Keep in mind, this was early 2015 and RCFs with TVD were either being tested with a steel roof or a moonroof. It was due to the CF manufacturing process having issues. No carbon fiber RCF were available at the time. We don't know, which one is which, but 4057 lbs sounds like it might be a moonroof RCF with TVD. People in the C&D comment assumed the picture of the one with the moonroof has an LSD assuming TVD could not be had with a moonroof while one of the pictures shows the TVD button.

I weighed mine back a few years ago. All I had, was Invidia exhaust and with about 35 - 40% fuel, it weighed in at 3960 lbs. No occupant on board.

 

Excellent Nigel!

I did find a MY20 on the used market with no CF, add premium package, add TVD (I tried to zoom in and can’t be 100% sure, but it looks like a TVD button on console). So it looks like the brochure intended to say “TVD available only with Performance/Carbon OR Premium packages added”.




https://www.gilesvolvocarselpaso.com...d1a74ebbb3.htm

Great question on MY22. Unfortunately after taking a closer look at the white RC F I posted in my original post at Lexus of Freeport, it has a Premium package, so we would need to find a stripper MY22 RC F with TVD added, but as we know strippers are a rare sight.

Good discussion, cheers!

 

I think the skidpad results are telling. .. higher drift angle with less steer. I wonder why there are three modes, seems it would be easy to automate completely based on speed and g force. But then I wouldn't have buttons to play with.

 

I wish there's a way for the system to default to certain settings upon start-up. It had become a routine for me to turn the **** twice clockwise and then press the TVD button twice after starting the car

 

They are meant for different driving styles and since the car cannot predict what type of driving you are going to be doing, it lets you select that. That is why there are three modes.

NORMAL - Balance between agility and stability
SLALOM - Meant for windy back roads and auto cross like settings where it is less about speed and more about instantaneous response with minimal steering lock. Makes the car feel shorter wheelbase.
TRACK - High speed sweeping turns where you are carrying a lot of speed through turns and want predictability and maximum momentum/flow through turns.

My favorite mode was SLALOM mode for all driving conditions for 7 years until I installed the RR Racing USRS bushings. They added more stiffness to the front end resulting in a faster nose response. At high speeds, in SLALOM mode, if I flick the steering to switch lanes, it becomes very darty and boderline dangerous. That is why, I now mostly use TRACK mode other than in slow speed maneuvering situations.

Same here. I wish we had that.

 

Is Torsen blowing up a common issue with F cars? Should we be concerned about this? My 2023 has Torsen and I believe all TEs only come with Torsen too and no TVDs.

 

No, not common at all. There have been a few cases of Torsen blowing up, but is most likely because of abuse (hard launches on very sticky surface and/or slick tires that results in too much stress on the differential when it locks up).

 

IMO, the biggest advantage I see with TVD is reduced steering input.

 

I wonder if the new optional TVD units now have the 3.13 final drive ratio as well....

 

While is true some early 2015 could be optioned with a TVD and no carbon, it was pretty damn rare. Car and Driver tested the 2015 RCF back in November of 2014 and it hard the TVD/CF ROOF. The curb weigth was 4048 pounds. Article is listed below

https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews...tested-review/

While the article you originally (which was published October 2015) posted does not have a picture of both cars roofs, the weight of the TVD car (4048 lbs) aligns with the earlier test car and driver published in 2014 (4057 lbs) leading me to believe it did have the carbon roof and wing.

 

This was discussed extensively many years ago. It is a rehash an old topic that has many threads. I am not saying one is right and one is wrong nor am I triggering an argument as it greatly depends on all of the options. Just saying that no one can say for certain. RCF Track Edition has had a 40 lbs spread between 3800 lbs - 3843 lbs. You can see here in the MT article that the RCF in red has a steel roof and has a TVD. It was used in the 2015 MotorTrend M4 vs RCF comparo. This red RCF weighed 4045 lbs with a steel roof and TVD. Carbon fiber roof and spoiler officially reduced the weight by 23 lbs over the steel roof. SavageGeese on the other hand, weighed the RCF CF TVD in their test at 4007 lbs on his channel.

Besides, if the LSD RCF in C&D article had the moonroof at 4016 lbs weight makes no sense unless it is a base stripped out model + moonroof considering the moonroof itself weighs around 30 lbs over the steel roof.

2015 BMW M4 vs. 2015 Lexus RC F Comparison (motortrend.com)










Here RCF weighed in the 2015 R&T Performance car of the year, it weighed 4039 lbs

 

that’s an amazing color for this car.

 

So I actually had a unique opportunity recently to have a conversation with a Lexus exec who reached out to one of the lead engineers in Japan, and this is the explanation I was given as far as why we aren't getting TVDs anymore. In the 2023MY, Lexus switched over the RC F to Lexus Safety Sense 2.5+ and added the electronic parking brake. While the TVD could've theoretically worked with both systems, it would've required a lot of R&D which Lexus simply was not willing to do because the take rate on the TVD was very low. So at the end of the day, it was a cost saving measure as of a result of added features.

 

Interesting, but they did not add the 360 camera for the newer RC F from 2023 MY despite copying everything from IS dash including the newer Touchscreen infotainment system and modern Safety System 2.5+. Perhaps they thought they should they make another set of Mirrors again and do R&D for that. What a joke, this car costs $80K (no the base RC F does not exist just like IS 500 base trim, maybe can be counted on fingers how many they built) and we know Lexus does not offer owners to choose, only LC Bespoke is the one. They just build and people have a chance to buy them that's it so no customization.

I was going through RC F videos and articles I found this interesting piece of document for the RCF's TVD development and functionality, it suits this thread.

https://www.denso-ten.com/business/t...l/pdf/40-6.pdf

A crying shame how Lexus guts the RC F down and down since 2022 MY onwards.

- AC Vents / IS Dash since 2023MY, no more Signature unique RC F built only panel.
- Illuminated Door handles inside.
- Memory function for driver seat, this is still offered in other markets except NA, same like folding mirrors although mirrors auto was never offered in NA market.
- Electrochromic Auto-tilt in reverse side mirrors, it does not even have Auto-Tilt mirrors now forget about Electrochromic auto dimming mirrors only rearview mirror is Electrochromic now, its a major requirement.

- TVD (2023 MY+), one of the key components of RC F, having signature and uniquely developed bespoke component with uber complex engineering (yea not a good thing due to another electrical component plus 2x clutch packs and 2x DC brushless motors vs a Torsen which has simple mechanical gear set. Although since LSD exists for RC F since day 1 due to trims and options and esp Track Editions never had it also Torsen LSD is more natural and mechanical vs the TVD. But many say how GS F handles better its the TVD there.

Saw a couple of threads here on the diff issues - One from GSF not same diff I think as drive ratio is different probably and ECU also would be different same user posted on another forum as the mileage is same, Two another GS F, don't think I saw any RC F TVD fail posts, saw a video that was posted here on the LSD failed RC F due to owner negligence perhaps.

- RC F Engine-Firewall shock tower brace - This is the one which I take most offense of, the car since 2015 debut had this feature and was integral part of the car how can they just delete this, I saw one car in this forum RC F which had bumper sag, idk if its because of this or not and having personally see IS 500 forum with a community fix trying to get it done hurts a lot esp the fact that bumper clips gets smashed due to the engine weight and power (see the photos of the bumpers in the IS 500 Bumper fix thread who applied the community fix), OEM car maker abandoned for good on the new 3IS, for IS 500 they issued a TSB which did not do jack and ruined bumpers further and 300/350 owners left in dust.

For all those downgrades they gave a new Touchscreen with wired AndroidAuto and Carplay yay !!

Lexus / Toyota Motor Corp North America is really super greedy. All the IS and RC models abroad get Auto folding mirrors except NA market. LC gets it regardless, ES gets it, RX gets it. Their new vehicles are horrid. Tundra is a failure galore from Engine to everything, Bumpers falling off from Highlanders, GX powertrain Engine bearing failures list goes on and on...

It's their last F car, the key person Mr. Yukihiko Yaguchi who was the reason why F exists retired in 2020, hope he is enjoying his life, man deserves it for the achievement.
https://mag.lexus.co.uk/goodbye-yukihiko-yaguchi/

Check this fantastic video on the inception of F, also note how he says the last IS F would be the best, and now it's completely opposite for RC F, newer RC F is not the best at all not by any remote chance.


So now they don't even have some respect to keep the F lineage pure. Checkout these videos as well.


All this frustration because I'm willing to take a hit and trade my IS 500 for an RC F because of Chassis integrity. Recently got a chance to try out an RC F, pre-owned prior to 2020 model, test drove it to 80mph and the chassis is far far more stable than IS 500 I thought it would not be that much but to be really honest one can feel how IS 500 front-end vibrates a lot despite having a GS F aluminium subframe (on the front only) when you go over imperfections on the road unlike RC F which feels way more solid and planted. But Lexus is making it hard for me as they simply do not care for their F cars anymore. If I get used low mileage I cannot lease and it would blow a big hole plus no brand new ownership option...for that I have to get the newer gutted models which I'm not confident about how the integrity of the RC F designation and driver experience as it was intended to be.

God forbid they remove the Trans and Engine oil coolers from 2025 citing some BS because I bet 2025MY will be the last of RC F, Track Editions are last for 2024MY so there's that. As RC F GT3 successor LFR is coming in 2026 EU Racing debut.

The Legendary 2UR-GSE and the Aisin AA80E 8-speed Direct Shift are going to be retired soon, 17 years and still being made, yea RC F had the newer 2UR and AA80E has been re-tuned entirely but still the foundation is same. What an achievement by Toyota engineers. Too bad Lexus hates them, not a single good engine nowadays.

 

RCF has no bumper sag issue. The issue you are referring to happened due to the PPF being installed on the RCF and the shop that installed the PPF, did a poor job installing it back on the car. It is too small to make a big difference on a 4000 lbs car. The 4-point chassis brace does not add any significant amount of rigidity to the RCF. It is common sense. Such a small component is not going to make a huge difference in the rigidity of the chassis.

The issue in IS500 is due to the nose being elongated by 2 inches and a lot of the weight of the V8 is in the overhang. The 3IS chassis that is shortened version of the 4GS chassis, is not very stiff to begin with. For IS500, Lexus added no reinforcements while in the case of RCF there is no such issue since the chassis was made very stiff to begin with where the IS-C middle section has cross members as well as a much thicker floor pan and door sills. This was done before the engine was even developed. You can see in the picture below how much reinforcement has been added to the 3-box of the RCF chassis.

For the front section, you see the entire front subframe has been strengthened by thickening the firewall.




Another one of those RCF promo videos: