Why 2023 Lexus LX500d is a Luxury 4×4 with Little Competition
If Lexus’ aim was to make an all-wheel-drive luxury SUV that could go anywhere, then they’ve succeeded
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. The LX range, based on Toyota’s Land Cruiser 300 series, is as near to perfect as a desert-crossing, mountain-climbing, river-fording vehicle is going to get.
First, we deal with the elephant in the room, the looks.
Lexus LX is no raving beauty. Sure, there is no mistaking a Lexus grille. Like BMW’s M series shocker, there is such a thing as overdoing a design concept. Instead of looking like a gracious adornment to allow air flow into, and around the engine for cooling, it looks like a gaping chasm into which an SUV the size of the moon is being sucked.
LX doesn’t look particularly svelte regardless of angle, but onlookers are left with the impression that the front of LX had to be enlarged in order to maintain the aspect ratio of a grille designed for a sleek sedan.
Just as Kia has slowly done away with the distinctive Tiger Nose grille, Lexus’ spindle grille should be chucked into a pasture, where an oak tree will grow through it, raising it out of eyesight.
Aside from Toyota’s slightly different window designs, only the front and rear have been made over to fit the Lexus family. To that end, the ball-room-like cabin retains the capacious proportions of the Toyota, but the decorators were given carte blanche to use as much butter-soft leather as possible.
The driver dials are a throwback to Lexus of the past. The part-LCD screen keeps the distinctly Lexus look, but falls short of a 12.3” display one expects for this kind of dosh. The CinemaScope-sized HUD more than makes up for it, and is where you’ll have your eyes most of the time.
The centre console feels and looks like it is more modern than its more pedestrian Toyota sibling. The disappointingly old-fashioned Toyota Landcruiser design is gone, streamlined into a thing of grace and elegance, and it too is covered in cow. The landscape 12.3” media centre is supported by a 7” screen below it for ancillary functions, but the whole shebang would look a little tidier with a 14” portrait screen instead.
Our LX 500d had 7 seats, with the 3rd row having nifty powered adjustment.
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28 янв 2024
