Lexus RC F across Europe: An atmospheric V8 in 2023 is a wonderful thing

And what an up-hill struggle explaining as much about this car should be. It was arguably on the back foot from launch eight years ago, packing a powertrain and tech (albeit gently updated) first seen in 2008.

In 2023, two generations of BMW M4 later no less, a lot of what it offers can affectionately be described as archaic – that touch pad infotainment as well as the exact same reversing camera, self-parking tech and early-gen adaptive cruise control as seen on the Lexus IS F 15 years ago (I’d know, I have one). Next to an M4, especially one packing the crisp new Curved Display, the RC F is a tough sell before you’ve even fired up the engine.

But when you do, everything gets confusing. Suddenly, for reasons you can’t quite explain, none of the above matters. For what you’re met with is the rare rumble from an era by-gone, of a lump few others are willing to sell you in 2023: An effervescent, dual-overhead-cam naturally-aspirated V8, displacing all of five litres and benefitting in this case from high-performance development by Yamaha.

Save for the similarly long-in-the-tooth Ford Mustang (the ‘new’ car isn’t fooling anyone) and the RC’s bigger flashier sibling, the LC500, you won’t find a brand new sports coupe with an engine like it in the UK. A point to note, too, that in this engine and auto box’s 15-year tenure, BMW M has gone from a dual-clutch transmission to what can best be described as a fettled slush box, not unlike the Lexus’s own, in the latest M3 and M4.

Yes, this mill has been around for a while – this is an engine that first did battle with the howling E92 BMW M3 and roaring first-generation Mercedes-AMG C63. But today, both are heavily turbocharged and down on cylinders, with the latter replacing four of its cylinders and four of its litres with a 400kg hybrid system. 

The upshot of that for them is that both are well up on the Lexus in terms of performance – the RC F with its 470PS (346kW) is a full 210PS down on the new Mercedes-AMG C63 E-Performance. Conversely, of course, both have caught and overtaken the Lexus – once dismissed as lardy – in terms of weight.

But both – especially the Mercedes – leave many pining for their lesser-powered, bigger-chested, louder-voiced ancestors. By all accounts, the high-tech Merc in spite of all that power, is a shadow of its former self. Contrast to the Lexus, which is in its ‘last days of the V8 Vantage’ era, which is to say it’s gone from new, good but outclassed, to old, good but outclassed to finally, old, still good and entirely novel. 

Its continued presence in the market is all but an anomaly, the qualities it offers now inimitable and thus, in that moment of pressing that engine start button and rousing that V8 into life, there was no such look of longing into the past (or onto my driveway). Rather gratitude, that it was still around. It was a moment of feeling like there were few rivals, few other new cars even, that I’d rather be in to tackle the coming 1,500 miles. One only reinforced by a reassuringly familiar and traditional cabin, with tactile buttons, an enjoyably physical ‘shifter’ for the eight-speed ‘box and an infotainment screen that took a back seat.

What was a confusing feeling of affection came much more into focus as I trundled into McDonalds in Thurrock to meet my convoy of friends and realised we had another similarly charming underdog on our trip. The other car was a BMW Z4 M, a sportscar that by comparison to the Porsche Boxster S of its day, was often dismissed as a TVR with BMW build and badges. 

It was a bit old on arrival, serving as a vessel for an engine the M3 had since abandoned. But what a legendary engine it was, what a great-looking car it had become, sporting what remains a rewarding if imperfect dynamic makeup. It was these qualities and this personality that left its new owner head over heels after six months and a few thousand miles, without a pang for a Porsche to speak of.

Then, as we filed out, bellies full of McMuffins and toffee lates, the Lexus reminded me what it is objectively still (and always has been) really very good at – monstering motorways and munching miles. We launched onto the M2 down to Dover, hopped the channel, skipped through France and Belgium, into Germany, onto Autobahn 1 up to Cologne and back, in consummate comfort and in the case of the latter, quite effortless and epic speed – 180mph indicated, if you’re asking.

It was a total trooper and, honestly, left me wondering if I would be quite so fresh stepping out of the latest M4 after as many hundreds of miles. It may have the aggressive looks of a Japanese sportscar – I’ve always loved the way they look – but it’s no secret the RC F has always been a sports GT at heart.

But that’s not to discredit it dynamically, either. For as soon as the E42 gave way to the L16 just across the German border, as we leapt between sleepy Eiffel mountain villages, the RC F took the rural turn in its stride, revealing a Hyde side after miles of Dr Jekyll; that alacritous V8 stroking us along nicely on a wave of induction thunder that rippled into a howl with rising revs, as the aging eight-speed auto ran up and down its ratios with surprising willingness and pace.

All the while the chassis, adaptive dampers and limited-slip diff (in Sport+) encouraged us to push on and explore the car further along the undulating yet creamy smooth German forest lanes. Our only genuine complaint in these moments? A bit more weight and feel to the steering wouldn’t have gone a miss. But the RC F was bafflingly charming, entirely enjoyable and enormously (if not class-leadingly) capable.

Day after day, we ventured out and back from our rural stop in the German hamlet of Buchet, to the Nürburgring, Spa and beyond, exploring the German/Belgian border and the periphery of the Ardennes. With each excursion, that musical engine and all-round on-road character got more and more under my skin, to the point that on one of our final days, exploring the old Sudschleife and photographing the car, it got me thinking – would I actually spend the £75,000+ on this over an M4?

At some point between when our trip began on a Wednesday afternoon, to shutting the door for the final time the following Tuesday evening, mild apathy had given way to puzzling affection.

But it’s not puzzling. Not really. That amazing engine that’s never more unique in the marketplace than now, the way it drives, that split personality, the comfort, the performance and the experiences I shared with it – it’s perhaps unsurprising I fell for it slightly. Its time has probably come and gone, but I’d forgive it the world. Okay, maybe not the infotainment.

It’s these cars that throw into question objectivity versus subjectivity. It certainly makes me more mindful of reading between the lines, and considering what different people like, as well as what reviewers observe. See, judged in such a way, or in the requisite comparison to BMW M’s latest razor-sharp efforts, the Lexus RC F, especially now at a full eight years old, is damned to fail. It’s slower, way down on interior tech and comprehensively outgunned as a performance-oriented chassis.

So it’s obviously impossible to wholeheartedly endorse the Lexus as a better car than rivals from BMW, Alfa Romeo, Audi or Mercedes. Indeed, I will be writing a ‘Goodwood Test’ in the more uniform style we use, where I am in no doubt the RC-F will have its flaws laid bare. But knowing what I’d have to write about it objectively speaking, my heart was screaming to implore you, in this increasingly hybridised, electrified era, to make your decision after at least trying the old V8. Because it’s genuinely amazing you can still buy one and, given half a chance, the Lexus, for all its antiquity and flaws, could get under your skin.

So here’s to the cars it takes a bit of time to ‘get’: the underdogs with an appeal you can’t quite quantify. And here’s to the cars that outstay their welcome long enough to the point you wind up begging them to stay. 

What cars do you think deserve more of a chance, whose magazine group test star ratings do their charms a disservice? Am I completely out of my mind and should I hand in my road tester’s badge? Let us know on the former, keep the latter to yourself…

Photography by Simon Clarke