Yahoo Autos 2024 Lexus GX First Drive Review: Extreme Makeover SUV Edition
The 2024 Lexus GX design is as clean-sheet as it gets; one that’s not just a complete departure from its excessively long-lived predecessor that wore multiple corporate faces, but one from the rest of the Lexus lineup as well. To these eyes, it’s one of the best-looking SUVs of all time. Clean, modern, classic. If it manages to survive the same 14 years as the last GX, it’ll still look great in 2038.
In concept, though, the new Lexus GX 550 is fundamentally the same: a luxury-lined, body-on-frame, three-row SUV that can actually go off-road. It’s just that it now looks the part, as opposed to the Kardashianland grocery-getter vibe it replaces. And sure, the Premium and Luxury trims are still more Patagonia brand than overlanding in actual Patagonia, but for that, the new GX 550 Overtrail exists. With its all-terrain tires on black 18-inch wheels, raised roof rails and serious mechanical upgrades, it represents the new vibe at its fullest.
To be clear, though, even if the concept carries over, nothing else does. You name it, it’s new, a reflection of a nameplate that basically skipped an entire generation of progress. The 2024 GX 550 is as modern as the GX 460 was ancient. Its GA-F platform is the same body-on-frame one that underpins the Lexus LX 600, plus Toyota’s Tundra, Sequoia, Tacoma and next-generation Land Cruiser. The resemblance to that last one is most obvious, as you can see below. It wouldn’t be a stretch to describe the GX as the Lexus Land Cruiser.
The new engine is a 3.4-liter twin-turbo V6 good for 349 horsepower and 479 pound-feet of torque. For those lamenting the loss of the old GX 460 V8, just know the hill you’re dying upon made only 301 hp and 329 lb-ft. It was also shackled to a six-speed automatic and could tow only 6,500 pounds. The new one has 10 speeds and can tow more than 9,000 pounds. There will also be a hybrid available “at a later date” comparable to, but presumably more powerful than, the Land Cruiser’s standard i-Force Max four-cylinder hybrid powertrain.
The difference is obvious and immediate. Before it was all sound, no fury; just a bunch of breathy roar on the way to a leisurely 7.7-second 0-60 time. Lexus hasn’t released a 0-60 time for the GX 550, but the VBox in my brain says it’s now in the mid-6 range, and better still, attached to a smooth, torque-rich powerband that speaks to both the performance and refinement demanded of a luxury SUV.
Fuel economy is estimated to be 15 miles per gallon city, 21 mpg highway and 17 mpg combined, so that’s not very good. The old V8 and six-speed got 16 combined. Meanwhile, a six-cylinder Land Rover Defender 110 returns 20 combined; a Discovery with the same engine gets 22 combined. I think we know what the first “con” is.
Every version of the GX 550 gets a full-time four-wheel-drive system, which, for most buyers, can be thought of as a typical all-wheel-drive system that’ll send power where it needs to when it needs to without driver interaction. It’s ultimately four-wheel drive because of the little switch that toggles the system from default 4Hi down into 4Lo. The changeover happens quicker now, though you still need to stop and put the GX in neutral. There is also a standard limited-slip locking center differential from Torsen that evenly splits power 50:50 for certain low-grip situations (that does not mean engage it when snowy).
That brings us to the Overtrail and its better-equipped sibling, Overtrail+. They gain an electronic locking rear differential, activated by the driver pressing a button, which evenly splits power between the rear wheels. If you enjoy a good afternoon of rock crawling, you’ll appreciate this. If you don’t, well, it’s there.
By the way, all of the above off-road hardware is standard on the new Land Cruiser. Unique to the GX Overtrail is its standard Electronic Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System, or E-KDSS, which makes its debut in the Toyota/Lexus empire. The original, hydraulic version of KDSS was previously standard on every GX and available on the 4Runner TRD Off-Road, and accomplished the same overall goal as the new, electronically controlled version: automatically disconnecting the stabilizer bars when it detects you’ve reached an off-road obstacle that demands as much wheel articulation as possible. Because it can disconnect the roll bars, however, the roll bars themselves can be considerably bigger, allowing for improved handling and reduced body roll on-road. Simply, it’s a win-win. In-depthly, you can read everything you ever want to know about KDSS in our 4Runner Suspension Deep Dive.
The new electronic element allows increased suspension travel as well as the separate engagement of the front and rear stabilizer bars. This allows the rear bar to remain engaged until the system computer, based on a calculation of speed and wheelbase, determines that the same obstacle that just disengaged the front bar has reached the rear. To demonstrate why this is good, Lexus constructed an off-road obstacle consisting of a big hump for the left wheel and a deep puddle right next to it for the right wheel. While the resulting show outside was no doubt wheels dramatically going in opposite extremes, the experience inside was remarkably uneventful. The flat hood remained close to even with the horizon (thanks disconnected front stabilizer bar), while the rear end didn’t sway back and forth loosey-goosey (thanks to the still-connected rear stabilizer bar). At an appropriate snail-like pace, it felt like the Overtrail had gone over nothing at all.
