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Autoblog Podcast #396

Episode #396 of the Autoblog Podcast is here, and this week, Dan Roth, Steven Ewing, and Chris Paukert talk about the 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata, the 2016 Jaguar XE, and the 2015 Lexus RC. We start with what's in the garage and finish up with some of your questions, and for those of you who hung with us live on our UStream channel, thanks for taking the time. Check out the rundown below with times for topics, and you can follow along down below with our Q&A. Thanks for listening!
Autoblog Podcast #396:
Topics:

Xcar gets Lexus LFA serviced at TMG

Toyota has made all manner of vehicles, from sedans and hatchbacks to crossovers and pickup trucks. It's even done a handful of sports cars over the years. But it's only ever done one real supercar, and that was the Lexus LFA. The ten-cylinder supercar was built at the dedicated, purpose-built LFA Works, a facility within Toyota City in Japan that's since moved on to making everything from bicycles to hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. But if you were lucky enough to be among the 500 customers to get your hands on an LFA, you may not be inclined to send it back to the factory every time it needs servicing. Especially not if you live in, say, Europe. That's why Toyota Motorsport GmbH was tasked with handling service for the LFA for Europe. The facility in Cologne, Germany, was once home to the automaker's F1 team, now runs its championship-winning endurance racing team and will soon again serve as the home base for its renewed assault on the World Rally Championship. So it's just the type of facility that could handle whatever comes up with Lexus' high-strung exotic, from servicing the V10 engine to repairing the carbon-fiber chassis if need be. After checking out the underground collection in its last episode, the guys at Xcar popped their heads in at the LFA service center. There they spoke with TMG VP Rob Leupen, who seems convinced that Toyota should make a new hybrid supercar. We hope he turns out to be right.

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.