Review: 2023 Lexus RC 350 F Sport AWD - Better with Age 

Alot of other reviewers are coming back to these cars waxing poetic about how these vehicles have old school charm when just a few years ago they blasted the RC/IS350 F SPORT for being these same things against their competitors. Funny how things are now with sooo many soulless vehicles on the road today...

Interesting how such a daring exterior design has managed to look so timeless, so far.

I drove this car last summer, there was no sound. Such a refined sport car with minimal sound. Amazing engineering

Love the reviews! Keep it up brotha, as long as we see the passion you have, we will be here. Can't wait to see what 2024 brings all of us!

This car is super underrated sure it’s outdated and not the most thrilling car but if you are single be perfect commuter. Cars like this don’t exist anymore. But realize this car will never die. It’s super reliable and you are saving thousands of dollars compared to German rivals. Imo this car looks better than the IS

Another great review! You are exactly correct in the RC's staying power. Thanks for posting!

I love the design of the RC line up, it ages well like a fine wine, but for the price of $60k I would get a used RCF because of the motor and probably cheaper.

The design is really well done. My 2016 RC 350 F Sport gets a lot of compliments

Thanks for the review Matt!

That intake sound, put some headphones on 😮‍💨

Great review Matt! Makes me miss my old GS. The induction noise is so good - it will be a sad day when that buttery V6 is gone

The paddle shifter are actually metal. If you tap the paddles, you hear solid metallic sound. Not a hollow plastic sound. I have an 2019 IS350 F-Sport AWD and I agree, the 6 speed is not great. The AISIN 8 speed tuned for the RCF, feels night and day with it as I have an RCF as well, but I love the V6. Such a beautiful engine.

my only issue with the AWD has always been the transfer case bump in the drivers footwell, my 2015 Fsport RWD is by far my favorite car ive ever owned

I think both Matt and the car are maturing well together, and complement each other more

This car in candy red with tan leather or gun metal grey over dark red leather, sign me up! Too bad we don't get the 350 over here just the 300h. Nice enough, but no v6 sound. I wish I could get the RC with the drive train from my GS 450h, that would be just perfect.

That blue is so nice!

I can’t wait to watch this…although I’m falling in love with the lc 500 of late

The 6-speed automatic is definitely archaic with the AWD models, but it is a proven transmission that has been built for years. Lexus is always very reliable and bulletproof with everything they do. It is good since it doesn’t gear hunt that much.

I have this same car year and color put a ground effect kit from NIA tinted windows and some carbon fiber pieces and I love it ❤️

Awesome review. I hope these stay around longer. A new gen would be cool but I don’t think people buy coupes anymore. If I could find a RCF that would be awesome

I love the design of this car, and the sound isn't bad. Howver, having driven a few of these and the RCF against other cars, the power output is simply far too low for the weight of the car. It really feels heavy and slow. The car looks agressive and sporty, but a nearly 6 second 0-60 time tells you how much that weight ks really dragging it down. And the transmission wasnt fast to respond to inputs either. The car really needed the power output of the V8 in the RCF as the base, and i found thst to be pretty good. Not super fast, but well balanced all around with plenty of speed and an intoxicating sound (especially with aftermarket exhausts). I think a higher performance variant from there (kind of similar to the Track Edition) would have been a good position for the RCF if the RCF became the base.

Great looking car. Especially in this color.

I've had much faster cars before but since the AWD version has become my daily driver it is the best car, I love it!!

I bought one, a 2021 arctic white 350 Fsport 3 Black Line. It is amazing. But the gas mileage in stop and go is bad imo. The interior is amazing, the dome lights, the big dome light, its almost gesture/tap. the mark levinson is incredible, the steering wheel and paddles are perfect. the drive mode selector feels awesome. The car really is incredible. heated cooled seats, peddles. gear shift feel good. Insurance is good too, im almost 40, city, 160/month full coverage. The trunk is very good and the cargo net is nice. All the audio controls etc are perfect. I love the touch pad! its super quick and you can really fine tune it. the infotainment is perfect too. Climate is so cool. Ive never had a car w ac, and ac seats! incredible ice cold! road noise is almost zero, only a bit of wind from the door edge behind u somewhere. only things I dont like is getting out, I seem to lean on the face of the side bolster getting out. The dimming mirror makes quick checks a bit sketchy at night. also the transmission in automatic is a bit lazy when youre speeding around. the steering and weight of the car is a bit sketchy if youre lets say in between walls on a highway ramp or going down hill cornering you can just feel the weight. Im coming from a civic si so its a big change. Car excels in cruise control 125kph eco mode, sips gas I swear. The final S+ sport mode is when this car comes alive. 1st 2nd 3rd gear, and high end 4th feels adequately fast. if you are in the market I highly recommend. it is the real deal, but you need the f sport 3 w the mark levinson and the triple beams... but you have to take the MPG in consideration

Hey Matt! Loving the weekly updates and the reviews! Your 2024 goals video had me thinking…I’ve noticed that some channels (e.g. MotoManTV) who post videos of their interviews with company representatives (like Toyota’s chief engineers during their press reveals) seem to do very well. It’s the kind of content that car nerds love and really allow us to get behind the scenes and understand the decisions that the engineers had to make during vehicle development. It also allows them to express their passion for the product in a way they don’t get to do very often. You have that passion yourself and would do a great job at asking them the right questions! I also wonder if collaboration with other RU-vid channels (like Redline Reviews) through a shared review or a guest spot on the weekly update (or in their videos) will allow you to reach a wider audience. You already know them well since you keep seeing each other at the same press events! Always love your work and wishing you a very successful 2024!

Awesome daily driver that!

Excellent car

I have no complaints with the AWD 6spd. Its bulletproof and doesn't gear hunt. If I wanted a sports car I'd get a manual anyway. 6spds again.

When I was looking into getting my first car, I fully expected it to have a CD player (I didn't have any money saved up when I was first thinking about getting a car and was working part time for less than $10/hr) So much so that I bought CDs that look like vinyl disc. But I realized after I order my Mustang Mach-E I couldn't use them 😔. I even tried plugging in a USB disc drive but it didn't work 🙁.

Great review. Every time I see an RCF on the street, I wonder why I don't have one - it looks so much better and has more character than current BMW's. Then I remember, "oh yeah, they don't offer manual any more". Sigh 😞

love your videos matt the japanese make great cars period

Own a 2015 not much diffrence except for the screen. And older headlights. Mines a rwd same color with a 1 hr drive to work keeps me happy.

The only thing i dont like about these is the way the front is higher than the rear (wheel gap bigger in the front)

This design is beautiful, it is as much as having every person with slight different BRZ looks Night Cop Chase Kapraku.

Hi Matt! Awesome review as always! One thing I would say is that I wish Lexus would offer a key ignition as an option for this car since everything feels old school (in a good way).

RC 350 AWD makes so much sense as a daily in Canada. Q60 would be another car to consider, as they aren't clapped out yet.

Great-looking car, but for so much money (for what is a essentially a 10-year-old car), they should at least throw in the updated infotainment OS. Come on, Lexus!

They really nailed the styling for it to have such staying power. That blue is 100% Lexus F sport and the way to spec these IMO.

always hated the front wheel gap with the AWD model. the rwd model looks normal. i had a rc 350 awd years ago. now i have an rcf.

RC500 up next!!

I really like those interest rates go down I might buy a 19 or newer

This is gonna be interesting. In Canada they only offer it with AWD, so RC 300 AWD and RC 350 AWD.

Nice review. I really wanted a RC 350f RWD but this and the IS do not have power folding mirrors. A deal breaker since I have a small garage. Was also surprise- no button on the trunk area to open the trunk. It’s 2024 Lexus - get with the competition! Then theres the dated tech. Oh, then there’s the CD player - what a wasted space. Ended up buying a 2024 Genesis G70 sport prestige. Cost less then my wife’s Lexus ES yet my G70 has more features then the ES.

I’ve own a es350 all i care about is reliability I’ll be buying a rc350 just to add a bit more excitement.

I'm seriously in the market for one. Market is looking good. 2019-current, 350, clean, around 50,000km, f sport 2 or 3 is a great deal.

I recently test drove a IS350 but wound up putting a deposit on a BMW 230i XDrive. 43k for a vs 54k for the IS.

Mercedes is still making the c class coupe it just got a price increase and a new generation. If I was older I’d probably be in one of these

For a little less money you could buy a BMW M240i with the B58 and ZF8.

Isn't the TLX type S also a competitor?

Wish they still made the V8 powered GS-F or morphed it into the ultimate Japanese sport Crossover.

Isn't the is500 more fun?

Why does the front always look so high on these

Still looks cool but is still rather buy an Is350 RWD F Sport

The Q60 is the closest competitor

1:16 min - Matt Maran likes curves and hips. 😁💙👍🏾

Reading the thread here is really just sad. The excuses made for 10+ year old car. Of course it's reliable, it's a 10 year old car with an engine that goes back to 2006. There is no approach here as the reviewer said. An approach would be to make a NEW car with an analogue feel vs just being a leftover car from a bygone era. Total nonsense. Why do people who champion Lexus' outdated RWD based cars like the IS and RC totally ignore that Lexus has a showroom full of newer products? Are their newer products unreliable? Lexus can't do reliable and new at the same time? If they can then there is no excuse for this car to exist in it's current form anymore. When should a car get a redesign, 10, 15, 20 years? When it's sales totally dry up? Sales of the RC are laughable now and some question why? Are you kidding? Who buys a new one when you can get a used one from 5 or 6 years ago that's the same car?

Hi

Back when lexus interiors didn't look like Toyota interiors

🙂👍

cool but the LC is way nicer

I wouldn’t get it only because the interior is still 2012. 😂

It would look a helluva lot better if it didn't have great-grandma's hairnet grille.

I still the IS refresh looks miles ahead of this older design

automatic sport coupe,nah.