Lexus RC F vs Toyota HiAce

What's the difference?

Ford’s growling Mustang GT isn’t the only rear-wheel drive performance coupe powered by a naturally-aspirated 5.0-litre V8 engine on the Australian new car market.

Pfft! Those things are everywhere. If you’re willing to literally double-down and spend twice the pony car’s circa $65K asking price, the Lexus RC F comes into range; the Japanese luxury brand’s take on a two-door, four-seat, muscle car.

Rather than wrestling with the blue oval, it’s a challenger to the German ‘Big Three’, pitching its deep-breathing, high-revving atmo power against shove-in-back, low-down, turbo-torque.  

We spent a week behind the wheel to see how this mature, but recently updated machine, measures up in 2020.

Fact: almost one in every two mid-sized (2.5-3.5-tonne GVM) commercial vans sold in Australia is a Toyota HiAce. And if you take note of the diverse range of businesses that rely on this ubiquitous workhorse, as we did recently, you can appreciate its widespread appeal.

Apart from countless couriers and tradies, the HiAce is favoured by a vast range of businesses from locksmiths and pool maintenance specialists to window cleaners and mobile coffee baristas.

To ensure the HiAce maintains its broad business appeal, Toyota has recently released an upgraded range with enhanced active and passive safety features, improved instrumentation, electric power steering and other refinements. We recently spent a week at work with the latest offering to determine if its market dominance is justified.