Ten Cubic Feet of Trunk Space Goes Far Enough - 2015 Lexus RC F Long-Term Road Test

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Ten Cubic Feet of Trunk Space Goes Far Enough - 2015 Lexus RC F Long-Term Road Test

The 10.1-cubic-foot trunk in our long-term 2015 Lexus RC F offers just enough utility for daily use.

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legacygt

Not bad for what it is but I have to wonder what has happened in the past few years of trunk design. A decade ago, a luxury car with gooseneck hinges in the trunk would not get through a car review unscathed. Now goosenecks are back. Big time. They're in every car and all an autoworker needs to do is shield them with some space wasting covers and all is good. Why are we no longer expecting automakers (especially luxury brands) to spend the extra time and money to develop more complex hinges that take up less space?

rosmoss

If I had to bet, I'd guess that it's too difficult to add power opener/closer to the scissor hinges luxury cars had back in the day. They certainly won't open on their own the way these hinges can when the trunk release button is pressed.

legacygt

rosmoss said:

If I had to bet, I'd guess that it's too difficult to add power opener/closer to the scissor hinges luxury cars had back in the day. They certainly won't open on their own the way these hinges can when the trunk release button is pressed.

Interesting point. That probably explains it. Interesting though. The automotive press used to jump all over cars that had goosenecks and now they all get a pass because of the power open/close feature. I wonder if it's a good tradeoff?

socal_eric

Yes the press did, but I'm also guessing a large majority of actual owners don't care what method is used and if you have a car with scissor hinges and gas-pressurized struts that wear out after a few years that might sour ownership more than just using conventional hinges and torsion springs that seldom wear out.

You also have to look at the overall trunk opening and design of the car. Take this Lexus for example, with the styling cut lines and shape of the opening it would be extremely difficult and maybe impossible to integrate scissor-style hinges. Perhaps a case where design wins out over a feature extremely few consumers might ever notice.