A little more about Lexus LX, and we could start making a movie about lost aliens. Here, on top of a mountain somewhere in Georgia next to a 6th-century church, the new Lexus LX looks like an alien ship. This ship is almost three tons of aluminium, steel, leather and wood: a Tulu-sized carcass with a giant chrome grille and 22-inch shiny forged wheels, LED headlights tearing apart the falling fog.
Behind it is a stone structure, which was laid so long ago that such a time frame simply does not fit in the head. Here you literally touch history. And the history of the Lexus LX is also quite tangible, and by automotive standards it can also be called an eternity: the SUV, following its brother Toyota Land Cruiser 300, changed generations for the first time in 14 years. Huge time!
The fact that the world premiere of the car took place in Moscow speaks about how important the new Lexus LX is for Russia. The last time this happened, when “delta” and “omicron” meant nothing more than the usual letters of the Greek alphabet, electric cars were looked at as stupid useless toys for driving around the golf course, and for one and a half million rubles you could buy quite a decent big SUV.
In short, as the song says, “we remember how it all began.” Frame, continuous rear axle, permanent four-wheel drive, hydropneumatic suspension and huge mass – this was the Lexus LX all these fourteen years. But time is such a thing that changes (and even erases) habits, trends, cities, and even civilizations. And you still expect that after such a period something revolutionary will come, something wow.
At first, if you do not go into technical details, it seems that everything is the same. But in fact, everything is different. Following the Kruzak, the new Lexus LX moved to another platform, received aluminum body panels (the roof, hood, doors, trunk lid and fenders are made of this metal), became lighter by almost 200 kilograms and 20 percent “harder”. But, yes, the frame and the bridge are still with us. The last of the Mohicans – hooray?
Engine Performance
The former atmospheric eight-cylinder engine 5.7 has given way to the “six” 3.5 with twin turbocharging – such a car carries the “600” index, which is iconic for all Europians, subconsciously evoking associations with extreme steepness. Although nothing is directly connected with this figure: the gasoline unit produces 415 horsepower (well, perhaps the torque here is 650 Nm), but only the most luxurious LX modification is available for the “six hundredth”.
An alternative option is the 500d modification. It is equipped with a 3.3-liter turbodiesel V6 with a capacity of 299 horsepower (700 Nm). Both engines are mated to a ten-speed Aisin automatic transmission. The power plants have completely moved here with the Toyota Land Cruiser 300: there are slight differences only in their settings.
More significant differences here are elsewhere: if the “three hundred” is equipped with an electro-hydraulic power steering, then the Lexus has a “clean” electric power steering. And of course, Kruzak does not have an adaptive hydropneumatic suspension, which changes not only the stiffness, but also the ride height. The hydraulic struts themselves remained the same, but their installation angles, attachment points, hydraulic circuit and control unit have changed.
The Lexus LX brakes are for the most part the same as those of the Toyota Land Cruiser 300. However, the control unit, calipers and brake materials are still different. The SUV slows down well: at least the brake mechanisms survived the brisk ride along the serpentine and the descent from it, without making you fear for your life.
As a result, the height of the suspension changes twice as fast as before: for example, the transition from the lowest position to the standard position takes six seconds, and back – two seconds. In standard mode, the Lexus LX’s ground clearance is 200 millimeters (on 20-inch wheels or 205 millimeters on 22-inch wheels), which is 23 millimeters lower than on the previous generation car.
Active anti-roll bars can open up to improve suspension articulation. Like the Cruiser, there is an MTS system that changes the settings of the power plant, all-wheel drive and electronics for various types of off-road. All off-road modes are exactly the same as on the Land Cruiser 300, including automatic and deep snow mode.
Up to 175 millimeters, the SUV will “sit down” to facilitate boarding and disembarking. The maximum ground clearance is 305 millimeters – up to this level, the electronics will raise the car on its own if it “understands” that you are stuck and the car lies on its belly.
The adaptive suspension automatically selects from 650 levels of damping, reduces vibration and body sway, and should also suppress any resonance or rattle that occurs when working out unsprung masses.
Interior of Lexus LX
But before you check all this “hardware” in motion, you should definitely look around in the Lexus LX cabin – there is something to pay attention to here.
The interior of the new El-X does not resemble its predecessor in any way – everything has changed in general. There are already two screens on the center console: 12.3-inch (navigation, music and general car settings are controlled from it) and 7-inch (responsible for climate control and actually duplicates the traditional block with physical buttons, as well as for selecting modes movements).
Another screen is the dashboard, but on the sides of it are the usual dial gauges for coolant temperature, oil pressure, battery voltage and fuel reserve.
Separate rear seats (there is even a footrest on the back of the front seat on the right side of the cabin) were developed with the participation of NASA and are really very comfortable – wide and soft, which transmit a minimum of bumps and vibrations even when driving on a very bad road.
Simpler modifications will have a traditional sofa with adjustable backs and a separate dual-zone climate control – nothing special. But for such a car, you can order an option with a third row of seats to somehow compensate for the lesser degree of luxury than in the VIP version.
In the case of the Lexus LX, everything is a little simpler: “according to the classics” gasoline or diesel. With the first one, you can order separate captain’s chairs, but not with the second one. That’s all. No pains of choosing a design (higher or lower bumper for you, large Toyota inscription or just a logo) and no significant difference in driving settings.
Big Lexus is expectedly good off-road: hydropneumatics, adaptive shock absorbers and anti-roll bars – all this allows you to rush very cheerfully along the primer and large irregularities, even despite the huge 22-inch wheels. The buildup and rolls are minimal, passengers almost do not shake, and there are no vibrations on the steering wheel. The SUV is stable and understandable, there is a clear feedback on the steering wheel (we can say that the LX is controlled even more interestingly by the Land Cruiser), the car’s reactions when changing the trajectory are predictable.
The only negative is that on the asphalt there are unpleasant pokes from longitudinal irregularities and small things. And it is very annoying when you roll at low speed along the city streets, where there are such good things – heaps.
The diesel version is calm, balanced and linear. Already from 1600 rpm, the engine produces 700 Nm of torque, allowing you to accelerate confidently, however, without fun and enthusiasm. The 415-horsepower petrol is much more cheerful (according to the passport, 6.9 seconds in acceleration to hundreds versus 7.9 seconds), but you will have to pay for the powerful pressure during acceleration with efficiency – this engine drinks buckets of fuel even with a quiet ride.
By the nature of the Lexus LX, we liked the diesel modification more, but buyers who choose such an engine will not receive a VIP version for any money. It will only be available for petrol vehicles.
At the time of publication of the article, there are no official data on prices and trim levels: they should be announced in the near future, while the “live” cars will reach dealers by the end of the first quarter.
While the cost of SUVs for Japan is known
- The base LX was priced at 12.5 million yen (about 1,07,380 usd),
- The top-end Executive version were 18 million yen (about 1,54,680 usd).
Thus, in Japan, the new Lexus was 2.5 times more expensive than the Land Cruiser 300 (from 44,856.86 usd). In Europe, for the outgoing LX they ask from 1,01,831 to 1,23,744 usd, and Toyota costs from 67,028 to 1,05,698 usd. No doubt the new LX will rise in price, but how much does it really matter, because dealers will throw as much on top as they want.
The new Lexus LX has changed completely, modernized and become more “digital”, while retaining those things that brand customers love. But time flies so fast and everything changes so rapidly that the model is unlikely to last another 14 years unchanged. Although it is interesting to look at what cars will be like at a time when the LX is history.