The Brief: 2017 Lexus RC F

Posted by: Mathieu St-Pierre in Reviews April 18, 2017 0

Stockholm syndrome

For a whole week, I was held captive, tortured into driving a car that manipulated my senses. At once, I was smitten and terrorized; it was pure blissful hell.

I was lustfully drawn to it by its looks, at least from afar. Its size and curves oozed power, performance and something about being special. From closer up, I wondered what the heck was wrong with its forehead? The bump in front-most part of the hood reminded me of a Neanderthal’s head’s profile.

Inside, a fat grippy steering and some lovely large gauges always greeted me, as did sporty seats. Before I’d set off however, I was harassed and tortured by Lexus’ terrible Remote Touch Interface’s wholly annoying and anti-intuitive touchpad.

As I recovered from the terror, the sound of the sweet easy revving normally aspirated 467-horsepower 5.0-litre V8 nursed me back to mental health. Only to then be repeatedly stabbed by the 8-speed automatic transmission. Its programming in Drive and Normal modes were designed to render the driver unconscious and unfortunately, in Manual and Sport modes, to finish the job.

The glimmer of hope came when Manual and Sport+ were combined and I worked feverously at trying to escape the clutches of Lexus’ misguided one-car-for-all approach. Only when driven hard, harder than anyone should on a road, did I manage to free myself from captivity; only when I abused the RC F did I fall in love and never want to leave its side.

But then, I’d back off and be pummelled by a transmission that refused to rev-match and be made sick by a floaty-fatty ride that every time reminded me that this is an 1,800 kg (3,975 lbs.) car.

Now that it’s gone, oh how I miss it, but should I ever see it again, I may set it on fire.