Due to recent rains, the decline looks slick with mud and wet leaves. You can’t tell the depth of the puddles in the wheel tracks at the bottom. But the big SUV has proven sure-footed all day up and down through the forest. You’re gaining confidence in it. So you hit the downhill a little faster than you expected.
No slip. So much wheel travel that you don’t feel the bump stop at the bottom. The SUV climbs the next hill with as much grip as it descended that one. You laugh, open the built-in coolbox fridge in the center console to grab a cold water, and turn up the ventilated seats helping you cope effortlessly with the latest heat wave.
Welcome to the 2024 Lexus GX. The newest SUV from Toyota’s luxury division is a marvel. Not many vehicles combine this kind of supple luxury with this much off-road capability. It’s an easy daily driver, too, though some buyers might still want to wait before investing.
I spent a week with the GX in the urban confines of the Washington, D.C., region and on the trails of West Virginia’s oak/hickory forests. My tester was the GX 500 Overtrail+ edition with a 21-speaker Mark Levinson sound system, rock rails, and that optional coolbox. It retails for $80,500, including a mandatory $1,350 delivery fee.
On the Road: A Luxury Lounge With a View
The GX is the oddest thing in the Lexus lineup. Lexus is best-known for serene cruisers that cocoon you from the world outside. But the company can make a bruiser. In a family full of white-shoe lawyers, the GX is the odd cousin who plays nose tackle for the Green Bay Packers.
But he can still handle himself at a cocktail party with Ivy Leaguers. The GX offers heated and ventilated semi-aniline leather seats, an exceptional 21-speaker Mark Levinson sound system, and that famous Lexus noise isolation.
But the best thing about the GX is its seating position.
A little inside info: Automotive designers refer to the “H-point” of a car– think of it as the relationship between your hips and the floor– as the key to comfort. America’s obsession with SUVs is largely a war of H-points, as manufacturers seek to let you see over traffic but feel secure and comfortable, not…well…high and tippy.
Lexus won the war. The GX has the best seating position I’ve encountered. The throne is good– comfortable, adjustable, and any temperature you want. Tall windows and a dip in the center of the hood let you see everything in front of and beside you. Big side mirrors, like you might see on a truck built for towing, let you see everything behind you. You’ll feel like monarch of all you see.
A big 14-inch touchscreen makes it easy to interact with infotainment functions for audio, navigation, phone functionality, and more. Overtrail GX models also stand out for having two rows of seats instead of three, allowing for ample rear cargo space that’s always easy to access.
A 349-horsepower twin-turbo V6 is more power than you need and works smoothly through a 10-speed automatic transmission.
My one complaint in the city is the same one I’ve had about many off-roaders– the suspension is so soft that, in normal day-to-day settings like Eco and Comfort, it feels a little marshmallowy. I found myself putting the big SUV in Sport mode, not to drive it sportily but to firm up the suspension for daily use. Rear-seat passengers prone to motion sickness appreciated the move.
But you know I’m citing minor complaints when I say I had to push a button to make the GX near-perfect.
On the Trail: A Rugged Spirit
A colleague once told me every GX lives two lives – one as a family car for its first owner and one as an off-road weekend toy for its second.
Don’t let your GX become someone else’s trail toy. Take it out in search of some dirt now.
The Overtrail+ features a locking limited-slip differential, a Multi-Terrain Select system that tunes the suspension and traction control for different surfaces, and standard Crawl Control.
I didn’t take it on the most challenging off-road trails in the area. But I sought out a few worn logging roads with moderate elevation changes and what little mud I could find in 2024’s East Coast heat waves.
It handled itself with ridiculous ease.
That comes partly thanks to old-school off-roading solutions like big all-terrain tires. But a few new technologies play a role, too. The Overtrail and Overtrail+ models use a unique electronic system that relaxes the sway bars when needed rather than a full sway bar disconnect. Called eDKSS (electronic Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System), it gives you one less decision to make on the trail.
The Multi-Terrain Monitor projects each tire’s path on a 360-degree image of the terrain around you, letting you place the tires carefully over obstacles.
The result is one of the easiest vehicles to take on a trail.
Designers have leaned into a rugged look for most SUVs the past couple of years. But the GX doesn’t just look the part. It can hang with Wranglers, G-Wagons, and Broncos on the trail without breaking a sweat.
Why You Still Might Want to Wait
The 2024 Lexus GX strikes a shockingly good balance between civilized and wild. It does seating position and visibility as well as any vehicle ever has. It offers the opulence of a high-end Lexus in the city and the casual balance of a mountain goat on the trail.
But every vehicle has flaws. This one’s come at the gas pump. When Lexus moved from a V8 to a turbocharged V6 with the latest GX design, we expected a decent boost to fuel economy.
We didn’t get one. The last GX got 16 mpg in combined city and highway driving. The new one? Seventeen.
Ouch.
There is hope on the way, though. Lexus plans a hybrid model late in 2024. Rumors say an even more fuel-efficient plug-in hybrid may follow, perhaps in 2025.
With interest rates at a 23-year high, there are plenty of reasons to wait to spend around $80,000, anyway.
This car is brilliant. For my money, I’d still wait for the hybrids.
