GO
GoAutoLogo
MENU

Make / Model Search

Car reviews - Lexus - LX - LX470 5-dr wagon

Our Opinion

We like
Leathered-up LandCruiser, feature list
Room for improvement
Thirsty, pricey, over-dressed for serious off-road work

16 May 2001

THIS is an exquisite luxury car. That it can tackle terrain that would frighten a lot of supposed off-roaders is all but irrelevant.

Lexus Australia says initial research showed almost half potential buyers would take this vehicle off-road. But it did not define off-road.

But to judge the LX470 buyer in the same breath as a LandCruiser buyer misses the point. Few will quibble over the price - possession is what counts.

Price, resale, dirtying the fawn plush-pile carpets with stout walking shoes - these are hardly concerns of the well-heeled.

Status, image and a lasting impression of size are what count in the rarefied atmospheres in which Lexus owners glide. And now there is an alternative for wealthy buyers for whom the appeal of a Range Rover may have faded.

Lexus has packed the LX470 with technology - like the height- adjustable suspension which raises the body to ease itself over boulders or lowers it to let you hop in gracefully.

Power-adjustable seats have buttery-soft, if shiny, leather covers while door trims are clothed in similar slices of hide. The glossiest wood trims dash, doors and consoles.

Six of your closest associates can sprawl in comfort while you tour the big, brown land. Carry just four extras and the rearmost seats come out, boosting boot space.

Privacy glass ensures the peasants do not intrude with their hungry stares.

Xenon headlamps offer a brilliant, cold blue light, brightly illuminating reflective signboards and increasing the depth and breadth of vision so dramatically they should be standard on every car.

Power, and there is plenty of it, comes from the silky-smooth and silent 170kW quad camshaft, multi-valve V8. You will love the velvet step-off and rapid scenery blurring. At 4000rpm the lungs take another huge breath to spear you on even faster.

The engine quietly gulps down vast quantities of fuel despite the Lexus claims to the contrary.

Like all the vehicles in this class, consumption figures are proved fanciful on the road.

Quite where and how some of these "official" fuel consumption figures are obtained is thrown into sharp relief during a week at the wheel.

Real-world driving accounts for about 20 litres every 100km around town.

Fuel consumption is relevant only in terms of how often refills are required, rather than the cost. With a 159-litre fuel dump, most weekend jaunts should be completed without a refill.

The driving position gives that "king of the road" position four- wheel drivers love.

Submerged in the leather seats, the trade-mark Lexus dash lit up before your eyes - a feeling of smug superiority is hard to suppress.

Swinging through the city the LX470 does not exactly shrink around the driver but it is not as hard to park as you would imagine, although some people maintain it is just too big.

The ride is sublime for an off-roader, benefiting from electronic shock absorber control that constantly reconfigures stiffness rates.

Settings between comfort and sport are manually dialled in but at freeway speeds the computer tends to make its own mind up.

That is fine until you meet a series of expansion joints. Stiff settings cause some unseemly clattering to invade the cabin.

The dash is festooned with all manner of controls, innumerable willing, silent electric motors expectantly poised to do your bidding, opening even the rearmost side windows and manoeuvring the steering column your way as the multi-function ignition key enters its lair.

But there is an air of Las Vegas about the interior ambience thanks to the plush carpet and glitzy finish which is at odds with the aspirations of grace the Lexus nameplate implies.

The six-pack sized fridge between the seats, next to the CD player, is a treat as is the ventilation system. Arctic one moment, Equatorial the next. It is just a shame there is not a more positive feel to the temperature adjuster so you do not have to take your eyes off the road to work it.

It is one of the most refined four-wheel drives you can buy but surely a GS300 and a Toyota Prado for the weekends would be a better way to spend $120,000.

- Automotive NetWorks 24/05/1999

Click to share

Click below to follow us on
Facebook  Twitter  Instagram

GoAuto can help you buy a new LX

Customer Terms and Conditions – New Car Lead enquires

Agreement

This is an agreement between GoAutoMedia Pty Limited ACN 094 732 457 of PO Box 18, Beach Road, Sandringham, VIC, 3191 (“we/us”), the owner and operator of the GoAuto.com.au website (“the website”) and the person wanting GoAuto.com.au to provide them with a lead for the purchase of a new car (“you”).

By completing a New Car Lead Enquiry, you agree to the terms and conditions and disclaimers and acknowledge the policies set out below.

Terms and Conditions

  • In order for us to effect a lead you must you must complete a New Car Lead Enquiry (“Enquiry”).
  • We will call you as soon as possible after you complete the Enquiry and certainly no later than the next business day. When we call, we will discuss with you your new car requirements.
  • You consent to our passing on the Enquiry and your requirements to an appropriate authorised motor car dealer as a lead.
  • We will contact you again in approximately eight days following your initial enquiry to check on the progress of the Enquiry.
  • While we will provide the dealer with the Enquiry and details of your new car requirements, we take no responsibility for what happens after passing on that material as a lead.
  • You acknowledge that we are a new car information service providing new car editorial information, pictures and prices to our customers as a guide only. Any new car prices published on the website are the manufacturers’ recommended retail prices and do not include delivery charges and on-road costs. Any authorized motor car dealer to which we pass on your Enquiry as a lead will provide you with full details of the price at which the vehicle will be sold to you.
  • You acknowledge that we do not sell motor vehicles. Any sale of a new car to you by a dealer after we have passed on your Enquiry to that dealer as a lead, is a sale by that dealer not by us.

Privacy Policy– New Car Lead Enquires

  • We take privacy very seriously. We understand that you will only complete an Enquiry if you can trust us to protect your personal information and use it appropriately. Our policy is to ensure that the personal information collected when you make an Enquiry is only used for the purposes of connecting you with an authorised motor car dealer.
  • We do not on-sell information collected from you or any other customer.
  • From time to time, we may email you with information or promotions that may be relevant for car buyers. You will continue to receive communications from us unless you tell us that you do not want to receive any advertising or promotional information in the future by unsubscribing from these communications.
close
* Denotes required field
** Australian inquiries only

LX pricing

Motor industry news

GoAutoNews is Australia’s number one automotive industry journal covering the latest news, future and new model releases, market trends, industry personnel movements, and international events.

Catch up on all of the latest industry news with this week's edition of GoAutoNews
Click here