Lexus RC200t F-Sport 2016 new car review

Lexus introduced its new 'entry-level' $102,900 RC200t F-Sport Coupe to the market at the beginning of the year with little fanfare, which is a surprise given what an enjoyable and competent package it presents.

In a world where every man and his dog is buying a pickup or an SUV, it's nice to have a car that says to hell with practicality, and to hell with putting passengers into the rear seat comfortably, but is instead focussed on being fun to drive and luxuriously appointed.

In the RC line-up the signature Lexus spindle grille actually works with the cars aggressive front styling, and the arrowhead LED daytime driving lights don't look out of place either.

It's not a cut-price RC F, but the RC 200t F-Sport does offer similar striking looks, with a comfortable yet sporty suspension set-up, and it wears stunning 19-inch alloy wheels covered with Bridgestone Potenza tyres which amply fill out those beautifully curved wheel arches at each corner.

The RC 200t doesn't haven't the rumbling Sumo brawn of its 5-litre V8 RC F sibling, nor the visceral warrior howl of the 3.5-litre V6 RC 350.

Instead, the RC 200t F-Sport is more of a lightweight field archer, nimble and lithe, and deft to inputs from a sensitive yet dynamic driver.

Pumping all that torque through the rear wheels is the job of the limited-slip differential allied to intelligent 8-speed automatic transmission which has paddle shifters on the steering column, and the RC 200t also offers four driving modes, Eco, Normal, Sport and Sport+, to accommodate the driver's mood.

Lexus claims a fuel efficiency of 7.3L/100km, but I never got within a bull's roar of this figure, finishing the test week on a solid 13L/100km.

Perhaps I was just enjoying myself a little too much? More than likely.

Unlike the enormous colour screen in the large LX 450d SUV, the RC 200t has a much smaller unit for its navigation and infotainment systems, combined with a touch sensitive pad that allows the driver to control most functions while on the move.

The only option in the RC 200t is a 17-speaker Mark Levinson sound system, which was sadly not fitted to the vehicle on test, but the standard Lexus 10-speaker audio package is more than perfectly adequate for the task, providing good tone and clarity in its sound reproduction.

The quality of the Bluetooth audio for mobile calling was excellent, and the voice activation was simple, receptive and easily used to dial up people while on the move. Some of these voice systems can be a challenge to use, especially if they don't like your enunciation.

I particularly appreciated the dulcet female tones from the navigation's traffic management system, verbally providing me instructions on the move such as "warning, red light camera ahead."

As mentioned earlier, the ventilated sports bucket seats are incredibly comfortable, climate air conditioning is fast and efficient, and the ride quality from such a stiffly suspended vehicle, with low profile tyres on 19-inch alloy rims, is very good too.

My only beef was the sound of the turbo engine, it wasn't loud enough to announce its intentions and almost detracted from the feeling of speed when the car was accelerating briskly.

The RC 200t F-Sport is not at all a gutless-wonder, but its lame-sounding exhaust note would suggest otherwise. It's a sports coupe Lexus, so let's celebrate it a bit more loudly in the future, please.