Canyonero
Beating up Land Cruisers since 2015
So I’ve been towing with my LX. I don’t have a lot of nice things to say about the experience.
My towing experience: I’ve towed light (Jeep Wrangler Rubicon towing a 3500lb travel trailer), I’ve towed heavy (F250 Diesel towing a 42ft toy hauler weighing over 10k lbs), and I’ve towed many things in between with many vehicles.
I’m familiar with WDH (Weight Distribution Hitches), and I’m familiar with paying attention to payload capacities, percentages of weight in front of the trailer axle, tongue weights, tire pressures, etc.
The LX is a s***ty tow vehicle. Here’s my pros and cons list, related specifically to towing my 5500lb (dry), 7100 lb (loaded) trailer.
PROS:
-Good power and torque available.
-It’s heavy, so there’s an inherent stability that comes with this heft.
-Cooling seems solid. Fans are loud, but Toyota clearly engineered this thing not to have its hood up on the side of the road.
That said, here are CONS:
-No tow/haul mode.
-Transmission on inclines keeps you in too low of a gear (losing speed) or downshifts into too high of a gear (acceleration, but way too much of it). It’s never happy on an incline unless you take over manual control.
-Transmission on descents, effectively it will let you turn into a misssile being launched into the apex of the next corner. Zero downshifting, zero GAF about maintaining your speed. It’s manual downshifting and heavy brake applications only.
-There is no indication ANYWHERE on your 3 screens, that you’re even towing. Nothing. No info telling you anything about the status of your lights, your trailer. Nothing.
-Even with a solid WDH, exceed 65mph only if you have a death wish. The combination of tires and suspension and a 112.2” wheelbase all conspire against you living very long at 70mph. Floatiness is an understatement. You will die.
-Edit, regular (not ACC) cruise works fine.
-Cameras are a joke for trailer hookup. Literally, laugh out loud bad. None of the angles are worth a s***. You will get out and get back in at least 3 times to check where the ball is in relation to the trailer.
-7 pin connector is right by the exhaust tip. Not lit up by the license plate, but instead underneath your bumper and at a 45 degree angle pointed downwards. So dumb, I don’t know what else to say. Usually your tow rig is running when you hook it up… it would be nice to not be knocked unconscious from C0, but Toyota DGAF.
-Trailer brake control is by your left knee. Better memorize that, because you sure as s*** won’t see it when towing.
-The gauges tell you nothing. Oil temp? Somewhere between the middle and hot. Trans temp? Take a guess, Toyota isn’t telling. This information matters and needs to be communicated in exact temp readouts. I’m towing in 90+ degree temps at 8,000’ elevation. I’d rather not wait until it’s too late to know something. Infuriating.
-Just throwing this out here for reference: Ford trucks that tow a similar figure (8k lbs) not only have none of these issues, they have truly ground breaking innovations that are built around safe towing. As soon as you plug in a trailer to the 7 pin, Ford asks you about your trailer, gives you a safety checklist, updates the UI to a towing interface, has a tow/haul setting, updates transmission shift points, updates blind spot distances, updates cruise control, and in short tries to make sure you live long enough to buy another Ford.
Toyota truly doesn’t want you to tow with the LX or has done zero homework on the topic. Yet they advertise the LX’s towing capabilities. They should be ashamed, it’s downright dangerous with some of these oversights.
Sorry if this is overly negative. Towing can be done with the LX, but it’s a huge compromise vs other vehicles in 2025 and certainly at this price point.
My towing experience: I’ve towed light (Jeep Wrangler Rubicon towing a 3500lb travel trailer), I’ve towed heavy (F250 Diesel towing a 42ft toy hauler weighing over 10k lbs), and I’ve towed many things in between with many vehicles.
I’m familiar with WDH (Weight Distribution Hitches), and I’m familiar with paying attention to payload capacities, percentages of weight in front of the trailer axle, tongue weights, tire pressures, etc.
The LX is a s***ty tow vehicle. Here’s my pros and cons list, related specifically to towing my 5500lb (dry), 7100 lb (loaded) trailer.
PROS:
-Good power and torque available.
-It’s heavy, so there’s an inherent stability that comes with this heft.
-Cooling seems solid. Fans are loud, but Toyota clearly engineered this thing not to have its hood up on the side of the road.
That said, here are CONS:
-No tow/haul mode.
-Transmission on inclines keeps you in too low of a gear (losing speed) or downshifts into too high of a gear (acceleration, but way too much of it). It’s never happy on an incline unless you take over manual control.
-Transmission on descents, effectively it will let you turn into a misssile being launched into the apex of the next corner. Zero downshifting, zero GAF about maintaining your speed. It’s manual downshifting and heavy brake applications only.
-There is no indication ANYWHERE on your 3 screens, that you’re even towing. Nothing. No info telling you anything about the status of your lights, your trailer. Nothing.
-Even with a solid WDH, exceed 65mph only if you have a death wish. The combination of tires and suspension and a 112.2” wheelbase all conspire against you living very long at 70mph. Floatiness is an understatement. You will die.
-Edit, regular (not ACC) cruise works fine.
-Cameras are a joke for trailer hookup. Literally, laugh out loud bad. None of the angles are worth a s***. You will get out and get back in at least 3 times to check where the ball is in relation to the trailer.
-7 pin connector is right by the exhaust tip. Not lit up by the license plate, but instead underneath your bumper and at a 45 degree angle pointed downwards. So dumb, I don’t know what else to say. Usually your tow rig is running when you hook it up… it would be nice to not be knocked unconscious from C0, but Toyota DGAF.
-Trailer brake control is by your left knee. Better memorize that, because you sure as s*** won’t see it when towing.
-The gauges tell you nothing. Oil temp? Somewhere between the middle and hot. Trans temp? Take a guess, Toyota isn’t telling. This information matters and needs to be communicated in exact temp readouts. I’m towing in 90+ degree temps at 8,000’ elevation. I’d rather not wait until it’s too late to know something. Infuriating.
-Just throwing this out here for reference: Ford trucks that tow a similar figure (8k lbs) not only have none of these issues, they have truly ground breaking innovations that are built around safe towing. As soon as you plug in a trailer to the 7 pin, Ford asks you about your trailer, gives you a safety checklist, updates the UI to a towing interface, has a tow/haul setting, updates transmission shift points, updates blind spot distances, updates cruise control, and in short tries to make sure you live long enough to buy another Ford.
Toyota truly doesn’t want you to tow with the LX or has done zero homework on the topic. Yet they advertise the LX’s towing capabilities. They should be ashamed, it’s downright dangerous with some of these oversights.
Sorry if this is overly negative. Towing can be done with the LX, but it’s a huge compromise vs other vehicles in 2025 and certainly at this price point.
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