The fundamentals: As noted, the LX is basically a truck, sharing its frame with the Toyota Tundra and the Land Cruiser . The body is married to the frame late in the assembly process. Body-on-frame construction has a reputation for ruggedness among off-roaders and truckers; such a structure, generally speaking, has been capable of absorbing more punishment than a unibody, particularly in the trackless outback. This is becoming debatable, as unibody vehicles have grown stiffer and stronger, but traditionalists hold to the principle.
However, body-on-frame vehicles also tend to be heavier, and the likelihood of any individual LX570 owner taking this rig off the pavement and into the wilds is low. Land Cruisers see a lot of dirty driving, particularly in Africa and the Middle East, but the same can’t be said for their upscale Lexus siblings.
Cogged Up
While this is the heftiest LX we’ve encountered in the model’s eight-year run, it’s mechanically the same as the one we tested in 2008—except that the automatic transmission now offers eight ratios rather than six. This change nets the LX an additional 1 mpg in the EPA city fuel-economy rating at 13, up from 12 mpg, while the highway rating stays at 18 mpg. We recorded 15 mpg of highway-heavy mixed use (including more than 400 miles towing a trailer), which matches the EPA combined rating and is 2 mpg better than in our test of a 2015 model with the six-speed.
More important, the eight-speed transmission operates seamlessly. It does offer a manual mode, but the responses are rather deliberate and we suspect few if any owners will use it in everyday driving after the first few attempts. In full auto mode, however, it goes up and down its menu of gears almost imperceptibly, and it is quick to drop down two or even three cogs when the driver signals a need for haste with a hard stab on the throttle.
Then again, haste should be regarded as a relative term. Although the LX has become more corpulent since our 2008 test, there has been no corresponding increase in the means to propel all that mass. It employs the same naturally aspirated 5.7-liter V-8 that powers the Land Cruiser, producing 383 horsepower and 403 lb-ft of torque.
Those would be pretty stout numbers in a lighter vehicle. But in a three-tonner, that output verges on ho-hum, upstaged by engines offered in competing luxo-utes. When the light turns green, the 2016 LX can rumble to 60 mph in 7.2 seconds and cover the quarter-mile in 15.5 seconds.
Although that’s 0.5 second slower to 60 mph than the 2008 test vehicle, it’s not exactly glacial. But it’s upstaged by pretty much everything in this class: The Cadillac Escalade hustles to 60 in just 5.6 seconds, the Lincoln Navigator in 6.2, and the Mercedes-Benz GL450 in 5.9. It’s worth noting that the Mercedes (renamed and updated as the GLS for 2017) achieved that sprint with 362 horsepower, thanks to weighing 601 pounds less than the Lexus. The Cadillac, the Lincoln, and the Infiniti QX80 (6.5 seconds to 60 mph) also all weigh less than the LX570. There’s a message here.
Still, it can be argued that sprints won’t matter to the folks who sign up for this package, which brings 143 cubic feet of passenger volume and seating for eight. So how does the engine do when towing? Surely some LX owners are given to towing large boats, or perhaps horse trailers to and from equestrian events?
Not so fast. The LX is rated to tow up to 7000 pounds. But based on our experience hitching it to about 4600 pounds of trailer and race car, we’d have to say the LX has little enthusiasm for such tasks. Acceleration with the encumbered LX is sluggish compared with competitors, making overtaking on a two-lane highway an activity that requires careful planning.
Its three tons assert themselves in every area of vehicle dynamics. None of these seven- and eight-passenger utes is a ballerina, but regardless of which operating mode one selects (there are four, including Sport) the LX operates at the ponderous end of the class’s narrow spectrum, a trait magnified by power steering with unnaturally high effort, even at parking-lot speeds. Low-speed steering effort is often light and overassisted in big SUVs, but not in this case. Let’s not confuse effort with tactility, which is pretty much absent here.
Braking distance—183 feet from 70 mph—is typical of this segment, five feet better than the Cadillac and four feet longer than the Mercedes. But we also detected moderate fade in repeated hard stops, which isn’t typical.
Sumptuous Interior
What attracts people to the LX is its creamy ride quality (with adaptive suspension), the sublime 19-speaker Mark Levinson audio system ($2350), and the luxe interior. There’s also standard leather, premium sound (superseded in this LX by the Levinson option), a choice of four real-wood trims, heated and ventilated front seats, power-adjustable second-row seats, and power-folding third-row seats.
Connectivity and infotainment have been upgraded periodically over the LX570’s extended life cycle. The ute now features a big (12.3-inch) center touchscreen, navigation with voice command, Bluetooth, Siri Eyes Free, and the Lexus Enform App Suite. Driver-assisting technology includes adaptive cruise control with automated emergency braking, pedestrian detection, a 360-degree surround-view camera, a head-up display, and park assist. These are also available on the Land Cruiser, though, which weighs 280 pounds less and is rated to tow 8100 pounds.
Our test truck included a dual-screen DVD rear-seat entertainment system ($2005), always a good bet for family peacekeeping on long trips. One caveat applies: Rather than being flush-mounted, the DVD screens protrude from the front seatbacks, making it awkward to fold the center seats for maximum cargo capacity.
The exterior has been revised front and rear, most visibly with the addition of an even bigger rendition of the Lexus spindle grille that, whatever you think of it aesthetically, gives the LX an unmistakable curbside presence. We think it now makes the LX look like a corpulent Cylon.
The latest freshening gives the LX an interior that rivals the top players in the class. But the enhancements can’t entirely disguise that they’re largely just tacked-on features, struggling to keep this aged entry competitive in the full-size luxury-SUV derby with fresher contenders. The new eight-speed transmission helps, but the engine is on the tepid side for duty in a three-ton ute. Competing SUVs variously enjoy a weight advantage, pack more standard punch, or offer other engine options, including diesels. And most are rated to tow more. None of this keeps Lexus from demanding a premium price. The LX’s ambitious MSRP ladder starts where the Land Cruiser and many key competitors leave off, up where alternatives start to include the Land Rover Range Rover.
Last year Lexus sold just 3884 LX570s in the United States, down 168 from 2014. (Land Cruiser sales were even lower at 2687.) Cadillac sold 21,230 Escalades—and nearly another 15,000 of the extended ESV version with interior volume rivaling the LX570’s—while Land Rover found buyers for nearly 18,000 Range Rovers. In 2008, we observed that, despite its high price and ponderous dynamics, owners still swear by their LX570s. Will this refresh keep those loyalists happy?
The previous-generation Land Cruiser/LX570 platform stayed in service for a decade, so it could be at least two more years before we see an all-new one. Toyota almost certainly will develop a new Land Cruiser because of global demand for its combination of size and all-terrain capability, but we have to wonder about the business case for the incremental sales the Lexus version adds. Perhaps that depends on the profit margins, which must be as hefty as the LX570 itself. Source by caranddriver.com
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