Some of us might see the letters ‘RR’ and think it stands for Rolls-Royce or Range Rover, but now there’s another option: Rookie Racing.
Lexus will start to use RR to designate its high-performance models (think of it as the equivalent of a GR-badged Toyota) and the first one to arrive will be the Lexus LBX Morizo RR. Morizo refers to the racing alter ego of Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda, while RR stands for Rookie Racing, the firm’s motorsport team that competes in Japan’s version of Formula 2 and touring car championships.
The regular LBX does a pretty convincing job of being a small, upmarket SUV, but the Morizo RR livens things up by ditching the usual fuel-saving hybrid set-up for the engine and four-wheel drive system from one of the most exciting hot hatchbacks we’ve seen in ages: the Toyota GR Yaris.
On the outside, it’s 15mm wider and 10mm lower than the standard Lexus LBX, and it comes with 19in forged alloy wheels, grippy Continental Sport Contact 7 tyres and a pair of prominent tailpipes. The wheel-arch trims are now body-coloured rather than grey and you can opt to have the brake calipers in yellow, the RR brand’s signature colour.
In Japan, the car's ‘GE16E-GTS’ 1.6-litre turbocharged triple produces 300bhp, but it’s worth noting the GR Yaris is slightly detuned for European markets to meet emissions regulations, so it seems logical the LBX Morizo RR may follow suit – if it is sold outside of Japan, that is. Yes, unfortunately, we’ll have to wait until later this year before we find out if this model will head to Europe.
As it stands, a 0-62mph time of 5.2sec makes it significantly quicker than a similarly sized Ford Puma ST Powershift, at 7.4sec, and just a little behind the Volkswagen T-Roc R’s 4.8sec time. However, unlike those two rivals, you can choose to have the LBX Morizo RR with a six-speed manual gearbox. A short throw and a precise, meaty clutch pedal make it far more engaging to drive than the eight-speed automatic version (despite the auto changing gear quickly and smoothly enough), and there is a switchable iMT rev-matching system to help smooth out your downshifts.
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Great to see another manual Lexus. But if it does come here, i hate to think how much it will be given how much the GR Yaris is now.
I dont know if i want to sit that high up, but i am sure it will be great fun. Nice to see Toyota creating yet another appealing drivers car, fingers crossed they offer them here.
But what is it?, I see Vauxhall, Seat, Peugeot to name three, not much Eastern promise.
Possibly the perfect B road car as hopefully softer sprung than the Yaris - Lexus, I'll order one so just bring it in to the UK please!