Lexus LX570 Washington DC

BY JOHN PHILLIPS

When Toyota first began working on the new body, engine, and purpose-built frame for its latest heavyweight twins—the Land Cruiser and the Lexus LX570—the company couldn’t have predicted $4 fuel, an economy on crutches, and Americans’ panicky migration from full-size SUVs. Never has it been more politically incorrect to sing the praises of a passenger vehicle that weighs 6180 pounds, attains observed fuel economy of 14 mpg, and costs $75,465. Poor Toyota. A perfect trifecta of bad timing.

Which is a little embarrassing for us because every C/D editor who drove the new LX570 came back to the office, looked sheepishly at his shoes, then said in a small voice, “Holy crap, I love that thing.”

Describing the LX570 as an eight-seat LS460L with 8.9 inches of ground clearance isn’t too far off the mark. That’s how mechanically silky, fluid, fast, insulated, and isolated it is. It offers the velvety step-off of an S-class Benz. The interior is awash in the sort of leather and real wood you’d find in Churchill’s library. The seats are thrones. The paint would pass muster in Maranello. We’d love to own a sofa upholstered in the LX570’s headliner material. The turn signals click like your grandparents’ Seth Thomas clock. At the push of a button, the third-row seats silently fold and rise out of the way, affording a cargo area 67 inches deep and 40 inches wide.

Heck, the heavenly ride would do justice to the Spirit of Ecstasy—unexpected from a body-on-frame truck with a rigid axle—although it comes at the expense of major body roll, even with the shocks toggled to their firmest setting. The only other dynamic flaw: steering that is light but vague.

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