GX 550 -- initial on-road impressions vs LC 200 and thoughts on the reviews

[NY2LA]

Hi, all. Having sold my beloved LC200 after 4 years of mixed use (65% on road. 30% light trails, 5% heavier trails), I recently acquired a GX 550 Overtrail. Thought I'd share my initial thoughts here, which at this point only include on-road experience. I have not yet taken the GX off road. I have many bones to pick with the reviews I've seen as well.

THINGS I LIKE BETTER ABOUT THE GX550 (in descending order of importance)

• The factory suspension is a huge improvement. Off the shelf, my LC200 felt loose and sloppy around corners and during braking, even without added weight. This required a suspension upgrade for me to be happy with the performance. However, the GX 550 variable suspension is awesome. The comfort setting is fantastic for driving around town and going over rough roads, and the sport setting offers just a little bit more tightness for fast drives on the highway. Off road performance is TBD, but I expect that combined with eKDSS this suspension is going to be a treat.
  • AGAINST THE REVIEWS: I'm shocked that reviewers who tried the different driving modes struggled to note the difference between them. In most such reviews, they were driving down flat, perfect pavement, though, where the benefit of the different modes would be reduced. Or maybe they were expecting an offroad-capable vehicle to be transformed into a Ferrari.
  • Side note: I brought my tires down to 37 psi for on-road in the city. Must better than the rock-like pressure (42) provided by dealer. It's possible some reviewers had their tires over-inflated, resulting in bumpiness at all suspension settings.
• Steering options. The GX drive modes not only include different suspension settings but different steering and transmission settings. You can program your own combination of settings in the "custom" drive mode. Among these settings, the steering customization is almost as desirable as the suspension customization. The LC 200 steering was always a little loose. But the GX gives you a range, from looser to sportier. That really helps with different situations.​
  • AGAINST THE REVIEWS: I found very little discussion of this and the benefit this will have for different situations or preferences.​
• Voice assistant. Inexplicably, I found no discussion of this feature in the reviews. People driving the Overtrail+ would complain that it took many button presses to turn on the seat massage, for example, but no one mentioned you could just say "Hey, Lexus, turn on [insert whatever you want]." I don't have the plus, so I haven't used this for seat massage, but it's great when behind the wheel to be able to keep your eyes on the road and just say what you want the car to do. I find this function to be extremely easy to use and well-programmed, especially for the first pass. It's not a gimmick at all. It lets you keep your eyes on the road and keep driving while commanding the vehicle electronics with your voice.​
  • AGAINST THE REVIEWS: Little or no discussion of how this features offers instant access to deep menu items.​
• Automated steering within adaptive cruise control. This feature is great. When you activate it via a button press on the wheel, the car will assist with steering. You can remove your hands and it will take over steering for brief periods (less than a minute, at which point it summons you to put your hands back on the wheel.) This is VERY handy for opening a can of soda, adjusting your seat position, or what not. With the Traffic Jam Assist option, which I have, this basically becomes fully automated driving at low speeds. Also very handy. I guess many news cars now have the same or similar features, but coming from doing long drives in the Land Cruiser 200, this was a delightful update for me.​
• The Styling. I love how this truck looks off the shelf. Just beautiful.​
• Infinitely better cup holders (because a good cupholder is half the drive)​

THINGS I LIKE LESS ABOUT THE GX 550

• It's definitely louder. I don't have a roof rack, but I hear more wind noise off the shelf than I did with my 200. I also hear what seems to be engine noise, almost as if I hear the propellor shaft rotating, at high speeds. This become exponentially more bothersome over 65mph. I find 55 to be fine, 65 to be decent, and 75 to be noisy. Not Jeep noisy, mind you, but not LC200 quiet.
  • Update: this car also has a very loud electric parking brake that goes on and off every time you shift into and out of park. It sounds like a squelchy balloon. I confirmed with dealer this is the normal sound made by the truck.
• The approach and departure angles are much worse. This truck will require aftermarket bumpers to reach the stock level of the LC200 and may never reach the potential of a modified LC200 in terms of the angles.
• The Lexus rock rails are too small. I regret having been forced to take this option with my vehicle. Compared to the Budbuilt rails I had on my 200, the Lexus ones are badly designed, in my opinion. They are simply too close to the vehicle. If you slid sideways against a large rock or even just some hard brush, where the top part was a little wider than your contact point, you'd damage your vehicle. You also can just barely stand on them to access the roof. You have to use your tip toes. With any mud on them or if the vehicle was tilted against you, you'd likely slip off.
• The hood gets crazy hot. My LC200 hood was always cool. I could sit on the front of my 200 with my feet on my steel bumper and enjoy the scenery after driving somewhere. But if I tried that on the GX, I'd burn myself. For all I know, I might crush the hood too. The 200 just had a heavier duty hood, probably spaced further up from the engine. Or maybe the GX engine runs hotter. Many will not care about this the way I do, of course.
  • AGAINST THE REVIEWS: On a related note, many reviewers complain of hood flutter. I do not have any hood flutter at any speed in my GX.
• The windshield seems to catch more bugs. This is an early impression. I assume it's due to the more vertical design. However, I need more time and data to confirm this observation.
• Internal storage is very limited, especially with the cool box and static charger. With the cool box, which is fantastic (it gets very cold), you have no console. Then the static charger--a poor-performing option on the Overtrail--takes away one of the remaining few options--that little tray. Now you can no longer put your keys there, and if you do, there could be trouble. Inexplicably, there is no switch to turn the charger off. You are left with small slots in the door, a small glove box, and a tiny niche above the glove box. That niche will be useless off road or in any very bumpy conditions, as things will fly out of it and possibly hit the passenger in the face. That shallow slot is also located perilously beneath the front passenger airbag. If someone stuck something tall like a radio in there, and the airbag went off--well, I hope the passenger enjoys being spoon fed. Seriously, what was Lexus thinking there? Disappointingly, Lexus even took away the storage cubby from the rear seat console. There is also no sunglasses holder.
• The rear window needs to be almost slammed to latch close, at least in my vehicle. The window has a light and flimsy feel to it; operating it is not consoling in the way that operating things in the 200 were.
• Empty space inside the engine compartment is extremely limited. Many upgrades previously easy in the LC200 will be harder in the GX.
• My city mpg is horrific--almost as bad as the LC200 and nowhere near the published number of 15. However, I'm getting 21-22mpg on the highway stock. I assume this will go down a few mph after upgrades. So I'm predicting about 19 mpg vs the 15 I got in the LC200. After the cost of premium gas, the impact on my wallet will be mostly cancelled out. All in all, I'd rather have the V8 since the gas expense is almost a wash, and the environmental impact is only minimally improved.

CONCLUSION AND PLANS. Both the 200 and GX are fine vehicles with the rare ability to serve well both on and off road. Each has its tradeoffs, and either one is a great base off of which to build. Once I get around to offroading the GX, I'll be happy to share my thoughts there as well.

I'll be building out this vehicle rather modestly to keep it light and versatile. To improve approach and departure angles, I'd like to get some larger tires as well as bumpers to replace the lower half of the excessive factory plastics. I'll be looking out for lightweight bumpers that don't add so much weight that the excellent stock suspension can't keep up. I might consider a 1/2" to 1" spacer to gain a little more room for tires, depending on the overall consequences. With a little luck, I'll get a lightbar in the front bumper, and keep my weight low down.

I'm excited to see what we all have available in 6 months!

 

[OSS]

I liked reading your comments

 

[xeuxaz]

thanks for sharing