Apparently Lexus Canada just took delivery of a couple new pre-production models including an infrared RC350 FSport. They chose to make an appearance at the Ertefa outdoor car show in Mississauga tonight ... But I lucked out and managed to catch some (almost) alone time with it at a coffee shop right before they drove the car to the show. Special thanks to the great guy from Lexus Canada HQ who was kind enough to let me snap pics, sit inside and really get a decent feel for the car.
Initial impressions:
- seeing it confirmed my desire to buy this beauty.
- The front is awesome
- faux rear intakes really aren't that bad in person.
- Interior is similar quality to IS (which is a good thing).

Things I'm hoping to see changed:
- there's no rear armrest between the seats! My kids need that!
- the grade of plastic used between those rear seats is way below Lexus quality. Really hope that is changed.
- wheel gap. Looks pretty good on the rear but looked noticeably higher up front (an extra finger i'd say)
- really hope the window trim is done in black rather than chrome - that rear quarter window really reminds me of a Honda Accord coupe in chrome.

 

Your kids don't need an armrest between the rear seats. Show what you're made of and tell the brats to stop whining or you will drop them off at the orphanage.

 

LOL @ tfischer. Thanks for sharing Sfrt.

 

No pictures of the interior?

 

I love it. Looks more substantial than the G37 and more like what the new Q60 should be. If the ride/handling balance is good this just may be my next car.

 

I did take one but it was a poor shot. Overall, I thought it was quite similar to the new IS. But again, the plastic between the rear seats was low quality for a Lexus. Hope they change that for the production model.

 

great picture! so many lights, so many buttons.. really shows me how busy the interior is lol

 

Well, it has lots of features. If you don't want lights and buttons you can always get an MKZ where there are no buttons and if the electronics break down you're pretty much screwed.

 

the sad thing is that this is in Canada.. I already know Lexus USA is going to omit half the stuff I see in this picture lol.

 

Sad, but true.

 

Lmfao!!!

I know the Erterfa crew, great guys. I attended this meet last year.. Literally 2,000 cars for a meet. It was amazing.

Love the red!

 

The front gap you are seeing, is because it must be AWD. The RWD has a smaller front wheel gap. Unfortunately, Lexus rarely ever has any RWD on display.

 

Interesting that the F-Sport had fog lights in the Canada version.

 

Not suprising, they did the same thing for the IS.. USA misses out on too much compared to other countries :/

 

Yes, it was an AWD model. The gap vs the rear just seemed much more pronounced than I've seen on the IS. I'm really hoping it was just an anomaly on a pre-production model.