Divyank Kushagra Bansal 
Lexus – a byword for luxury across the globe. A brand name that has unparalleled prestige and tradition attached to its name. So, it’s safe to say that any Lexus vehicle will deliver an experience that can put mainstream European luxury car brands to shame, especially when the vehicle in question is their biggest and most expensive SUV offering. But is it the case? Well, let’s just say that by the end of this piece, any reader who is even remotely aware of Lexus’ stature will be left gobsmacked.
The LX is one of Lexus’ biggest SUVs on sale globally and it is available in India too. Not too long ago, the latest fourth generation of the model was launched here. I got a chance to sample the new LX for a couple of days, and the experience went something like this…
The design, or rather the appeal, of the latest LX, is a bit paradoxical. In my opinion, the current crop of Lexus sedans, which includes the LS and ES looks top-notch. Even the crossovers in the model line-up – the NX, RX, and the UX – do a pretty good job. The same can’t be said for the LX though.
The signature spindle grille at the front, with its new ‘floating bars’ looks obnoxious, to say the least, and the unconventional D-pillar design mars the rear-quarter look. The dead-on rear and profile views are nothing to write home about either. So, in all, the LX’s design fails to please, in my opinion. If given the choice, I would opt for the second-generation model than this one in a heartbeat!
But here’s the interesting bit. Irrespective of how it looks, the new LX is an ABSOLUTE head-turner! From small city lanes with little kids playing in them to the most upmarket areas of Delhi NCR, wherever I took the car, people stopped dead in their tracks, turned around, and looked at the LX in pure amazement. And I think I have figured out the reason why – its Brobdingnagian proportions. No matter if the front grille has the aesthetics of a brick – its mahoosive size has its power of attraction, it seems. And the same can be said about the car in general too. It rides on huge 22-inch wheels, measures 5.1 metres in length and is nearly two metres wide! So, rest assured, if you do end up with the LX, be ready to garner attention like the Kardashians.
Entering the LX is like entering a regal library – old school, neat, and organised. Those with a penchant for huge touchscreens and chintzy gloss-black plastics are most likely to be disappointed, but for someone like me, the old-school layout works, especially when it’s wrapped in good-quality leather, like the LX’s cabin. Having said that, the infotainment system and Multi-Information Display’s (MID) user interface could do with a modern-day touch – it looks really, really outdated. The seats are well-proportioned, nicely contoured, and supportive, and the general touch and feel of the cabin (front and middle bits) is pretty much flawless. Sitting inside feels like sitting on the second floor of a building (it’s kind of fun to be sitting on the same height as the adjacent driver on the road – only he’s in a truck!), and hatchbacks on the road look somewhat like powered scale models – the commanding driving position is addictive for sure.
One aspect in which Lexus takes great pride is the top-shelf quality of its vehicles. And guess what, the LX has plenty of shortcomings on this front. While the cabin is draped in really good quality leather, open the boot and you’ll spot black plastics of surprisingly low quality, as though taken from a mass-market vehicle. To make matters worse, the small panel used to cover the jack storage is so flimsy that it kept falling off every time the car went over a speed bump or pothole at speed. Speaking of going over speed breakers, the seatback of the front passenger seat also shakes about – enough to be noticeable by any occupant not sitting on that seat.
Shockingly, using the LX also revealed a few issues with the electronics. For example, the blower off & AC buttons did not work on the first two days – they started working on their own on day three. The cruise control did not work at all during the time I had the car. By the end, the rear right door handle also started acting up, failing to open the door in the first go. The infotainment system, though it worked fine, lagged a bit, especially if I tried changing a song while playing music via Bluetooth.
The Lexus LX is available in India exclusively in the 500d guise, which means it’s propelled by a 3.3-litre twin-turbo diesel V6 that’s good for 304bhp and 700Nm. Power is sent to all four wheels via a full-time AWD system and a new 10-speed torque converter automatic (the previous-gen LX had an eight-speeder). There are up to six driving modes (including the Custom Mode) to play around with, and being a performance junky, I did not hesitate to be in Sport S+ mode most of the time. The acceleration and performance are more than enough to haul this near-3.3-tonne behemoth to triple-digit speeds fairly easily, and the smoothness with which this happens is exemplary. Of course, being a diesel, the engine becomes a bit audible (do note that the gears are held for longer in Sport+) as you climb the rev band, but even for diesel standards, it’s very refined. Another bit where the LX shines is its stopping power. The brakes work really well and emergency stops are almost immediate, although they should be avoided with rear passengers onboard as the front of the car dips so much and so hard that they might find themselves pinned to the front seatbacks!
The fly in the ointment during the entire drive experience was the LX’s new Adaptive Variable Suspension (AVS) that comes with Four Wheel Active Height Control (AHC). There’s a double wishbone set-up at the front and a new four-link rigid axle at the rear (courtesy of the new GA-F Global Architecture the fourth-generation LX is based on). Unfortunately, despite the number of advancements Lexus claims the new AVS brings with it, the LX’s ride quality is surprisingly unsuitable for Indian road conditions – to put it in simple terms, there’s plenty of body roll, and the suspension tends to crash while going over sharp potholes/speed breakers. The set-up is so soft that even when the Drive Mode is switched to Comfort, the suspension picks up on every road undulation, even on a seemingly smooth surface. As a result, the ride remains jittery, and the occupants keep shaking about in their seats. Only on the newer highways that offer a marble-top road surface did the LX drive jitter-free. But I did manage to find a workaround for this. The AHC offers three height settings – Normal, H1 & H2 (H2 being the highest). Compared to Normal, the suspension works dramatically better in H2, as there’s more room for the shock absorbers to do their job. Unfortunately, you cannot drive the LX in H2 all the time as the system adjusts the ride height as per the vehicle speed – it shifts back to Normal as the speed increases.
Surprisingly, despite its gigantic size, managing the LX is not as big a task as it might feel. Its small turning radius and light steering make life very convenient in tight areas – you can manage without three-point turns in most cases. Parking can be an issue, especially in old underground structures, where the bays are demarcated for regular-sized cars.
And now for the elephant in the room – the price. At INR 2.82 crore (ex-showroom), the LX demands a LOT of moolah, and at this level, the niggles and faults I encountered with the LX are simply unacceptable. Not just because of its price, but even more so because it’s a Lexus! But despite its foibles, deep down, I was sad to part ways with it – I guess the sheer amount of attention the car garners overpowered its shortcomings. However, this may not be the case with its buyers, and they might consider opting for the LX’s Toyota-made sibling, the Land Cruiser 300, which is not only a bit more affordable but also much better to look at and equally capable.
