DarkAlkamist

Hi All,

I'm currently in the market to purchase a used 2021+ RC F. I'm looking at a Lexus Certified located in Wisconsin. The car has about 14,814 miles on it, but the Caxfax shows the car never visiting a Lexus dealership for maintenance until it was purchased by a Lexus dealership in Milwaukee at around 14,668 miles. Should I skip it and keep looking?

https://www.carfax.com/VehicleHistor...lUmDlR0vz-5c1M

cerbois

interested to see what the experts say, looks like a good price.

my dealer has a 2022 with 8K and not certified, one owner who works at dealership.
I was tempted to trade my new is350F in but not sure it's worth the price to upgrade. Listed at $68K. Has the mid level premium option I think, like yours seems to be too.

05RollaXRS

How much are they asking for it? What packages does it have on it? Does it have Carbon/TVD on it? Some more information needed. With only 14K miles, if you get a proper inspection, the mileage is low enough for it to not be a big deal as long as inspection checks out. Then again, it is L-certified already so the inspection is already answered. I don't think you have anything to worry about as it is L-certified so it is fully inspected and also comes with a warranty.


I own both. Have a 2019 IS350 F-Sport and RCF. I have been wanting to do a comparison review for a while. Is it a big upgrade? Obviously, it is definitely a big upgrade as it has 40% more power, a much faster transmission, a very beefy suspension/chassis, brakes, big tires, wheels. It feels completely on a different level especially comparing both cars in SPORT+ mode. With a few OEM++ mods (my IS350 F-Sport is stock), the gap is even bigger. The chassis and suspension are so much more buttoned down and STILL on the RCF where it masks 100 mph as if it is 40 mph while in the IS350 F-Sport, the chassis and suspension has a lot more pitch/roll/jiggliness/shudder that makes the speed more apparent. Mine has the TVD so it makes it even more lively and playful with a very fast steering and willing to kick the tail out very easily. Now, if you are going to drive bumper to bumper in traffic 95% of the time and rarely ever going to take it for canyon runs or on the track, you will probably not really see a whole lot of point for the RCF as the IS350 F-Sport does everything well and it is still sporty enough to take fly overs fast etc. I even get my IS350 F-Sport to kick the tail out and it is a lot of fun so if you are not going to push the RCF beyond 6/10ths, you might not see a whole lot of benefits other than getting frustrated with its wider rear end, long nose in day-to-day narrow driving conditions. Hope that gives you a good idea.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

cerbois

Thanks!!! I have an 2023 IS350F with 5K, ceramic coated, front PPF. They have a 2022 RCF 500, 8K, stock owned by someone in the dealer. Premium package I believe is it.
They ask $68, my car was $50 ish and bought from them. Didn t ask yet cause $20 difference would not work for me.
I have had Porsches, Mustang (traded a Mach 1 to this dealer). Some people call the RCF weak in reviews (taken with a grain of salt).
The RCF should hold a better value. I think they said the RC was in the $80s new.
Is the RC longer?
My cars paid for . Won t take a loan.
The RC had a good Car fax with 2 services and an alignment done.
Don t know if the car was flogged, LOL??

05RollaXRS

Yeah, if the numbers work for you then it sounds like a good deal. Original MSRP seems to be around $80K based on the packages you wrote so you are getting a practically new RCF for $68K (and your negotiation strategy could bring it down even further).

Like I said above, you have heard from someone who owns both platforms. I love both cars and they both have their place in my garage. My IS350 F-Sport has only 29,000 KM on it (my 2016 RCF has 20,000 KM) and both are staying with me practically forever. RCF for sure will never leave and the IS350 F-Sport is such an amazing car that I cannot see myself selling it for many years. However, the difference in aggressive driving settings, is night/day. In daily driving conditions, I would say both cars do equal well going from point A to B while still being somewhat fun.

Those are the people who like to bash on the car anyway. It does everything extremely well. It is not a class leader, but it checks all of the boxes. Keep in mind, recently reviews have been 99% positive. Even with some great achievements, it did not get the credit in the beginning. Randy Pobst basically could not get the M4 to lap faster in the Motor Trend comparison than the RCF despite having tried several laps and it is the only Lexus other than the LFA to sustain almost 1.00g circling the skid pad etc.

Early reviews like Clarkson were harsh and based on highly flawed arguments. For example, one person in response to Clarkson, showed how RCF could be drifting with one arm and one leg and one eye. Clarkson was trying to drift in the wrong mode (EXPERT). Anyway, subjective opinions are mostly biased one way or the other. People forget, LFA was bashed extremely harshly when it came out and people made fun of it at how underperforming it was for a $400K car where basically a $100K GTR would beat it. I should know since I was everywhere defending LFA vehemently. Once something is gone, people have revisionist type of memory and they start to look at things for what they should be as they become a time capsule of an era. Same is the case with the RCF as it is old and on its way out, people are beginning to appreciate it more for what it is supposed to be.

Yes, lately RCFs have been holding value really well. Even the old, beaten up, high mileage RCFs still go for $40+ K in some cases even with accident records and multiple owners.

Very similar length. Parking them side by side, they look about the same length, but on paper the RCF is 2 inches longer than my IS350 F-Sport. RCF as you can see in the picture, is significantly lower by about 3 inches. Now, remember my IS350 F-Sport is 2 inches shorter than your 2021+. the 2021+ IS350 F-Sport are the same length as the RCF at 185 inches and the IS500 F-Sport is about 2 inches longer than the RCF because they had to elongate the 3IS nose to make room for the V8. RCF is a small cabin being a two door, shorter decklid, but a longer hood so the engine sits closer to the middle than in my IS350 F-Sport. Also, the RCF has a 3 inches shorter wheelbase than the IS350. As you can see the picture I posted above, the RCF compared to my 2019 IS350 F-Sport is signifcantly wider due to the wider axle, wider tires, wider wheels etc.



That is a risk you have to take, but RCFs are bullet proof. I bought mine with 8000 miles and the previous owner flogged it in auto cross sessions and did drifting. My car still feels brand new and the service history is clean with zero issues. Lexus over-engineered the RCF for taking punishment on the track lap after lap. It will lap all day without complaining or overheating so our street driving conditions are far more tame than that.

DarkAlkamist

Thank you for your response, I just wanted to make sure I'm not missing anything. The car is $62k, it has every option except for the carbon fiber package, and TVD. I called a local repair shop and they are willing to do a pre purchase inspection for around $90. Small price to pay for a little more peace of mind, as I will need to have the car transported to Washington for around $1600.

05RollaXRS

Yeah, it is L-certified so you should be good and it is practically brand new. If you really want an RCF, I would go for it. CF/TVD is a nice to have, but you have Torsen LSD, which also helps rotating the car so cannot go wrong with any variant of the RCF.

cerbois

Hey , I didn t mean to jump into your post. I m just asking same thing you are. I pulled up your car and it was nice looking. Yours is a year older than the one I am shopping but you get a $6K head start, LOL

DarkAlkamist

I agree that the CF/TVD is definitely nice to have. Sadly they are out of my $65K budget for a 2021+ RC F, and no dealership has been willing to budge. Thanks for all the information, I think I'm going to go after this car!

05RollaXRS

Yeah, definitely. TVD was no longer offered I believe in 2022+ model RCF anyway. Carbon models come with LSD. Again, cannot go wrong with the LSD RCF either.

DarkAlkamist

LOL, its no problem at all! We both got our questions answered (2 birds with 1 stone). I'm just excited to hopefully be part of this community after lurking and saving for almost 2 years.

marcuslaw2

My '22 RC F has TVD. It's my understanding that it became optional that year but only in a limited number of F's and almost always appears when the car is equipped with the Mark Levinson audio system (maybe part of a "premium package"?). I read somewhere that TVD is still an option in '23 F's but only in the Track Edition. Apparently, in the '23 base F the spot where the TVD button used to be, is now occupied by the electronic brake. I couldn't find official confirmation of this from Lexus.

RCF93til

Pre face lift models (2015-2019) you would get TVD if you added the “Performance Package” option, which comes with CF + TVD. Post face lift models (2020+) TVD became a stand alone option while the Carbon package became a separate option. With the MY2023 the Carbon package remained while the TVD is gone. Lexus was very quiet about it in its MY2023 press release.

All Track Editions come with LSD, no option for TVD.