car does seem to have found a few more horses and the traction control does also cut in a lot more than it used to (rear tyres and in good condition, don't know for how long though!), in sport + mode with hard acceleration I can even now hear induction noise and also the engine now revs more freely. It was noticed and mentioned by the mechanics fitting the exhaust that the standard one has a restrictor just before the final back box, that restriction is no long there on mine. 

I have the standard audio which if listening to the radio is fine and at 'normal' volumes is ok but turn it up to ear bleeding levels and it distorts and gets tinny, I keep it down and am happy even on motorways. Standard SAT nav is fine I've had worse, only issue I have is you need to know the street name not just the postcode to find a route which doesn't always work when going to events located in the middle of the country. 

[CorkVilla]

I've since discovered this RC300h has the base audio. Is it really as bad as everyone says? I'm coming from a 2008 Volvo so expectations are not that high. It is a 2017 car so will have another three years with the Lexus warranty. Will the value of the car plummet after it reaches ten years of age? Plus points are that it is that lovely blue colour, only has 34,000 miles and is an F Sport. 

[ColinBarber]

3 hours ago, CorkVilla said:

Will the value of the car plummet after it reaches ten years of age?

I don’t think so. The ‘free’ 10 year warranty is only provided because the cars are so reliable which doesn’t suddenly change at 10 years and the hybrid Battery has a warranty up to 15 years if you get a yearly health check.

[H3XME]

5 hours ago, CorkVilla said:

I've since discovered this RC300h has the base audio. Is it really as bad as everyone says? I'm coming from a 2008 Volvo so expectations are not that high. It is a 2017 car so will have another three years with the Lexus warranty. Will the value of the car plummet after it reaches ten years of age? Plus points are that it is that lovely blue colour, only has 34,000 miles and is an F Sport. 

You’ll have to find out for yourself. Many of us are spoilt by audio systems in other Lexus models. 

The value won’t plummet if the IS is anything to go off. As above, people very rarely have issues with them. This is one of the only few “newish” cars I’d be comfortable buying out of warranty these days. 

[CorkVilla]

Went to view the car and very disappointed. All four wheels were badly kerbed and the interior looked very unclean and worn. For 30,000 euro I was expecting a lot more. It just didn't look like a car that was well looked after. Pity because they rarely come up for sale here,

[H3XME]

8 minutes ago, CorkVilla said:

Went to view the car and very disappointed. All four wheels were badly kerbed and the interior looked very unclean and worn. For 30,000 euro I was expecting a lot more. It just didn't look like a car that was well looked after. Pity because they rarely come up for sale here,

Would it be worth buying in England or is it not worth it because of import fees?

[CorkVilla]

18 minutes ago, H3XME said:

Would it be worth buying in England or is it not worth it because of import fees?

Since Brexit I don't think it is really viable anymore. I'll just have to keep my eyes open here.

[Linas.P]

11 hours ago, CorkVilla said:

I've since discovered this RC300h has the base audio. Is it really as bad as everyone says? 

Have you tried listening to it? 

For me it is horrible, but maybe I have different expectations that some, it is okey to listen to the radio, but when listening to the music it just lack all objective properties of good quality audio system - clarity, separation, highlights, base, vocals... Also it seems to lose accuracy above 50% of volume. I don't know if you have ever tried running speakers on amplifier which is more powerful and then above certain point you start getting distortions to the sound... so that is how standard system sounds past 60% of volume. Now 60% is certainly quite loud and many people may not listen for music that loud, but the sign of good audio system is that it keeps fidelity all the way to 100%. I had RC with ML and can attests that even at 100% the sound quality is as crisp and as clean as at 10%. Also if I compare it to standard system in IS250 or GS300, they can go probably to 80-90% and the only issue is that past 80% the base sort of fall off, so you can hear the sounds is becoming louder, but it is getting less and less base. This can be explained by subwoofer fitted in the car being weaker than the rest of the system and maxing out before full volume, but you don't get distortions or anything else. 

In short - if you going for test drive, then have a test listen, connect your phone and play music you like to listen at various increments and see how that sounds. For me it was unacceptable, I had the car for long test drive over the weekend (RC300h in particular) and it had the standard audio, and it found it to be unacceptable.