This is essentially a Toyota Land Cruiser that's been gussied up. It comes with all-wheel drive, with a locking differential. For serious four-wheel-drive types of activities, the Lexus LX 450 is magnificent. In any kind of rough weather, it performs spectacularly. I found myself looking for bigger and bigger snowbanks, just because I could!
It's also nice and comfortable, with leather seats, climate control, a CD changer and everything you'd expect in a Lexus. The ride was somewhat truck-like, but what do you expect? It is a truck!
One thing we didn't like--it's a very heavy truck with only a six-cylinder engine. And while it's a big six-cylinder engine, on any kind of hilly highways it was shifting constantly to try to find the right gear, which got annoying.
This is a softened up-brute, which is more than you need for around town and more luxurious than you need for serious four-wheel driving. So, it sort of falls into its own category. It's a prestige car. And Lexus will certainly sell a bunch of them.
I should also mention the safety advantage of all that weight. The LX 450 performed superbly in our 20 mph crash test, which our producer, Dougie, was kind enough to perform after a day of skiing at Lake Tahoe. A BMW slid across the road and hit him almost head-on, and not only was no one hurt, but the LX 450 came out of the incident with no more than a bent fender and a cracked directional lamp. The BMW, on the other hand, came out about 14 inches shorter.
This is a unique vehicle, very easy to like and respect. If it had a V8 and a $15,000-off coupon, I'd buy one in a minute.
View cars.com model report on this vehicle.
