RC F vs. RS5: Battle of the Luxury Performance Coupes (Video)
Between the Lexus and the Audi rides, the RC F is the clear — albeit unconventional — choice among high-power, two-door four seaters.
Ask most people in the world to pick their favorite luxury performance four seat coupe and they’ll likely reply with either the BMW M4 or Mercedes-AMG C63. Those two are obviously the conventional choices, as English publication Autocar immediately points out in its latest video. But what if you’re the unconventional type? What if you’re the type of person who likes to use turn signals? Well, there are other choices, namely the Lexus RC F and Audi RS5.
But even though these two cars compete against each other, each uses a very different philosophy in regards to motivation. The Lexus is powered by an old school, naturally aspirated 5.0 liter V8. The Audi, on the other hand, a twin-turbo 2.9 liter V6. The Lexus sends power through the rear wheels, while the Audi is all wheel drive.
Before we even delve into the rest of the details surrounding these two coupes, that one is a big sticking point. In regards to the downsized Audi, Autocar goes so far as to declare that they “aren’t convinced it’s a sports car.” Ouch, indeed. This, despite the fact that the RS5 produces a stout 444 hp/442 lb-ft of torque in this trim.
Meanwhile, (as Autocar calls it) the “dirty, old, stinking, wonderful” V8 produces 471 hp and 391 lb-ft of torque. Despite that, the Audi is considerably faster to 62 mph – 3.9 seconds vs. 4.5. So why would they hate on the Audi so much? The same reason everyone else seems to prefer the Lexus over its new-school brethren – it’s a proper sports car.
Turbo cars, despite technology advances, are still a little “on and off” in regards to power delivery. Meanwhile, the glorious Lexus V8 possesses superior “feel, precision, and response,” as Autocar points out. And the sounds it produces? Pure magic. The future might be smaller displacement turbo motors. But we’ll cling on to our n/a V8’s just as long as we can, thank you very much.
