Rob RCF

I noticed this too, my renewal quote was nearly £250 higher. I'm also in the process of looking around, cheapest I've got so far is £440 but that's with bumping the excess up to £1000 and taking my partner off which in my case made it cheaper now. You should feel fortunate though, some guys I've talked to are paying truly eye watering amounts, even for normal cars. £270 is still very cheap.

Must be nice! I think I might need to start using a different dealer. My experiences with Lexus Guildford have been mixed.

I was never too sure about Chris Harris's review of the RCF, you can tell he initially wanted to like the car but came away completely underwhelmed by it. He liked some things about it, but let's be honest overall it was a pretty damning review. Yet when he reviewed the GSF he lavished praise upon it. Everything positive he said about it also applies to the RCF. I find this quite confusing, I know the GSF has the more modern chassis, but is it really that much better?

I watched his RCF review quiiite a few times before buying mine. He's actually the one who made me consider a Lexus as I honestly knew almost nothing about the brand and didn't know they made any performance cars. He's a great reviewer and I like how in-depth he goes describing things most other reviewers barely touch on. He rarely talks about the numbers and is much more interested in things like driver feel and engagement. He also gets every car he reviews up on the lift to show the underbody, brakes, suspension, cooling, aero etc. The 2017 Civic Type R video for example is great as he's able to actually show how beefy and overdeveloped the front suspension and knuckle is compared to the normal Civic. He might be a little biased towards Japanese cars, but he always explains it well enough that you can kind of understand why (reliability, simplicity, the problems he's had with his BMWs lol). Also well worth watching are his LC 500 review(s) and the LFA review is on another level. Just keep in mind his style is more in-depth, informative and much less focused on entertainment like some of the bigger channels.

No it's Guildford, so perhaps Hedge End have all the parts already and it's nothing to worry about. I don't know if it's worth phoning at this stage. From their point of view you are booked in and the parts are allocated so there's no problem. Two people on the owner's club having to wait for parts will just be seen as isolated incidents or online drama etc...

Another one... I wonder if this is just a coincidence or if there's something else going on causing the wrong parts to come in. I had a UX 250h once before... I agree it did drive nicely, it's a bit soft and artificial feeling, but it was pretty fun to floor it all the time and still get 50+ mpg. I just thought it felt a bit cheap on the interior and didn't quite feel "Lexusy".

They always seem to have extended wait times for courtesy cars, and even then it's something underwhelming like a UX 250h. I wish they would give me something nice (LC 500?).

Mine went in on Friday, got a call from them later that day to say that the replacement part was broken when they took it out of the pack and they would need to order another one and can they keep the car until Monday. Today I got another call from them saying that the part hasn't come in and is now on backorder until the end of March. 🤦‍♂️ What a waste of time. I can't really blame the dealership assuming they're telling the truth, and I know there are parts shortages. But I'm feeling a bit let down. They couldn't even give me a courteousy car so I've been without a car for 4 days.

Sucks doesn't it, and if anything it seems to like to go up. I used to think it was "fair" as the later cars have GPFs fitted and the engine makes a bit less power as a result, however it turns out there's a goldilocks zone of 2017 cars which don't have a GPF, but still get the cheap tax.

I guess you're talking about the grille for the bonnet vent? I would assume it's different as the stock carbon bonnet has a different vent design compared to the normal aluminium bonnet:

It's probably actually somewhere around 55 or 60mph. Look at speed vs fuel efficiency graphs, you'll see the shape they have, always with a rapid dropoff beyond 60mph. Obviously all cars are different and by optimising aero and gearing they can make the curve a bit flatter. RCFs still get pretty good fuel economy around 75mph

It seems to be just one of the flaws of the car. If you come out of anything more modern, especially a dual clutch, the gearbox does feel horrendously slow at times. The gear ratios are also too long, but that's another matter. I think the worst thing is that occasionally the transmission does get it right, I've had it go from 7th > 2nd pretty instantly on several occasions (which is amazing). Try driving along at 40-45 until the trans is sitting in 7th, then nail the throttle and see what happens. For me this even worked in normal mode. The trans takes a while to fully warm up as well, so don't assume that just because the engine is fully warm that the trans is also. I'm not quite sure why it sometimes works, once was right after a transmission fluid change and I believe the battery was also disconnected as it was in for a major service, so ECU would be reset. If you do decide to pull the fuse to reset the ECU, just note that it will put you on a base map and the car might feel a bit slow for a few days/weeks until you've built up the knock tables (search KCLV for more info). You can speed up this process somewhat by doing in-gear pulls, but I find it just takes time and consistently running it on good fuel (super unleaded).

Maybe yours isn't affected? Try checking here: https://www.check-mot.service.gov.uk/

I got mine a few days ago. Booked in for next month.

Okay yeah it happened twice again today and it's definitely coming from the audio system. No music after it happened. Time to get booked in at the dealer...

Sorry I have been silent on this, I have a work trip the same weekend, I'm still trying to work out if I can make it.

I have heard about this as well while reading up about my issue. Apparently a problem with the Mark Levinson amplifier which shorts out and makes one of the speakers "crack" loudly. In my case I'm guessing the front right tweeter, although it was hard to tell exactly where it came from, possibly multiple speakers. I didn't have music on both times, so I didn't experience the same thing with the audio going dead, but thanks for the tip. I will try to keep some music playing in case it happens again. Apparently the ML amplifier can be problematic on these cars because of its placement, shoved into a tiny little space under the floor behind the rear wheel. Coincidentally that little panel was loose when I bought the car, so I wonder if it has had issues before.

Wtf, has anyone else experienced this? Basically it was a shockingly loud clunk or crack sound coming from the the edge of the windscreen or roof, I thought something had hit my car. It happened twice today, both times were about 5 minutes after setting off from cold. First time was at a standstill at some traffic lights, second time was while driving around 20-30mph. I looked over the car but couldn't see any visible damage or anything.

Huh, I thought it must be to do with the newer models having the GPF fitted to bring emissions down. But the reality is a bit more convoluted, but all covered here: https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-tax-rate-tables So there are a few RCF/GSF/LC500 out there that still get the more powerful non-GPF engine, but with cheaper tax. 🤯

Does yours have a particulate filter then? I thought it was only the GPF equipped ones that got cheaper tax, or is it based on the date it was manufactured?

They have done this to me as well. "Unfortunately we don't have a tech available, it will need to be booked in." It always feels a bit like they are fobbing you off. The service manager once apologised to me afterwards and said that should not have happened and they will always try to look at a car if the customer is present and has a problem. I don't know if all dealerships have the same policy, but I'd recommend pushing back a bit. In my experience it works.

Yeah, I had the same kind of realisation. Why spend an extra £10k to save a few hundred a year, it only makes sense financially if you're keeping the car for well over 10 years. The heated steering wheel would be nice though... as would the shorter gearing and weight savings.

I like the PS4S once they are warm, but when cold they are almost comically bad at times. Are the PS4 any better in that regard?

At least the tyres only have to be done every few years and you actually get something tangible for your money. Road tax being £630 per year now is what pains me. The later GPF-equipped cars are £165 per year. Ouch! That is some bad luck. Maybe your home insurance will cover it?

Firstly congrats on your purchase and welcome. I went from a Seat Leon with the DSG to my RCF and I can definitely relate. With the DSG you could just stamp your foot down, it would downshift to the lowest possible gear almost instantly and off you go. With the RCF you stamp your foot down, wait 1-2 seconds while it goes "uhhhh", then when you think you've finally got some power it's only in third, then if you keep your foot planted it will eventually drop into second. This whole process seems to take almost like 3+ seconds at times, it's awful. Often by the time it's finally downshifted, it's too late and you have to let off, which makes for quite a frustrating experience. I do have a few suggestions though as it's certainly not all bad, you may just need to reframe how you approach the car. Firstly, when you're just driving around normally you have to appreciate how smooth the shifts are, it's almost imperceptible. The RCF has its roots as a luxury car, and you can tell. If you can appreciate this it makes the car better. If you don't care about smoothness or luxury and just want rawness all the time, then it might not be the best car for you. Secondly understand the transmission's "learning" behaviour which basically just means it will try to switch into the correct programming depending on how you're currently driving. So if you're driving around normally using smaller throttle inputs the trans will be in "lazy mode" which keeps you in a high gear and keeps everything very smooth. It will also have a hard time reacting to any sudden big inputs. Start driving a bit more spiritedly and you'll notice the transmission change to a more aggressive program where it holds lower gears and is more keen to downshift. If you drive normally again, it will go back into "lazy mode" after 5-10 seconds. Frustratingly, there are some exceptions to this. I've had times where I've been cruising along at 40mph in 7th just in normal mode, have planted my foot down and the trans dropped straight into 2nd gear and gave me a swift burst of acceleration. I wish the car did this all the time, but sadly it doesn't and I'm still not quite sure why. It might depend on temperature, what gear you're currently in, or how quickly you press the pedal. Thirdly use Sport mode more. If I want to drive a little spiritedly (normal for me, but not full hooligan) I almost always use Sport mode. I just find it gives a nice balance between Normal and the full Sport S+. It also sounds a little nicer as you don't have the fake engine noise. Fourth, and this is probably fairly obvious, but if you really want to drive the car properly you almost always want to be in manual mode. Manual mode is great, as long as you're doing mostly sequential shifting the response is almost instant and you get a nice shove in your back with each upshift and a very nice blip on high-rpm downshifts. All the above problems disappear when you're in manual mode. You can also hold gears all the way to the limiter, unlike the auto modes which seem to upshift a few hundred rpm early. One last thing is the trans is usually at its worst when it's cold. The transmission needs to get up to temp for the fluid to expand to the right volume and reach the right viscosity and for the clutches to warm up, it will also constantly shortshift and auto-upshift when cold. You might also want to get the trans fluid drained and refilled if it hasn't been done yet. Even though it's a "lifetime" fluid there are still benefits to changing it every 50k/5yr. Although I think the transmission is the worst part of the car, it does have its redeeming factors. It does the smooth stuff when you want it, it also can be quite extreme when you're in the mood. My main problem with it is actually the gear ratios, just too long and spaced out in the lower gears. Edit - One more thing since you mentioned feeling disconnected, if you want to feel as connected to the car as possible, you want manual mode, sport S+ and then if you press the traction control button you will go into Expert mode which turns off traction control and lets you spin the wheels and even get the car a bit sideways. This gets you most of the way there, but there's also "Expert Dark" which is where you instead hold down the button for 3 seconds, this turns off traction and stability control. Whenever I'm in this mode the car just feels that bit sharper, even the throttle response seems a touch better. Obviously use at your own risk, especially in the wet or with cold tyres.