LX570 - realistic fuel economy?

[M1911]

I test drove the GX three times. I wanted to like it, but I really didn’t.

First, the GX is way down in cargo capacity. With 2nd and 3rd rows folded, LC has 80 cu ft of capacity. The GX only has 60 cu ft. The GXs 3rd row takes up a huge amount of space. It is a fold flat 3rd row, but they achieved that by raising the cargo are height about 5” of the rear door sill height. You can’t pull the 3rd row out of the GX460 because of the way the rear interior panels are shaped.

Visibility out of the GX is poor. The rear window is small, the D-pillars are large, and the side window opening is up high. I found visibility out of the LC to be superior.

I also found the front seats to be uncomfortable. It felt like there was a stiff rim around the edge of the bottom seat cushion.

Finally, I don’t like the side hinged rear door.

Eventually gas prices are going to go up. When that happens, it will become very expensive to drive a 14 mpg LC. Yes, depreciation is a big cost for a $100,000 vehicle.

But you aren’t buying a $100,000 vehicle. You are buying a $20k vehicle. Most any Toyota will go 250,000 miles with regular maintenance and other Toyota vehicles get far better fuel economy.

With a $600k mortgage, I suggest that you buy a more fuel efficient vehicle. You can easily save $2-3k per year on fuel. Use that money to pay down your mortgage or save for your kids college.

I didn’t get my LC until after the mortgage paid off and we have no kids.

 

[TonyP]

I don't mean to sound douchy (like I ususally do) but if you're penny pinching $100 a month but are ok trading in your Tacoma for a luxury item, clearly there are some conflicting ideas here.

Plus, $81k won't matter when the Yellowstone caldera explodes so do what you gotta do.

That said, there's some decent comments in this thread but I don't come to Mud for financial advice.

 

[eatSleepWoof]

Why does it sound like everyone had a Porsche before the LX? Am I missing a critical step in the vehicle progression?

 

[SWUtah]

By the newest one you can afford under 50,000 miles with Good maintenance records and enjoy yourself plan on keeping it for 10 years

 

[eatSleepWoof]

but are ok trading in your Tacoma

Selling privately (for some gains) and then buying a replacement vehicle is really not an option. I now live in a city of 70k people. As much as I love it here, it doesn't have the market for selling anything in a timely fashion, and worse yet, there's not a single LX for sale within an hour's drive. The vehicles that are available for sale are all considerably more expensive (up to $10k) for the make/model/mileage than in the nearest big city (Vancouver).

Even if I do sell the Tacoma here, I need a way to get to Vancouver - 4 hours away over high & snow-covered mountain passes - to go car shopping, and that's a logistical nightmare that will cost me more than the hit on the trade-in.

Plus, trading in means I get to save tax (12% here) on the value of the trade in. Assuming a $33k trade-in value, which is not unreasonable, that's $4000 saved. I might get 37k (to break even) in a private sale, but it's not guaranteed. Trading in makes sense to me.

Got any timeline on that Yellowstone explosion? I want to take out a few loans the year before

 

[TeCKis300]

I hate the Tacoma and it reminds me of that every time I get behind the wheel.

I might have missed why you hate the Tacoma?

Is this a case of it being modded too far? Mods: Can “more” ever be less-is-more too?

Just a thought - unmod the Tacoma and enjoy what makes it great again?

 

[TonyP]

Got any timeline on that Yellowstone explosion? I want to take out a few loans the year before

Some time between now and the year 97982AD.
Better start liquidating assets.

 

[eatSleepWoof]

I might have missed why you hate the Tacoma?

Is this a case of it being modded too far? Mods: Can “more” ever be less-is-more too?

Just a thought - unmod the Tacoma and enjoy what makes it great again?

Mods are part of it, and I've already de-modded a huge chunk:
- decked drawer system
- tons of electrical (dual batteries still in place - don't have OEM parts)
- onboard water
- front and rear bumpers
- winch
- sliders
- gas skid, mid skid, transfer case skid

Before the Tacoma I had four german luxury cars (2 BMW, 2 Mercedes). The '06 ML350 was the last one, and it realistically did everything I wanted it to do, including performing rather well off road, especially considering the no-name all-season tires it was on. I then came across the Expedition Overland series, and as much as I hate to admit it, they sold me on buying a Tacoma and living the "overland" idea (which I've come to strongly dislike for various reasons not related to the vehicles). I figured that the Tacoma would be a great compromise between modern features, basic utility, economy, and reliability. I figured I could get used to the lower power & responsiveness than what I was used to. This has not been the case.

For the last 2.5 years of owning the truck I've been trying to convince myself that I love it. Trying being the operative word. Sure, it looks great, it performs fantastic off-road, doing everything I could imagine and even some things I never would have attempted had I known about them early enough to back out. For the most part, I point the truck on a decent line and it just crawls over anything and everything that I throw at it. This is all great.

What's not great is that I'm constantly trying to make the Tacoma something that it's not. I added hood struts because it was an embarrassment (to myself) to fiddle with the hood support rod while knowing I'm dealing with a 2016 vehicle. I upgraded the low-beam lighting because it sucked to the point of being borderline useless (my '06 ML350 was 100x better, and had adaptive - turning - bixenons). I upgraded the speakers because they sounded horrible. I sound-deadened the entire interior because it was and still is stupid loud. I upgraded the spring hangers to minimize frame flex and make the rear a bit more comfortable. All this in an attempt to make the Tacoma do what a rather barebones 2006 ML350 did straight from the factory.

Economy: on paper the Tacoma should get better fuel economy than my previous ML 350, and on regular instead of premium gas. In practice, from the second that I drove it off the lot, the Taco has always gotten worse fuel economy, even when I drive like a grandpa, keeping it under 2500 RPMs. I have never gotten advertised fuel economy.

Reliability: A half dozen software updates applied for transmission shifting logic/problems. TSB for howling control arms. Water leaking through the vents on the rear cab wall. Just recently found that water is also leaking through the third brake light (common issue). Rotors warped by about 45,000 km. Vibrating/buzzing from numerous interior components. Under-filled transmission fluid from the factory. Windshield cracking if you just look at it the wrong way. Delays in shifting from Park to Drive. Clunking while shifting from 1st to 2nd. Head unit constantly freezing - replaced once, numerous software updates, still having intermittent issues. Leaking rear diff recall. Non-lubricated u-joint zerks from the factory. Whistling noise when a cross-wind hits the truck just right (door seals issue). BSM sensors randomly failing on the highway and requiring re-calibration.

Performance: in its current form, emptied of just about everything, and with 4.88 gears, on 34x10.5 KO2s (load range D), it is dog slow. I was recently going 120kph up a mountain pass when I got cut off and forced to slow down to 110kph. From that moment onwards, I could not accelerate even by 1kph until I was over the crest of that mountain. Going up another mountain pass (standard highways road on the way to Vancouver) I literally keep the gas pedal floored for about 7-8 minutes straight just to maintain a speed of about 10-20kph over the speed limit (normal flow of traffic).

So, yeah, I can't wait to get rid of this thing.

 

[TeCKis300]

Expedition Overland sure was a great series! Wonder how many Taco's they helped sell. And now the 4Runner, Tundra, and LC. Might as well be a super long commercial.

Sounds like you have your reasons. And a lot of them! Even some things you’d never expect from a ‘Yota. The LX570 is none of that, and hopefully without any of the incidentals either (there is the common starter and radiator vulnerabilities, but that’s really about it). As with any vehicle, modding will add some compromises. At least with those, you can pick and choose, especially now that you have more insight into potential impacts.

 

[MikeVpdx503]

Know what you mean about the Tacoma, did some of the same mods including ECU/TCU tuning on my 2017. Ultimately did not work for me, so after 12 months I decided to move to a Tundra or Ram 1500, but found a great deal on a 2013 LC200 with <50K miles. It has been my daily driver since as I didn’t really need a truck bed. Gas mileage is not a major difference for me, but ride, handling and power are all vastly superior to the Tacoma. My only planned mods for now are tires and roof rack.

 

[eatSleepWoof]

Know what you mean about the Tacoma, did some of the same mods including ECU/TCU tuning on my 2017. Ultimately did not work for me, so after 12 months I decided to move to a Tundra or Ram 1500, but found a great deal on a 2013 LC200 with <50K miles. It has been my daily driver since as I didn’t really need a truck bed. Gas mileage is not a major difference for me, but ride, handling and power are all vastly superior to the Tacoma. My only planned mods for now are tires and roof rack.

Tires and a Rhino rack would be the two things I'd very likely do myself.

 

[eatSleepWoof]

Heard back from the dealer with that '14 LX. They have a deposit on it and it sounds like it'll be selling tomorrow. They'll keep their eyes open for another LX for me. It was listed for a hair under $60k, so I'm guessing it went for around $55k. Good to know at least for price-reference purposes.

They also gave me their trade-in numbers for my truck.

Option 1: Converted as far to stock as possible, but with these aftermarket items: nitro 4.88's, ARB rear locker, interior sound deadening, upgraded speakers, dual battery system. $33k trade-in value (exactly what I had guessed!).

Option 2: Everything from option 1 + five BFG KO2s (34x10.5), ICON suspension, OME heavy duty leaf springs, wheeler's superbumps bump stops, three steel skid plates, Clazzio leather seat covers, TRD Pro grill, Pop N Lock tailgate lock. This would give me $36k trade in value.

I'd keep the tires and figure I could get $4500 for the other parts. The extra $3k trade-in value also gets me $360 in tax-savings, so trading in w/ parts is really a "loss" of $1140. And I figure I'd get around $600 for the OEM components I have laying around (including a brand-new set of tires). A net loss of $540 to not have to spend an entire weekend swapping parts and then deal with selling them sounds pretty decent.

The search continues...

 

[Docboy]

Heard back from the dealer with that '14 LX. They have a deposit on it and it sounds like it'll be selling tomorrow. They'll keep their eyes open for another LX for me. It was listed for a hair under $60k, so I'm guessing it went for around $55k. Good to know at least for price-reference purposes.

They also gave me their trade-in numbers for my truck.

Option 1: Converted as far to stock as possible, but with these aftermarket items: nitro 4.88's, ARB rear locker, interior sound deadening, upgraded speakers, dual battery system. $33k trade-in value (exactly what I had guessed!).

Option 2: Everything from option 1 + five BFG KO2s (34x10.5), ICON suspension, OME heavy duty leaf springs, wheeler's superbumps bump stops, three steel skid plates, Clazzio leather seat covers, TRD Pro grill, Pop N Lock tailgate lock. This would give me $36k trade in value.

I'd keep the tires and figure I could get $4500 for the other parts. The extra $3k trade-in value also gets me $360 in tax-savings, so trading in w/ parts is really a "loss" of $1140. And I figure I'd get around $600 for the OEM components I have laying around (including a brand-new set of tires). A net loss of $540 to not have to spend an entire weekend swapping parts and then deal with selling them sounds pretty decent.

The search continues...

Do you know how long was this LX on the lot?

 

[eatSleepWoof]

Do you know how long was this LX on the lot?

The craigslist ad for that LX shows "posted a month ago." The same truck is listed on Autotrader and has a freely-accesible CarFax report. CarFax date is July 28th, so I figure the truck has been listed for 4 months. Not a quick sale by any stretch of the imagination.

 

[eatSleepWoof]

// removed

 

[Hothonda]

My Wife has a '17 MDX...@ $55K - $30K less than new Land Cruiser, 23 MPG, decent resale +
it's a reliable Honda appliance. She loves it!

 

[grinchy]

Why does it sound like everyone had a Porsche before the LX? Am I missing a critical step in the vehicle progression?

I had an RX-7, maybe any rear drive sports car applies?

 

[M1911]

For mall duty, an MDX is probably a much better choice than a Land Cruiser.

 

[bjorn240]

In Chappaqua, we call the MDX the minivan for dads too insecure to drive a minivan.

 

[eatSleepWoof]

Dropped by an insurance place a few days ago to get an idea of costs. Got quotes for a '14 LX570 and '15 ML550. Coverage for each vehicle (same policies as currently on my Tacoma) is around $1950 CAD / year. I'm paying $2424 for the Tacoma. Go figure.