The Sheep In Wolf's Clothing

The Japanese sportscar.

Instead of flying all the way to Munich, wouldn’t it have been easier for Toyota to peek over the wall at Lexus where the RC-F was being developed and tested?

As it turns out, the current Japanese sportscar comes in two distinct flavors with the RC F representing a cultured Gran Tourer movement to a segment that’s deteriorated into an unwinnable power struggle between BMW and Mercedes.

Arguably, the RC-F takes its place as Japan’s muscle car. Under the microscope of the world’s motoring press, Lexus maintains a squeaky-clean image by spreading milder hybrid systems across their SUVs than any other brand in SA. The RC F’s 5.0-liter V8 is the antithesis, giving the Eco Pendulum a firm swing in the opposite direction to grab a few punchy headlines of its own. This is not a very new engine though. Many of us motoring scribes learned about its character in the IS F which at the time was up against normally aspirated M3s, RS 4s and C63s. Since then they’ve all made the switch to turbocharging, rather successfully we might add. Lexus has its back turned.