2008 Lexus LX570

2008 Lexus LX570 2008 Lexus LX570
First Drive Review

The Lexus version of Toyota's world-wandering Land Cruiser SUV gets its first full makeover in a decade. The Lexus LX570 sprouts in early 2008 with a new body, frame, and engine, an opulent features list, and a predicted base price of $70,000, but it has the same objective: to be a luxury eight-seater capable of rolling over hill, over dale, and over the neighbor's Prius-basically, over whatever separates upscale families from their upscale destinations.

Unlike Toyota's pickups and lesser SUVs, which share common frames, the LX570 and the Land Cruiser ride on a single-purpose frame that is box-sectioned front to back and durability-tested to be the heaviest and toughest the automaker offers (it's even hardier than the '07 Tundra's, says Toyota).

The suspension remains independent up front, with a live axle in the rear located by five links and shouldering the body with coil springs. In the LX570, which is slightly longer, taller, and wider than its predecessor, a new electrohydraulic suspension automatically lowers the body at highway speeds and can raise it for deep-water fording, slick-rock crawling, and other Lexus-owner activities. Electronic shock-damping control cuts body roll by a third as well as the squat and dive naturally engendered by a vehicle weighing almost 6000 pounds.

Amenities standard and optional include a power-sliding middle row, a Bluetooth connected navigation system, and a Mark Levinson stereo that will pipe XM satellite radio to your ears through 19 speakers.

The permanent four-wheel drive incorporates an electronically locking center differential and brake-based limited-slip traction assist. Toyota has developed "crawl control," a low-speed, off-road cruise control. Up to 10 mph, the desired velocity is maintained by a system that closely monitors wheel speeds and works the throttle and brakes to ensure traction in ruts, sand, and polo-field horse poop.

A boat-yanking 401 pound-feet of torque stream from the four-cam, 32-valve, 381-hp, 5.7-liter i-Force V-8 shared with the Tundra. That's 113 more horses and 73 more pound-feet of torque over the last 4.7-liter V-8. Towing capacity is a mighty 8500 pounds. A six-speed automatic should help reduce the fuel appetite, but the EPA mileage figures should remain in the low-to-mid teens.