Lexus RC review - Reliability and Safety
Reliability should be good but more active safety kit would have been nice to see in the RC
Traditionally, Lexus has a reputation of making some of the most reliable cars on the road. The brand saw four of its models finish in the top half of the 75 cars included in our 2018 Driver Power customer satisfaction survey, with the CT, IS, NX and RX finishing 30th, 11th, 6th and 5th respectively. The RC itself did not feature, but the performance of its siblings bodes very well.
Lexus beat 25 other manufacturers in our survey to take the overall top spot with a total score of 92.22 per cent. Just nine per cent of owners reported a fault with their cars, versus 18.4 per cent for Audi (19th place) and 28.2 per cent for BMW (21st place).
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We expect the RC to prove pretty faultless given that it’s essentially the same as the IS underneath. Don’t be worried by the fancy hybrid technology either – it’s been around in cars like the Prius for years and has proven bulletproof. The hybrid powertrain also gets its own eight-year warranty. Indeed, reliability and ownership experience is an area where the RC starts to claw back some ground on rivals.
Warranty
Lexus models don’t get the same five-year warranty as parent company Toyota’s cars, with buyers having to settle instead for the standard three-year, 60,000-mile cover, although Lexus does offer an extended warranty scheme for cars up to 10 years old at extra cost. The powertrain is covered for much longer, however – five years or 60,000 miles. Buyers also get a 12-year anti-corrosion warranty and a three-year paint warranty.
While it’s unlikely that anything will go wrong with your brand new Lexus, it’s worth noting that some rivals offer more attractive warranties, including a two-year unlimited mileage warranty (plus a third year with a 60,000-mile cap) from Audi, or a three-year, unlimited mileage warranty from Mercedes.
Servicing
Servicing costs are reasonable for a premium model, but Lexus standards of dealer service more than justify any extra outlay. The firm always finishes very highly in dealer satisfaction ratings.
Service intervals for the RC include intermediate services at 10,000, 30,000, 50,000, 70,000 and 90,000 miles, plus full services at 20,000, 40,000, 60,000, 80,000 and 100,000 miles. Each intermediate service is priced at £295; the full services cost from £545 to £675, depending on mileage. Each service also includes a health check of the RC’s hybrid system and adds a one-year, 10,000 mile warranty for the hybrid battery.
