2021 Lexus RC F

The Lexus RC is a flashy and sporty-looking coupe, but one whose superhero looks are betrayed by a Clark Kent personality. Even the top-grade RC 350 F-Sport isn’t as wild a ride as the looks suggest. But for those who want to dress and fly like Superman, Lexus offers the RC F. The RC F’s huge fender flares, bulging hood, and mean-looking wing are backed up by a 5.0-liter V8 packing 472 horsepower and 395 pound-feet of torque. All that juice is transmitted to the rear wheels via an eight-speed automatic transmission. Unlike the regular RC, all-wheel drive is not available on the F.

The fastest car you can buy at the Lexus dealership, the RC F is good for zero-to-sixty times in the low four-second range and makes glorious noises, too. It isn’t, however, as precise a handler as rivals like the BMW M4, Mercedes-AMG C63 or Alfa-Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio (though that one is a sedan) and it isn’t quite as quick as some of them. This is still a car with serious performance intent though, and the Track Edition, lightened by almost 200 pounds through the use of carbon fiber components, is even faster than the regular car. It’s also quite a bit more expensive, nearly $100,000, and still off the pace with cars like the BMW M4 Competition.

The RC F’s over the top visuals are impossible to ignore and it’s a much more fun car to drive than the regular RC, but it shares some of that car’s shortcomings. The 10.4 cubic-foot trunk and the itty-bitty back seat are small even by the standards of most coupes, and the car uses the dated, finicky touchpad infotainment system introduced on most Lexus models in the mid-2010s. The system actually has plenty of functionality, but the touchpad can be a pain to use when the car is in motion even at low speeds.
On the plus side, the RC F comes with a host of standard active-safety features, including forward-collision warnings and automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, lane departure alert with lane-keeping assist and intelligent high beams. The RC F gets good marks across the board from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) but hasn’t been tested by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Nobody buys a vehicle like this for fuel efficiency, but the RC F is rated at 16 mpg city, 24 mpg highway, and 19 mpg combined, which isn’t too bad for a vehicle of this type. The F’s ample power means it doesn’t require a heavy right foot to go fast, something that can cause non-F RC owners to get worse mileage than the V8 variation. Both use premium gas only.