buckse

I spent about a year with my RCF but I've decided to say goodbye. Its been a fun ride and there are a lot of things I'm going to miss about it, but there are a few things that just drive me crazy.

The good stuff...
-Love the USB color
-Love the sporty design--it looks like the spaceship car I always wanted as a kid
-Pretty comfortable ride, great seats, and good enough to be a daily driver
-Love the technology in the car--the digital dash, leave your keys in your pocket, push button start, auto unlock when approaching door, lights come on when you approach, rain-sensing wipers, great NAV system, backup camera, drive select modes, etc
-I enjoyed a lot of the little things, like the Alcantara and Carbon fiber touches in the cabin, and the little piece of material they put between the seat and the center console to keep you from dropping things into that space that you can never quite retrieve without stopping the car and getting on your hands and knees to dig it out
-Love the speed sensing spoiler that dynamically pops up and down
-The engine is AWESOME--added a JoeZ exhaust and it has a great growl--my neighbors tell me their brains start to vibrate when I start my car
-At highway speeds and high RPM, this thing is a beast and its easy drive at triple digits
-Overall build quality, luxury, and reliability of Lexus
-Great Lexus Service and Staff at my local Park Place dealership in Plano
-A good sports car that can carry 4 people and goto the grocery store
-Still pretty rare car in my area so there are still of lot of stares and people asking what it is


The bad stuff...
-I HATE the 8-Speed Automatic Transmission
-No matter what speed you are driving, you always end up in 8th gear
-Any time you want to punch it, there is a serious lag while you wait for the transmission to downshift--this really takes away a lot of the driving fun
-Too much focus on gas saving/economy--this car has an "ECO" mode--WTF?
-The programming for this transmission needs to be changed--in my opinion, there should be NO ECO mode, NORMAL mode should be for everyday driving where the transmission keeps shifting up to 8th gear for better economy, SPORT/SPORT+ modes should hold higher shift points and stay in lower gears so the car stays in its power band, so in SPORT mode if you put your foot to the floor you should have INSTANT acceleration, NOT a 2 second lag while the transmission is downshifting from 8th gear
-I also wish this car had the adaptive suspension like the F-Sport model--I drove both cars and the F-Sport suspension provided a much better ride--if you apply this to the Drive Select modes, I think NORMAL mode should provide a softer/more compliant ride, Sport mode should firm up a little along with changing transmission shift points, and then Sport+ mode should just be renamed "TRACK" mode and it should have the most aggressive transmission and suspension settings
-I also have problems in stop and go traffic keeping pace with the traffic in front of me--I don't know if its the gearing, not enough torque, or the weight of the car, but I always seemed to have this odd lag at low speed and low RPM like I was lacking power to keep up with the car in front of me--every time traffic started to move I would fall 1-3 car lengths behind the car in front of me--If I gave it more gas I would run into the power lag issue and then felt like I was going to surge accelerate into the car in front of me--I did notice that when I drove in Sport+ or Manual mode this issue was significantly reduced so I'm going to blame this mostly on the transmission?!? but for a daily driver in stop and go traffic, I found this pretty frustrating and noticed that drivers behind me would frequently try to get in front of me (never had this problem in another car so its not my driving style)
-did I mention that I hate the transmission?


I know, I know, if I just use the manual shift mode most of my issues become non-issues, but I think the automatic transmission should be better and should make the car more sporty to drive if you put the freaking drive select mode into one of the SPORT modes!!!! Overall, I think this is a good car and I think it has great potential. I'm sure it will continue to evolve and get better. Being a Lexus it also comes with great reliability and great Service (in my case). I'll keep my eye on the RCF to see how it grows up, and I might go back someday, but for now, its time to say GOODBYE.

FR500GT

iTrader: (7)

That's too bad. May I ask what car you're moving to.. GTR? M4?

rominl

iTrader: (4)

i am interested to see what you are replacing it with too

sorry to hear your issues with the rcf

aalaref

i seems that your dislikes are all about the transmission .
for the ECO part believe it or not i use it a lot , yah yah i know its asport car but sometimes I just drive it very slowly and enjoy how the ECO clusterlook like my friends think its the turbo mode hahah !


anyway good luck and want to know what is your next car

JT4

It's too bad because to me it seems like you really like the RC-F. But I do understand that even though you try to ignore the "bad stuff" as much as possible, sometimes it gets to be too much.

Best of luck with your next car.

Narwhal

Really, the transmisison is that bad? All reviews I read and watch say the transmission is great, not on par with dual clutch ofcourse but it's pretty good. This is making me lean torwards the M4 more now...

ghoffner

I think the transmission is perfectly fine in mine.

Narwhal

You have not expereience anything listed in the cons?

LexusNN

iTrader: (5)

Isn't it the same tranny as the isf? That's the best transmission I've ever driven

ghoffner

Yes, it does have that slight pause when you slam the gas because its shifting from 8th, but that's not really an "issue" to me. The response is great in manual mode and the engine sounds phenomenal. Absolutely love this car. Its the perfect mix of luxury and performance in my opinion.

Ryanmcd

Using manual mode would of solved all the problems, oh well. Every car has issues. Also in sport + it only goes to 6th not 8th.

LRCSALES

iTrader: (1)

yeah i have no problems with my transmission. It did slip going into gear one time at wot but the transmission and car wasnt fully warmed up. I have learned and the car has leaned my driving habits. I do not want a manual transmission in a luxury car. Sorry to hear you hate the transmission. If you get a M4 refrain from getting the carbon brakes. If you are this sensitive to a transmission the carbon brakes on the M4 will make you stab yourself.

Ice350

iTrader: (1)

Since I sell Lexus cars I'm not gonna be as brutal but I do not like the 8-speed tranny.
My 2007 GS350 was quicker because it didn't take so much time looking for a gear when you hit the gas.

But when I get an F, nothing will make me give up on it. The good things are just too good.

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

Most of the reviewers end up driving the car for a couple of days and they're done. They don't have to live with the car like many people here. Plus when they're doing their evaluations, they're thrashing it around a track so the car behaves differently. Give me a Porsche GT3 RS to drive around a track and I'll give it endless praise. Ask it to be my daily driver and I might think otherwise.

Narwhal

Anyways, when you are really spirited driving you're usually in manual mode right so I guess it evens out.