I'm sitting at a table, talking to the chief engineer for the new Lexus RC F – a gently spoken Japanese gentleman called Yukihiko Yaguchi – having just manhandled his new car around a private race track outside of New York.
And, to be honest, I've not had that great a time in the car.
In fact, I've been curiously disappointed by how cumbersome it had felt when trying to stop and change direction for, and remain composed in the middle of, this circuit's numerous corners.
And the problem is the car's weight. It simply feels too heavy to be genuinely agile – as most cars that nudge two tonnes when they have just a driver and fuel on board tend to on a circuit.
So I ask Yaguchi-san a simple question, hoping he'll respond with an equally simple answer. Why, I ask, does the new RC F weigh as much as it does?
Because its chassis and body-shell are as stiff as it gets, replies Yaguchi-san via an interpreter. Also, he points out, there are more active safety features on the car than in just about any other rival. And in a nutshell, that's why the RC F weighs what it does.
So presumably your car's body-shell is quantifiably stiffer than the latest M3's, I ask, which weighs a full quarter-tonne less than the RC F?
Not sure, replies Yaguchi, because we don't know how stiff the BMW is, but we know our car is very stiff indeed.
Which leaves me feeling a bit baffled if I'm honest. How can Lexus claim that the RC F is stiffer than the competition if it doesn't know how stiff an M3 is?
And does the RC F really need to be so festooned with (and therefore burdened by) safety features if, as Lexus claims, it's meant to be one of the most exciting cars to drive on a track in its class?
Don't get me wrong, the RC F is a terrific road car, one that's as rapid as it is refined; a machine whose on-road personality is pretty much defined by its delicious atmospheric V8 engine. Which makes it refreshingly old-school in this day and age, and therefore right up my avenue.
But when Lexus tries to convince us that it has built a car that's as sharp to drive on a track as it is on the road – and is therefore a competitor to the M3 in any dynamic scenario – that's when the rhetoric becomes harder to believe. Because track cars, really good track cars, should never weigh the thick end of two tonnes.
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It's the same with other manufacturers. I remember the Infiniti coupe and cabrio weighed an equally insane amount, more than the saloon they're based on!
BMW have moved to a more bespoke coupe platform (4 series) rather than sharing it with the 3 series and so the weight went down.
For the sales volumes Lexus can't justify that expense so we get a compromised product.
disappointing
So no surprise when the chief engineer claims (by way of a translator) that their car is much superior to the competition: maybe their radar charts were wrong translated when the comparison exercise was done.
What are they doing, these guys at Lexus?
How they go on to scrap their small history and turn out instead on another me-too brand.
They are not a carmaker (Toyota is their), they have no roots in racing (no titles in F1, endurace series or national championships... apart from Japan, were no one really cares about).
Why not trying to do something with alternative powertrains (Fuel-cells, electric). They seriously could be in the market with an alternative to the Tesla Model S or in place of Toyota, with the fuel-cell car.
They opt to re-use parts and keep using the old formula: increase engine size/engine revolutions to obtain more output.
Engineering at the board room.
Why single-out the Lexus? Audi, MB and Jag are the same