BMW came up with the new M4 a couple of months ahead of Lexus’ rival for it, the RC F. When most of the automotive world took a look at the specs of the two, the scale quickly started tipping in the BMW’s favor, without the cars even reaching the hot tarmac.
That’s the thing we mistakenly do these days: judge things by their covers and that’s not necessarily the right way to do. However, the BMW M4 - Lexus RC F comparison is not one of the cases where doing so would lead you to a false conclusion.
The thing is, every test we’ve seen so far of the two pointed in only one direction. The M4 can’t be offset by the Lexus, the difference in weight being just too much to overcome.
To be completely frank, the specs of the RC F don’t help out at all. Sure, it has a bigger, 5-liter V8 engine but its atmospheric. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. As a matter of fact, we should be praising the Japanese for sticking with this recipe as naturally aspirated mills will soon be extinct.
However, compared to the M4 things are not looking great. The 3-liter biturbo mill makes 431 HP and 550 Nm (406 lb-ft) of torque thanks to two turbochargers while the V8 of the RC F puts out 467 HP and 530 Nm (391 lb-ft) of torque.
The horsepower advantage goes to the Lexus but at what cost? Well, around 300 kilos (661 lbs) as the Bavarian tips the scale at under 1,500 kg (3,300 lbs) while its competitor is close to two tons at 1,840 kg (4,057 lbs).
In real life though, it may very well be down to the drivers. The video below shows a comparison between the acceleration of the cars, side by side. As you can see, the Lexus seems faster up until the 200 km/h (124 mph) mark when the lightness and the extra torque of the Bimmer starts to show.
Another explanation for the surprising result is that the RC F might’ve been one of the early press cars. In this case, it is possible that the car sent out for testing purposes was meddled with to offer better performance than it would normally do. That’s a long shot though.
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