Is track pack diff from Track Edition?

 

rpr200r: Been to Bothell a few times during my U Dub days

Thanks Joe Z.

05RollaXRS: Your car is amazing in that molten pearl! What a gorgeous color. And realistically RCF TE's were hard to come by since they made only 50 of them for the US market. The optional equipment on the one I bought was not what I would have selected - I had no choice. It was the only one available and they were willing to let me have it at MSRP and with the $6K rebate in effect at the time that made my decision easy. So I totally understand the direction you took with yours and you have a fantastic car! Did you gain any horsepower with he exhaust system?

I attached a copy of my window sticker so you can see exactly what I got.



Ismellike: I agree with your sentiment. Reviews of the RCF TE have tended to be negative about the price and compared it to a base RCF which isn't really an apples to apples comparison. I personally don't see how Lexus made any money on the TE with all the changes made. I think the brakes are about $15K alone not to mention the cost of the carbon fibre pieces and the hand made titanium exhaust. I think it's more or less an image leader for them as a car maker so its like spending money on advertising. I do worry about how long it might take to get body parts for the TE if something were to happen to it (knock on wood). I have my 4 Lexuses all insured with AAA and a 1991 GMC Syclone insured with Haggerty's and the price quote from Haggerty's if I were to insure the RCF TE was incredibly high (double AAA's rate). So they are probably more aware of potential repair costs than AAA.

 

I also love the TE. Makes a great DD now with 8k miles. The LC inspiration car is ordered in my name but I am just not sure about the white interior. It looks great but a nightmare to keep looking new. I may have to pass but will decide when the car arrives. Great to see multi Lexus owners.

 

Meant track edition. Man I didn't realize the TE didn't include triple beams or nav etc as standard. Wonder how much more weight savings there would've been for a rear seat delete.

 

Is there a citation anywhere for the 50 made? I've heard various numbers but nothing in writing

I was also under the impression that every TE had every option

Can someone confirm or deny?

Thanks

 

Thanks man. Really appreciate it. I am very happy with it as I bought it in 2017. At that time, track edition was nowhere in the picture in 2017 so there were only two trims available in my area.

I agree, the track edition is a good value over the carbon/TVD because you get a whole bunch more for just a few more grand, if there are no dealership markups. Also, the weight reduction down to 3800 lbs without cutting back on most of the quality, materials and luxurious things, is pretty great. To put things in perspective, a hardcore GT350R weighs the same as a track edition RCF. However, the GT350R has no back seat and also missing the high quality luxury stuff in the TE. So, I agree that it is quite an accomplishment to reduce the weight without making the interior look like a skeleton. To the question above about weight of the rear seat, the front seats each weigh 70 lbs with the auto adjustment motors/cooling/heating etc. I believe the rear might be around 90 - 100 lbs. Lexus still wanted the car to be a practical/daily worthy car that could be taken to the track on the weekends rather than an all-out track car.

Exhaust question, that is correct, the exhaust will gain more HP. Around 18 wheel HP or so. It is very noticeable in how quick the car revs. There are quite a lot of options available including Joe Z's PTS exhaust. Your car already comes with an expensive titanium axle back so it is unfortunate you have to look into an aftermarket exhaust, but yes it will make the car sound more aggressive for sure. You will also feel a very noticeable increase in power as well.

This is my quick video of cold start up and some light 3000 rpm revs

 

vraa: On the 2020 regular (as opposed to TE) RCFs there is a package called the performance package for $11.400. And right from the Lexus website this includes:

PERFORMANCE PACKAGE

ADD

• DRIVER'S-SEAT MEMORY
• HEATED STEERING WHEEL
• ELECTROCHROMIC (AUTO-DIMMING) OUTSIDE MIRRORS WITH AUTO TILT-DOWN IN REVERSE
• BLIND SPOT MONITOR* WITH REAR CROSS-TRAFFIC ALERT*
• REAR-SEAT CENTER ARMREST WITH TRUNK PASS-THROUGH
• REAR-SEAT CENTER CONSOLE WITH CUPHOLDERS
• HEATED AND VENTILATED FRONT SEATS
• CARBON FIBER ROOF
• CARBON FIBER FRONT SPOILER, ROCKER-PANEL SPLITTERS, REAR DIFFUSER AND SPEED-ACTIVATED REAR WING
• POWER TILT-AND-TELESCOPIC STEERING COLUMN
• BLACK CARBON FIBER INTERIOR TRIM
• LEATHER-TRIMMED INTERIOR

On the RCF TE you are missing some stuff such as the blind spot monitoring w rear cross traffic alter and the memory settings for the power driver's seat. And these are not offered as options at all on the TE. The parking assist is an option which mine did come with as well as the Mark Levinson stereo which is combined with the navigation stuff. My car does have lane departure assist etc. I am old school and don't really use the blind spot monitoring ( I am so used to looking over my shoulder on a lane change) but the rear cross traffic alert is a nice feature when packing out a parking spot at a strip mall for example where your visibility is pretty much blocked by cars parked next to you. But you can't get that either on the TE. The memory seat function would be nice.

It seems that Lexus is very conservative on the power output from their engines, staying below the 100 HP per liter mark in all cars except for the LFA. This means their engines aren't strained and probably contributes to their long term durability and ack of problems. However, with exhaust change that 05RollaXRS implemented on his car the 18 hp gain is certainly meaningful and doesn't strain the engine at all. But maybe it could affect CA emissions? I believe you would need to shave off about 150 lbs in sprung weight to match that 18 hp gain. I know Lexus took about 40 lbs off the unsprung weight of the car by going with the ceramic brakes and BBS wheels a Michelin Pilot tires.

Thanks for sharing that video 05RollaXRS. Your car not only looks awesome but sounds superb! Congratulations on having such an appealing combo!

 

The TVD (torque vectoring differential) has been made a stand-alone option in 2020 (in your GSF it came standard). In pre-2020 RCFs, I got the TVD as part of the performance package.

Thanks for the very nice compliments on my RCF. That is correct. With full bolt-ons like headers, full exhaust, cold air intake and RR racing tune, there is another 55 - 60 whp that can be added so there is definitely room, but yes it comes at the cost of higher emissions. The full exhaust for example, comes without secondary cats and bigger diameter piping. That results in higher emissions. You are right, in order to have the same effect without bolt-ons, you will have to shave off more weight to match HP gain from bolt-ons. Rear seat, I believe takes off 100+ lbs.

 

King,

My car is the exact build/msrp as yours. My vin ends with 499 so built 53 or so RCFs before yours.

I have never seen confirmed production numbers/color on the TE but have always looked on Autotrader to see what’s out there and they have been very limited. 50 cars was what everyone said with 10-15 being Matte.

 

05RollaXRS: Are you planning on doing any of the other add ons that you mention? That 55-60 HP gain is huge! Here in CA they are really strict. My 1991 GMC Syclone its 100 percent stock. But I thought about changing the chip to one of the higher performance chip offerings and was not able to get it shipped to me because I am in CA. I know Jeg's had to pay huge fines due to violating the no shipping to CA of parts that might negatively affect emissions.

vraa: The Lexus dealer I bought the car from told me that there were a total of 50 RCF TE's made available for the US and 50 for the rest of the world. Car and Driver also mentioned the 50 unit for the US in their review:

https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews...edition-drive/

Also noteworthy on options not available for the TE - heated and cooled seats.

 

Yeah motortrend and autoblog said 400 world wide and 50 for USA, I wish Lexus themselves would say

Re: options, I meant that all track editions had all available track editions options, I didn't realize there were TE's without LED headlights or nav....

 

It gets better...LOL

Great you see 55 - 60 whp as huge gains. They actually are dyno measured wheel HP gains. That means, they are what is being put down to the wheels after the drivetrain loss (RCF has about a 17% drivetrain loss). So, effectively it is around a 70 crank HP gain with intake, headers, full exhaust and RR race tune before the drivetrain loss. So, around 472 HP + 70 HP. N/A gains is laughed at by enthusiasts of turbo cars like C63 or M4s because with the help of boost, they can get a lot more gains, but N/A gains while much smaller, are very reliable and there is no limp mode, overheating, unexpected power loss, failures, lag etc.

Regarding my own question, I actually am not into HP that much. I think the car came with enough HP already. I just like to have fun with the car. I wanted the exhaust noise, which is why I got the full exhaust. The additional HP was a great plus as it made the car feel much more stronger through out the rev range. I hated the "spongy" feel of the OEM pre-2020 RCF Pilot Super Sport tires so I upgraded the tires to stiffer sidewall (XL) version of the Pilot Sport 4S tires with very high load rating, which makes them hold up very well under high corner loads.

I have stage 2 cold air intake (AFE power) on order right now. It will arrive in the next few weeks. Again, it is for more induction noise from the engine. The HP gains are pretty minimal since our stock cold air intake is pretty much as good as it gets. Aftermarket CAI will give a more aggressive growl and better flow rate. However, it is just 6 - 7 whp gain at best. I would do probably RR racing tune at some point, but I definitely would not do headers. They are the biggest HP addition as they add the major bulk of the HP from aftermarket parts. However, it requires dropping the front subframe of the car, which is something I am not prepared to do. I think I like it with just intake/exhaust and some other small mods like the tires I did and maybe, a tune. I might do the RR racing ultimate steering response bushings to get more steering feel, but with the new tires it has alleviated a lot of my concerns about steering feel with the OEM tires. The Invidia full exhaust sounds great, but if I want a bit more volume I can have the resonators deleted, but right now I enjoy it as it is. Basically, very little more left for me to do on the car as I enjoy it a lot already with my wife and two small kids in the back seat. HP is not very usable on the streets as it seems overkill already for the type of settings I drive in. Cheers!

 

2020 doesnt have ecu tune yet right?

 

Yeah, you are right. RR racing tune is only for 2015 and 2016.

 

.... Delete dupe