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2016 Lexus RC 200t Quick Spin

Cars like the BMW 4 Series, Cadillac ATS coupe, and Audi A5 exist not as volume cars, but as aspirational products designed to draw in the young and the young at heart. The humble four-cylinder turbo, offered in each car listed above, provides an accessible point of entry for lifestyle buyers that want the statement of a sporty coupe without the eagerness, fuel inefficiency, or cost of a big six-cylinder engine. Now, Lexus is throwing its hat in the ring with a turbocharged version of its polarizing RC coupe. We took the new RC 200t out for a day on the winding roads of the Pines to Palms Highway near Palm Springs, CA, and found that while Lexus' new engine will draw new customers, they probably won't like what they find. Driving Notes The RC joins the IS, GS, and NX as members of Lexus' four-cylinder turbo clan. There's 241 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque on offer here, numbers that compare favorably with the BMW 428i (240 hp and 260 lb-ft) and Audi A5 (220 hp and 258 lb-ft). None of that matters, though, because the turbocharged RC is easily the slowest car in its class. You'll struggle to keep pace with stuff like the Hyundai Veloster Turbo. The RC 200t somehow takes 7.3 seconds to get to 60 miles per hour. That's a second slower than the A5, and over half a second slower than the 4 Series or Cadillac ATS. You can't drive a car that looks as wild as this and take that long to get to 60. Blame it on the RC's 3,737-pound weight. Lexus only saved 11 pounds by switching out a 3.5-liter V6 for the 2.0-liter turbo. The BMW and Cadillac both weigh well under 3,500 pounds. Even the RC's four-door fraternal twin, the IS 200t, is 150 pounds lighter (and only takes 6.9 seconds to get to 60). The RC needs a diet, plain and simple. If Lexus truly wants to compete against the Germans and Cadillac, a snappier transmission is in order. Like the GS we talked about yesterday, the Aisin eight-speed is fine on upshifts – it's still not as fast as the 4 Series' ZF eight-speed auto – but it suffers when it's time to change down. Around town, it's less of a problem, but on the twisty mountain roads outside of Palm Springs and on the freeways, the RC's gearbox kept tripping over itself. We'd love to see what the 2.0-liter turbo engine could do in a lighter car, because it's a real charmer. The broad 1,650-to-4,400-rpm torque peak gives drivers a lot of space to play, although the RC does feel flat-footed as you crest 5,000 rpm.

Lexus finally announces all-new twin-turbo V8, will race the Nurburgring 24H

In March 2013, Motor Trend wrote about rumors of Lexus bolting two turbos onto the high-revving, atmospheric 5.0-liter V8 in the RC F, the new engine for eventual use in an LC F super coupe. We heard the rumor again from multiple directions in 2017, and again in 2018. At last, the rumor gets official confirmation as an aside in a Lexus press release about taking the Gazoo Racing LC race car to the Nurburgring 24-hour for a third time next year. After two years of "unavoidable hours in the pit to resolve issues" with the LC in 2018 and 2019, the luxury carmaker said that next year it "[aims] to complete the race without any trouble by adopting a variety of new technologies, including a newly-developed V8 twin-turbo engine destined for use on future road cars such as sports cars." That's all we know for certain about what's coming. Predictions supposed Lexus has paired two of its 2.0-liter, four-cylinder engines with a 90-degree angle to create the 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8. Estimates over the years guessed output as anywhere from 600 metric horsepower, 592 of our U.S. customary horses, to 620 hp, to 660 hp. The guesstimate torque figure comes in at "up to 506 pound-feet," arrived at by a Japanese magazine that figured Lexus was trying to outdo the Nissan GT-R. What's safe to say is that the engine – created with an emphasis on performance – will outdo the 471 hp and 398 lb-ft of torque from the Yamaha-developed, naturally-aspirated V8 currently powering the LC 500 flagship. The new engine might not outdo the 7,300-rpm redline. Since the press release mentioned "sports cars," plural, there's every right to expect the hi-po power plant to migrate to other offerings. In the press, the engine's been mooted for everything from the RC F and new GS F to an LS F and a super-potent SUV inspired by the LF-1 Limitless concept that would take on the Lamborghini Urus. Further changes to the LC F accompanying the new motor could include a great deal more carbon fiber, about 200 pounds trimmed from the curb weight, a stiffer structure, a "low-weight and high-rigidity suspension," and more refined software systems for tech like driver aids, traction control, and anti-lock braking.  Lexus will take the start line at next yearÂ’s Nurburgring 24-Hour weekend from May 21-24 in the SP-Pro class. Related Video:

2023 Japan Mobility Show Mega Photo Gallery: All the highlights and reveals from Tokyo

The 2023 Japan Mobility Show managed to serve up a surprise heap of exciting and futuristic designs and production reveals. Our staff was on the ground in Tokyo for this year's show, where we captured not just all of the latest automotive trends, but some genuinely weird and fascinating stuff.  Browse: Some Delightful Oddities of the 2023 Japan Mobility Show But on to the cars. This year's show featured introductions from Daihatsu, Honda, Lexus, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, Suzuki and Toyota. Some are weird; some are wild; most are probably destined to change significantly before production or merely fade into the void with the rest of the industry's vaporware, but if even a few of these make it to showrooms, we'll consider it a win. Scroll on down for our live galleries of each of the show's major debuts (and cars we're only now seeing in person for the first time). Enjoy!   BMW X2 and iX2 BMW X2 View 6 Photos   Daihatsu me:MO Concept Daihatsu me:MO concept View 14 Photos   Daihatsu Vision Copen Concept Daihatsu Vision Copen View 7 Photos   Daihatsu Osanpo Concept Daihatsu Osanpo View 6 Photos   Daihatsu Uniform Concept Daihatsu Uniform concept View 6 Photos   Honda Prelude Concept Honda Prelude concept View 5 Photos   Honda Sustania-C and Pocket Concepts Honda Sustania-C and Pocket Concept View 8 Photos   Honda CI-MEV Concept Honda CI-MEV View 3 Photos   Infiniti Vision Qe Concept Infiniti Qe concept View 14 Photos   Lexus LF-ZC Lexus LF-ZC View 8 Photos   Lexus LF-ZL Lexus LF-ZL View 10 Photos   Mazda Iconic SP Mazda Iconic SP concept View 8 Photos   Mitsubishi D:X Concept Mitsubishi D:X Concept View 8 Photos   Nissan Hyper Force Concept Nissan Hyper Force concept View 11 Photos   Nissan Hyper Tourer Concept Nissan Hyper Tourer concept View 6 Photos   Nissan Hyper Punk Concept IMG_6533 copy View 8 Photos   Subaru Sport Mobility Concept Subaru Sport Mobility Concept View 7 Photos   Suzuki Swift Suzuki Swift View 5 Photos   Suzuki eWX Suzuki eWX Concept View 3 Photos   Suzuki eVX Suzuki eVX concept View 4 Photos   Toyota Land Cruiser Se Concept Toyota Land Cruiser Se concept View 4 Photos   Toyota FT-3e Concept Toyota FT-3e View 6 Photos   Toyota FT-Se Concept Toyota FT-Se View 7 Photos     Tokyo Motor Show Honda Infiniti Lexus Mazda Mitsubishi Nissan Subaru Suzuki Toyota