tomRCFcarbon

Don’t fancy yours much.

If you want a less good LC500h with a German accent: https://jalopnik.com/the-2019-mercedes-amg-e53-packs-a-turbo-inline-six-that-1829259090

https://jalopnik.com/car-and-drivers-first-five-months-with-the-alfa-romeo-g-1829310868 Not good when a car on loan to a magazine has issues...it’s weird how a reputation can be institutionalised and despite every effort the resulting products just embody their history - good and bad.

Yeah. I’d rather have a broken one for £20! 😛

That is...terrifying!

If anyone does make contact with the seller, I would be interested in purchasing the damaged grille, I need a piece that I can cut out of this for something I'm working on. Don't want to pay much for it though - more of a nice to have than a must have...if it's damaged it won't be much use to anyone else, so I would pay £20 + Delivery for it. If no-one is making contact I will make contact later this week.

I might be, but I have an RCF...would they be cross compatible? Is there any indication of HP gains from doing similar stateside? On other cars, decent headers can liberate quite a lot, non?

I think it’s about right. Original was about 325hp and 5 secs to 60, so it is a spot on evocation...as others have said it was what people turned those cars into and their potential that was exciting - I’m sure this will be the same. For me, I think that’s the failing of the GT86, not enough tuning potential...this on the other hand shouldn’t have that problem.

Thats what i've got on my Carbon...is that not what is in the standard RCF?

I've lost many hours on their website (particularly the build threads)...make sure you read this, the sound of that v8 on the dyno will haunt your dreams! https://www.driftworks.com/forum/threads/driftworks-dw86-ae86-of-many-powers-and-grips.254822/ And this is Phils latest toy!

A mate of mine runs this business, they are a super friendly bunch and bring lots of exclusive designs in from Japan... https://www.driftworks.com/wheels-and-accessories/alloy-wheels/?colour=grey,silver&wheel_pcd_stud_pattern=5x114-3&wheel_size=19&wheel_structure=1-piece I've pre-selected: silver/grey (sorry Paul)...19"... and the correct stud pattern (5 x 114.3, is this right??)...there's some pretty good looking (and v.similiar to the above) wheels on there

We knew this already...but 3 Lexus in the top 10!? 6 with Toyota!!! 3 VAG in bottom 10 and Audi is the worst.

I guess Toyota could’ve taken a different approach and never created Lexus...after all the brand was strong enough to shift MR2, Celica GT4’s and importantly for the point you are making the Supra in big numbers back in the day and so they could have conceivably taken the car they developed in the shape of the original LS and left the Toyota logo on the grille. But sports cars and the UK were not the nuts they were trying to crack at the time - Luxury cars and the US were. And for that to work they needed a new brand and they were probably right. Now they could have gone the route of Acura/Honda and had a market specific brand in the US, but they didn't. I have to say my original response was more about 'why don't people know or care about F-cars' rather than 'why don't Lexus sell more F-cars'...after all Lexus sell (quite quickly) all the inventory they bring to the UK. If my response was more focused on 'why don't Lexus sell more F-Cars' then we get into quite complicated territory: - Firstly Lexus is not Lexus. The Lexus we all know and rely on is Lexus UK (actually its franchisees being co-ordinated by Lexus UK, but lets park that for now). Lexus UK is an independent entity to Lexus EU. Which is an independent entity to Lexus Japan (HQ). Lexus UK are supposed to work with Lexus EU and co-ordinate. But in reality they don't and historically the relationship has been patchy. Both Lexus EU and UK work to Japan. They receive their inventory from Japan. They receive the product from Japan and the brand guidelines from Japan. They have some autonomy in terms of marketing, advertising, dealership design and brochure-ware but that's about it. - Secondly why do they have an F car at all? The reality is they are halo cars. They help shift the perception of the brand and access different audiences. But mostly they allow them to sell the 'F-Sport'. In the UK they sold ten times as many RC F-sports as any other car in the RC line and five times as many RC F-Sports as RCF's. The F-Sport is a higher margin product and they want to sell as many as they can. - Thirdly. They sell as many as the dealers allow them to sell. Lexus UK compile the order they make from Japan based on the sales projections they get from dealers - Fourthly. Trade tariffs and some of the other bits from my other post and probably lack of sunroofs or something

and this: https://jalopnik.com/how-money-is-not-made-in-autojournlism-1679747807 (sorry)

and this: https://jalopnik.com/what-the-f-is-a-lexus-performance-car-1688464178

this is worth reading too: https://jalopnik.com/5760248/how-ferrari-spins sadly this now applies to how Porsche, etc roll

same review (basically) as the print one on the website, best quote: 'A simple straightforward head to head between the new Lexus GS F and a BMW M5. And yes, it’s a ‘30 Jahre’ edition M5, not because it swings the power barometer even further in the M5’s favour, but because it was the only one that BMW had.' Hahahahaha...this is BMW's press team responding to a request for an M5 for a group test against a Lexus? A car that has been designed to embarrass the m5 and surprise, surprise the £25,000 more expensive special edition was the only car they had to hand...have you ever been to BMW UK, every middle manager is driving an M car and most are driving M5's they have so many in their fleet that on any given summer day - you can go to one of about 5 different national/local country shows and there will be a full M product range on display. So it is quite funny and a credit to Chris Harris (probably annoyed about the reality of the above), that he finds in the GSF's favour. The fact that the Top Gear website is dripping in BMW M advertising makes this doubly more surprising...but its why he never got the Editor-ship job at Evo, he just couldn't tow the line...he wrote a column in Evo about it once, how influenced and under pressure he felt from advertisers - which no one would have thanked him for.

It's true though. The issue is that the journalists end up in an impossible situation, of their making, but devised by the big brands (a bit like Russian Kompromat). After all no one forced the averagely paid journalist to accept the 'free' Macan that Porsche is lending them (for over three years) for the school run, but if they do - how do they resist the pressure to write a positive review of the new four cylinder 911? Back in the day Chris Harris was quite honest about it, in his Pistonheads review he went as far as basically describing how annoyed he and his fellow journalists were that they had to go straight from the airport to the briefing to drive the car and still had their bags with them! https://www.pistonheads.com/regulars/ph-chrisharris/lexus-rc-f-first-drive/30817

Lexus does sell in quite respectable numbers as a niche brand. If we're talking why Lexus doesn't sell in BMW or MB numbers then I think there are loads of factors here. Below comes from personal experience, as I used to work for the marketing agency that did all Lexus UK marketing, and my best friend made the LC500 launch film so knows the advertising team quite well. Beyond that its just my opinion: - We have a v.traditional and v.established car market in the UK where 'new' is not seen as a virtue - UK consumers are some of the most brand conscious consumers in the world. Furthermore our peculiar flavour of brand-centricness (not a word!) is closely aligned to heritage and history - For this reason no premium brand has made any kind of dent in the market...except at the mass/budget end of the market (Smart, Hyundai, Kia) - Product development takes place in Japan with American and domestic tastes as the basis of the brief. The resulting products are therefore delivered as a fait accompli to the UK, and are therefore often a little alien looking to the average household - The UK car market is one of the most valuable in Europe, therefore the established European brands guard it jealously - Historically cars manufactured in Japan have been subject to a 10% import duty to the EU, wiping out much of the profit and money that could otherwise be spent on marketing/advertising - Partly because of this and partly because of the influence of BMW/MB, Lexus haven't been able to break into the hire car market in Europe. Hiring a 'Premium' or 'Luxury' car in Europe will rarely result in you driving a car with an 'L' on the steering wheel. This is an enormous market and accounts for a large proportion of inventory coming out of Munich or Stuttgart, and how many business customers come to experience these cars - The German car industry have made it their business to 'control' Dennis (Auto Express, Evo, Octane) and the other magazine publishers by block buying the most important advertising space in the magazines (inside front, outside back pages, etc) - Lexus hasn't been good at 'playing the game' with the publishers and haven't been generous enough with the launch trips they organise. It is a bit of an industry joke that the reason the RCF didn't review well initially is that the journalists were 'only' flown economy to NYC for the launch, couldn't take spouses and were only put up for a weekend...whereas when Porsche (or MB or BMW) create any kind of iteration of their cars, they offer week long trips with WAG's to private estates and also allow journalists to jump waiting lists...interestingly Lexus fixed this for the LC500 and took the journalists away for a whole week, first class, with spouses and really showered them with hospitality - as a result reviews were a lot more generous - Outside of GT racing recently Lexus hasn't been near the track and haven't understood the link in European minds between success in F1 and Premium...in Japan motor-racing at any level is used purely to show sporting prowess, nothing more - Japanese products don't have much of a cache as premium products. Jackie Chan in the Cannonball Run didn't help. Nor did Infiniti. Nor does the newest Civic Type-R. Or Casio watches or anything else that the average UK Joe associates with Japan...rather than the reality which is: an attention to detail that borders on obsession, a natural affinity for craft, materials and engineering, a commitment to science being able to transcend art and a genuine culture of having petrol in the blood

Or this one...RCF for RC350 money. No sunroof though...😕 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-TEAM-ASSOCIATED-APEX-1-10-LEXUS-RCF-WHITE-BRUSHLESS-AWD-RC-CAR-ONROAD-RTR/391880558601?epid=2222680966&hash=item5b3de6c809:g:Gv0AAOSw2hNZrQ3p

Eh???

28...26...?! I’ve managed 20.3mpg over the last 4,000miles...how are you managing it???

Another non-F to add to this thread...I wonder if one of our F cars will be still going in 20 years time, tuned to this extent and owned by such a talented haveagohero!

I almost couldn't be bothered to reply because I can anticipate the response before you even type it...but nevertheless you keep saying you are on here to learn, so: The Carbon on the RCF Carbon edition is there for weight saving. Not for show. The TVD is heavier than the standard diff. The Carbon bonnet roof and spoiler mean that the car is no heavier than the standard car but has the better but heavier diff. In other words, in weight terms: Standard Car = Carbon edition Standard Car + TVD > Carbon Edition Also because the diff is lower down and the lighter carbon that is used on the bonnet roof and spoiler are higher up the centre of gravity vs the standard car has been lowered. All at no expense of refinement or luxury (except not being able to have a sunroof, which I understand is a deal breaker for you!).