Since the Toyota Land Cruiser will no longer be offered here in the United States, we get the Lexus LX to carry the torch for a dedicated fan base that took delight in a rather unique body-on-frame SUV with proven reliability and off-roading chops. For the 2022 model year, Lexus redesigns the LX from the ground up birthing the new LX600.
To utilize the new powertrains from the Land Cruiser offered overseas and the new Toyota Tundra, the new LX will fit a modernized mold in the confines of Lexus’ luxury, durability, and latest design language. What you see here is all of what’s culminated over many years to appease luxury buyers backed with all that Lexus stands for.
Powered by the 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6 that’s found in the new Toyota Tundra, the Lexus LX600 will tout 409 horsepower and 479 lb-ft of torque, which is a nice bump from the outgoing 5.7-liter V8 that powered the LX570. Power will be sent through a new 10-speed automatic transmission powering all four wheels through a full-time four-wheel-drive system with a low-range setting.
We expect fuel milage to get considerably better over the outgoing LX570’s EPA estimates of 12 mpg city, 16 mpg highway, and 14 mpg combined. Moreover, there may be a hybrid variation of the LX dubbed the LX600h that makes its way to the fleet and features the hybrid powertrain from the new 2022 Tundra, which has a total output of 437 horsepower and 583 lb-ft of torque. Not to mention, the LX600 has lost about 441 pounds of weight over the LX570, which helps improve upon performance in many aspects. An F-Sport trim will have all of the off-roading goodies just as the other trims, including the drive modes of Auto, Deep, Dirt, Mud Rock, Sand, and a Snow mode. All LX600’s will have a center differential lock. Where the F-Sport changes up things is it gets a rear Torsen limited-slip differential.
To fit the Luxury theme and possibly surpass much of the LX’s competition, there’s a myriad of luxury appointments and accommodations in the new cabin of the LX600 starting with the VIP second-row seats having a captain’s chair configuration sporting a touchscreen to control the seats with six-way-power-adjustability, a seven program massage feature with five intensity levels, the ability to adjust the front passenger’s seat to move it forward for extra legroom and deployment of a power footrest from the front seat, and a deep recline position. Other highlights of the second-row of seats include power points, a wireless phone charger, USB and headphone jacks, cupholder lids that act as a flat writing surface protected by self-healing paint, and rear door window sunshades that are manually adjusted – oddly enough.
Another oddity is that the third row of seats are absent from the looks of the latest photos of the a top-level ‘Ultra-Luxury’ trim with the VIP second-row seating arrangement. If proven to be true, the removal of the third row makes the LX600 one of those special vehicles for primarily transporting just a couple of people in the lap of luxury instead of being a vehicle for the whole family.
The dashboard will be more of a cohesive design that we see here featuring a new 12.3-inch infotainment touchscreen and a lower touchscreen to handle the climate control and vehicle settings/status functions, which include the vehicle suspension height settings to control the latest suspension setup with an advanced Active Height Control that is said to operate faster than the outgoing model.
Other notable updates include a restyled exterior that features a prominent grille but retaining the overall shape of the traditional spindle grille look that we’ve become accustomed to from Lexus. An F-Sport trim changes up the grille to feature more of a mesh instead of the wide bars. There’s the availability of 22-inch wheels and more of a smooth sculpturing of the body lines but keeping the overall style of the LX in past years. The power tailgate is now a one-piece and the third-row seats now fold flat into the floor instead of to the side like they did in the LX570.
Getting down to pricing, there’s no information out yet leaving us to only speculate that the price will slightly increase over the outgoing LX570’s base price of $88,275 and quickly rise to the six-figure level in the loaded-up top-trim (possibly the Ultimate Luxury trim) LX600 and start orders just before 2021 is out.
