LX600 has finally landed. I think there's been plenty of aesthetic opinions and points weighed in. So I'll leave it at it's pleasing to the eye and on point for an evolutionary world class interior.
I'd rather weigh in on function. Personally, it doesn't hit the mark for me as it's much of the same. If their focus on weight for efficiency and dynamic handling didn't result in functional differences, I'm all for it. But they've traded it for function! Kind of the opposite of what I'm looking for in a full featured full size SUV. We've already lamented about the loss of the tailgate, which IMO was primarily weight driven, but that's just too bad. It was a GREAT configuration for so many functional reasons. 400+ lbs loss also traded for what seems to be a smaller 3rd row area The seats tell it as it's a 2 person row configuration. Whereas the previous cruisers were all 3 passenger configurations. Including the GX! Another trade for efficiency (narrowing teardrop to the rear) and weight I don't really care for as I get less.
The power, torque, and efficiency are all awesome and expected. But no one ever accused the 200-series to be underpowered either, especially when geared appropriately.
Glad they kept AHC and enhanced it. It, IMO, makes the cruiser and was ahead of it's time. Giving it all the capability and balance to perform unladen or when laden. This new breed of Rivian, Cybertruck, Hummer all have active suspensions to make them perform across a broad range of use cases and load.
I would have a hard time buying up into the 300-series if my 200-series stays in good working order however. As other the evolutionary progress, it doesn't deliver much for function. My current LX with 35s, locker, and aux tank easily has a wider breadth of capability. Sure, it'd be fun to do the same with a 300-series, but arrive at much the same to where I am today.
Still awaiting for Lexus to announce a hybrid variant, hopefully with some more off-road focused trim. That IMO would be a game changer with more range, more potential off-road capability between the hybrid driveline and body tailoring, maybe even high power/capacity inverter function negating need a lithium/dual batts.
In the mean time, my sights are still set on the Cybertruck that has functional differences that are starting to date these evolutionary vehicles. Granted, there's going to be trades for reliability/durability, which is the LC/LXs bread and butter.
Interesting to compare to previous numbers