Instrumented Test
Weighing nearly as much as two Toyota Priuses and packed with enough luxuries to fill a small vacation home, the Lexus LX570 SUV is the antithesis to the modern crop of compact crossovers sprouting up like fungi. Although it and its Toyota Land Cruiser mechanical twin were last overhauled for 2008, the LX is still as excessive and opulent as ever.
The LX570 wades into 2015 facing a range of significantly revised, highbrow competitors, including the Cadillac Escalade, the Mercedes-Benz GL-class, and the Land Rover Range Rover. The LX has received its own host of upgrades since our last test, the most obvious being the fitment of Lexus’s largest spindle grille to date, along with fancier LED lighting elements at both ends.
The interior has also gained a multifunction TFT color display in the gauge cluster with a digital speedometer, as well as an updated infotainment system that features the Lexus Enform suite of navigation and multimedia apps. Although that app-based system is rather clumsy in operation and lacks the integration we expect in a $90,000 rig, Apple aficionados will at least be happy that Siri Eyes Free connectivity is newly along for the ride. The new technology is accessed from within the LX’s cavernous eight-passenger cabin, which boasts 83 cubic feet of cargo space with the second and third rows stowed. The expansive windows afford excellent visibility, and an elevated seating position overlooks the broad hood. Comfort is high and, in typical Lexus fashion, intrusive noises are low. The neat split liftgate/tailgate setup in back maximizes the versatility of the cargo compartment, which also includes power controls for stowing the third row of seats.
The Lexus’s myriad buttons, switches, and toggles scattered about the dash and console, however, can be daunting at first and take some time getting used to. (A centralized system using a control knob of some sort would be helpful here.) The LX’s hearty body-on-frame construction also limits the flexibility of the rearmost seats: although they power-fold to the side of the cargo area, they really don’t stow away. Those jump seats also require a vault to reach and they sit flat on the floor, severely limiting legroom. As in the Cadillac Escalade, they’re best left to small children and adults you’re only grudgingly bringing along.
The guts of the LX are largely the same as when it adopted the latest Toyota Tundra’s running gear in 2008, including the pickup’s 5.7-liter V-8 and six-speed automatic transmission. And although it was a bit too glitzy for us to take muddin’, the LX570 remains plenty capable in the rough: The full-time four-wheel-drive system includes a low-range ratio, a Torsen center differential, and an off-road speed-control setting, among other gizmos. The four-wheel independent suspension (control arms in front, a four-link setup in the rear) offers nearly nine inches of ground clearance as well as impressive articulation. Lexus’s Adaptive Variable Suspension and Active Height Control with three damper settings (Comfort, Standard, Sport) keep the body’s motions in check and the ride all-around pleasant.
Despite its pavement-crushing girth, the big LX is a solid performer and on par with similar luxury SUVs. When prodded, our 6155-pound test truck reached 60 mph in 6.5 seconds and covered the quarter-mile in 15.1 seconds at 93 mph. Both braking performance from 70 mph (176 feet) and lateral grip around the skidpad (0.76 g) are wholly respectable for something this size, despite the vague, muted steering and cushy suspension. But the LX is still massive and simply not as manageable as some of its smaller and lighter rivals—not that a 5887-pound Cadillac Escalade, for instance, is in any way lightweight.
Another sacrifice for all that mass is efficiency, with our test truck averaging a paltry 13 mpg over nearly 900 miles of mixed driving—1 mpg fewer than the EPA’s 14-mpg combined rating. We can only imagine how thirsty the LX would be while maxing out its 7000-pound towing capacity or on extended high-speed runs. Yes, the LX570 is surprisingly fast for a tank, with its V-rated Dunlop Grandtrek PT2A tires (size 285/50R-20) permitting a claimed top speed of 137 mph. We could only manage 133 at our test track but that was plenty, the LX wandering down the straight in crosswinds like it just came from a bar crawl.
With a fully loaded Chevrolet Suburban barely cracking 75 grand, the LX570’s $84,105 base price is eye-watering, but it must be noted that the Land Cruiser’s MSRP is a scant $3025 less. Yet even at our test example’s as-tested $90,970—including a 19-speaker Mark Levinson audio system ($2350); a rear-seat entertainment system with dual screens ($2005); the Luxury package’s upscale leather trim, ventilated seats, and more ($1510); and an advanced parking-assist system with multiple cameras ($1000)—the LX is reasonably priced within its luxurious company. It still lacks the snob appeal and overall theater of a Range Rover, but the aging LX570 remains ultracapable and a worthy alternative for those looking for luxury on the grandest of scales.
