Driven. Lexus LX500D Overtrail
- Jul 6
- 6 min read
If there was a recipe for Lexus’ LX500D Overtrail, it would start with a strong base-stock in the form of Toyota Landcruiser underpinnings. To this, one would add a liberal dash of Lexus refinement and luxury, and finally, a garnish of mud in places that are very hard to clean.
The truth is this could be the ultimate luxury off-road vehicle. It’s a big call, but a week in this leather-and-timber lined behemoth revealed very little that didn’t resonate with me.
It starts outside, where the basic 300 series shape remains vaguely discernible, with just enough design differences to delineate it from the donor. The biggest departures come at either end of the vehicle. Up front, the trademark Lexus spindle grille seems even more pronounced than normal; likely a result of the protracted surface area.
Excellent LED headlights flank said grille, with driving lights positioned lower in the deep bumper assembly. Gloss black wheelarch flares feature down the side and meet with a bespoke and clean rear end design.
This example was finished in Moon Desert – a metallic hue reminiscent of Toyota’s Sandy Taupe. It suits the off-road intentions of the Overtrail variant perfectly, and is offset by dark 18-inch wheels wrapped in Toyo Open Country 33-inch all-terrain rubber.
Measuring 5.1 meters long, 1.99 meters wide and 1.85 meters tall, it’s certainly an imposing thing. Nowhere is that more evident than in the interior. Embarkment is aided by the air suspension, which allows for 100mm of vertical adjustment.
The driver climbs into a large and comfortable two-tone leather-accented chair which offers 11-way electric adjustability. It’s a fine place to sit with heating and ventilation that links to the climate concierge air-conditioning system. It deploys the seat and steering wheel temperature controls depending on the desired internal temperature, and is one of my favourite features in modern Lexus offerings.
Key controls fall to hand perfectly too, making it a very easy place to spend as many hours as one may choose to commit to.
Up ahead, the steering wheel features a range of logical buttons and controls. These are supplemented by dual stacked screens for infotainment controls, along with climate control and offroad specific functions, along with a Head Up Display and digital rear view mirror.
Further down the “Ash-Sumi” black timber ornamented console you find a range of buttons for various functions, along with a traditional gear-lever, electric handbrake, offroad controls and the like. There’s also a cool box in the centre storage bin which can be accessed from the driver, passenger and rear seats as required.
It’s all logically laid out and sensible, with a familiar operating system through the 12.3-inch infotainment screen.
Tunes play through an amazing 25-speaker (yes, you read that correctly) Mark and Levinson sound system, which can be accesses through wired and wireless CarPlay and Android Auto. A wireless charging pad also supplements a couple of USBC ports.
The rear row is just as commodious, with ample space both laterally and in terms of head space. 3 adults could sit here in comfort, with outboard heating and ventilation, along with a dedicated air conditioning zone along with a couple of USBC ports.
The Overtrail grade misses the 3rd row of seats one comes to expect in this chassis. It’s a smart move given the use-case, because I don’t know many off-road tourers that won’t either carry gear for travel or fit it out as desired.
And you won’t be lacking in space either; a cavernous 1109 litres with the middle row up in fact. With such a staggering number, who cares how much you gain with them down.
But it’s when you hit the starter button and fire up the twin turbo 3.3L V6 diesel engine that everything comes together. Once it’s been through its short warm up cycle, it settles into the background with a muted thrum.
It’s a familiar unit that’s found in the Landcruiser range, with 227Kw and 700 Nm on tap from 1600 rpm. Drive is provided through a silky smooth 10 speed convertor automatic, which distributes power to all 4 wheels through a permanent AWD system.
What surprised me most was the harmonics, and it’s not what you would expect. Because when taking it easy the drivetrain simply blends into the background. But when asked of, it has a bizarrely intoxicating note for a diesel – it’s smooth and willing to rev and provides more than adequate punch whether around town or out on the freeway.
It does all of this while riding on that air suspension I mentioned earlier. The official name is Adaptative Variable Suspension with Active Height Control. It provides about 100m of adjustment pending the drive mode one may select but is also adjustable outside of those pre-programmed settings.
This level of adjustability can see it sitting low for access or providing a notable increase in ground clearance when traversing rough terrain off-road.
On the road, it provides a level of suppleness you just can’t get in a traditional spring and shock combination; simply loping along and eating up everything in its path.
Its relatively frugal too, running at 11.2L/100km against a claim figure of 8.9L/100km. But that’s a moot point, because with 110 litres split between a main and sub-tank, range is never going to be a problem. You’d likely be too busy taking in the sound system to care too much anyway.
Being based on the Landcruiser brings with it a legendary level of off-road capability too. It’s a prudent blend of hardware and software that aims to make time on dirt as effortless as possible.
It’s a distinguished list; with centre, front and rear lockers along with 210mm of unladen clearance and 70mm of wading depth. It’s also armed with the full suite of Multi Terrain modes, along with that excellent air suspension and the all-terrain rubber right out of the box.
It truly made light work of the short test track I use for these sorts of vehicles, in what was a very wet and slippery Watagans State Forest.
In fact, it did it without lockers or any specialist modes activated – only requiring traction control intervention in some of the harder spots in low range. It was confidence-inspiring to think there was an entirely next level of hardware and software-based capability available if things got harder.
And it does it all in requisite safety too, with a full and comprehensive suite of safety aids and gear, which was all very well calibrated and unobtrusive unless truly needed.
I’ve never had time behind the wheel of the grand-daddy Lexus LX, despite always wanting too. Like the GX550 I reviewed, my time came loaded with a likely unfair level of expectation as a result.
The truth is the LX blew me completely away. It looks tough, it’s beautifully finished inside and out, and it possesses a long and distinguished feature list which brings with it an unparalleled level of comfort.
But it’s no show pony either. Because it does everything with an incredibly level of poise and confidence too. I could jump into this car and drive for 12 hours without any issue whatsoever. I may even take a detour or two through some dirt roads, because those Toyo’s love a bit of mud behind the ears.
The title of ultimate off-road luxury SUV comes with an entry fee though, and $196,155 is a large number. But for that money you get a level luxury, refinement and capability that’s bolstered by reliability and comparatively low running costs.
Ultimately though, how do you put a price on joy?
Like: Beautifully finished inside and out, incredible capability out of the box, exciting drivetrain for a diesel
Dislike: Entry fee, I’d likely go for a different colour.
Car Guy Rating – 9.0
You know what, I generally pick the cars I want to drive here – choosing to stay away from cars that don’t provide some level of interest or intrigue. The LX was a car I wanted to drive for many a year, and it didn’t just meet expectation, it blew me away.
You don’t expect to feel anything when you’re driving a car like this, but you do. It’s the sense of comfort and refinement that is underpinned by decades of expertise and experience building off-road vehicles. It’s that little bounce that you get in the suspension when driving on tar. It’s the beautiful interior you get to sit in, and the sound that drivetrain makes.
I reckon we’ve found a front runner for the replacement family car. Would buy
Comments