2015 Lexus LX570: A Luxury Heavyweight

Weighing practically as a lot as 2 Toyota Priuses and packed with adequate luxuries to fill a tiny vacation property, the Lexus LX570 SUV is the antithesis to the modern crop of compact crossovers sprouting up like fungi. Though it and its Toyota Land Cruiser mechanical twin were last overhauled for 2008, the LX is nonetheless as excessive and opulent as ever.

New Stuff

The LX570 wades into 2015 facing a variety of considerably revised, highbrow competitors, like the Cadillac Escalade, the Mercedes-Benz GL-class, and the Land Rover Variety Rover. The LX has received its personal host of upgrades considering that our final test, the most obvious getting the fitment of Lexus’s biggest spindle grille to date, along with fancier LED lighting components at both ends.

The interior has also gained a multifunction TFT color display in the gauge cluster with a digital speedometer, as nicely as an updated infotainment method that features the Lexus Enform suite of navigation and multimedia apps. Though that app-primarily based method 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 Totally free connectivity is newly along for the ride. The new technologies is accessed from inside the LX’s cavernous 8-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 contains energy controls for stowing the third row of seats.

The Lexus’s myriad buttons, switches, and toggles scattered about the dash and console, nevertheless, can be daunting at initial and take some time receiving utilized to. (A centralized technique employing a manage knob of some sort would be valuable here.) The LX’s hearty physique-on-frame building also limits the flexibility of the rearmost seats: although they power-fold to the side of the cargo region, they truly don’t stow away. These jump seats also call for a vault to attain and they sit flat on the floor, severely limiting legroom. As in the Cadillac Escalade, they’re greatest left to little young children and adults you’re only grudgingly bringing along.

Familiar Stuff

The guts of the LX are largely the very same as when it adopted the newest Toyota Tundra’s operating gear in 2008, including the pickup’s 5.7-liter V-8 and 6-speed automatic transmission. And despite the fact that it was a bit too glitzy for us to take muddin’, the LX570 remains lots capable in the rough: The full-time 4-wheel-drive method includes a low-range ratio, a Torsen center differential, and an off-road speed-control setting, among other gizmos. The 4-wheel independent suspension (handle arms in front, a 4-link setup in the rear) gives almost 9 inches of ground clearance as effectively as impressive articulation. Lexus’s Adaptive Variable Suspension and Active Height Manage with 3 damper settings (Comfort, Regular, Sport) maintain the body’s motions in check and the ride all-about pleasant.

Regardless of its pavement-crushing girth, the huge LX is a strong performer and on par with related 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 overall performance from 70 mph (176 feet) and lateral grip about the skidpad (.76 g) are wholly respectable for anything this size, regardless of the vague, muted steering and cushy suspension. But the LX is nonetheless huge and just not as manageable as some of its smaller sized and lighter rivals—not that a 5887-pound Cadillac Escalade, for instance, is in any way lightw7

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 even though maxing out its 7000-pound towing capacity or on extended high-speed runs. Yes, the LX570 is surprisingly quickly for a tank, with its V-rated Dunlop Grandtrek PT2A tires (size 285/50R-20) permitting a claimed prime speed of 137 mph. We could only manage 133 at our test track but that was lots, the LX wandering down the straight in crosswinds like it just came from a bar crawl.

Money Talk

With a totally loaded Chevrolet Suburban barely cracking 75 grand, the LX570’s $ 84,105 base price tag is eye-watering, but it must be noted that the Land Cruiser’s MSRP is a scant $ 3025 significantly less. However even at our test example’s as-tested $ 90,970—including a 19-speaker Mark Levinson audio system ($ 2350) a rear-seat entertainment technique with dual screens ($ 2005) the Luxury package’s upscale leather trim, ventilated seats, and more ($ 1510) and an sophisticated parking-assist program with numerous cameras ($ 1000)—the LX is reasonably priced inside its luxurious company. It nevertheless lacks the snob appeal and all round theater of a Variety Rover, but the aging LX570 remains ultracapable and a worthy option for these hunting for luxury on the grandest of scales.

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2015 Lexus LX570: A Luxury Heavyweight