- Lexus’s flagship SUV now will get hybrid energy
- It’s rated at 457 hp, greater than the same Toyota twin-turbos
- Adaptive suspension, crawl management, and all-terrain drive modes included
- Costs begin with the $115,350 LX 700h Overtrail—our decide of the lineup
On a hilltop close to Napa, someplace out among the many vines, I faucet a swap to make sure I’m locked and loaded. With an digital sign that OKs my ahead progress, I’ve given the 2025 Lexus LX 700h Overtrail its marching—or crawling—orders. With one in all its three locking differentials engaged, I trundle onward and upward to a brief course laid out among the many grapes, one with obstacles that ought to pose no drawback: railroad ties, chalky rocks, and deep swales that pock its rutted route.
I faucet one other button and the seat cooler spins into motion. If this SUV isn’t going to interrupt a sweat, neither will I.
For 2025, the Lexus LX has gone gas-electric with a brand new hybrid powertrain. Model leaders now name it the flagship automobile, and at $141,350 the LX 700h Extremely Luxurious version greater than earns that benefit badge.
However it’s the $115,350 Overtrail version you need, actually. It showcases the LX’s roots as a cousin of the extra succesful Land Cruiser bought around the globe—however not right here, as ours is a turbo-4 hybrid reduce from a distinct material. And in Overtrail spec, it’s a most succesful machine—whereas it’s stronger and extra serene as a hybrid, too.
2025 Lexus LX 700 Overtrail
Lexus LX 700h Overtrail: Hybrid graft, taken
When it launched in 2022, the most recent Lexus LX swapped its V-8 for a twin-turbo 3.4-liter V-6. Rated at 409 hp, and paired to a 10-speed automated with full-time four-wheel drive and a devoted low vary, it supplied distinctive skill that got here with a handful of foibles. (Lexus additionally recalled hundreds of autos with the engine for severe defects that led to a alternative marketing campaign.)
Now for the primary time the LX will get electrified energy, the identical system that’s present in Toyota’s Tundra pickup and Sequoia SUV fashions—each of that are carefully associated to the LX, with the identical GA-F body-on-frame platform. Within the LX, Lexus pairs the twin-turbo 3.4-liter V-6 with an electrical motor wedged between the engine and transmission. In different makes use of the powertrain’s capped at 437 hp, however right here Lexus charges it at 457 hp and 583 lb-ft. The system’s a standout within the Lexus lineup for an additional purpose: the LX 700h unit will get a conventional starter and alternator, fairly than counting on the hybrid electrical motor. That’s in case the hybrid system tanks off-road, and the automobile wants to have the ability to drag itself residence from the hinterlands.
These aren’t hinterlands the place I drive it, not with this nice cell reception and hillside mansions affected by underground wine cellars. It’s nonetheless a consolation to know if I get the LX Overtrail into bother that it will probably extract itself, by and enormous.
The Overtrail arrives new to the LX household this 12 months, too. It shares a reputation with a trim stage of the smaller Lexus GX. Right here too, Overtrail means entrance and rear differential locks, and 18-inch wheels with 33-inch all-terrain tires, in addition to some gloss black trim—to not point out a suitably earthy brown paint referred to as Earth offset by a Stone brown leather-based inside.
2025 Lexus LX 700 Overtrail
It’s decked out with all of the necessities, and it barely requires a spin of the 4H/4L knob to get it in the suitable state of mind. As I decide my approach via the rubble that’s been strewn round for my pleasure, I’m placid and so is the large brute SUV. The hybrid drivetrain makes good sense right here. Its electrical motor smooths over transitions in low vary, the place Lexus deploys exact energy management that works in live performance with downhill and terrain-control modes to dictate the place and when and the way a lot wheelspin’s allowed.
One other spherical of engineering has beefed up the LX’s necessities, all to guard that hybrid gear or to boost its utility. A water-resistant case retains the battery dry so the LX can slog its approach via 27.5 inches of water—and in case it fails, a moisture sensor alerts the motive force. Stronger engine mounts and a brand new crossmember restrict some physique flex.
That battery requires the spare tire to maneuver to a spot beneath the rear finish. It doesn’t reduce into floor clearance, Lexus says, however the angle of departure dips from 22 levels to 21 levels. Towing capability stays the identical, at 8,000 kilos.
All LX 700h trims include a hydraulic adaptive suspension, too, that may elevate the automobile by a few inches from its traditional 8.3 inches of floor clearance when it’s put into low vary. Air suspensions can adapt on the fly to highway circumstances the place this one can’t, however the easier use of hydraulics to boost or decrease the automobile and maintain it there retains it true to the concept that it needs to be succesful below any circumstances, even when it’s not often taken out right here, amid the vines.
Nothing runs out of spec on this gentle setting. The 6,000-pounds-or-so LX crawls over railroad ties wedded by mud, then spin-dries its tires to claw its approach via a rocky embankment. It slides via a low creek crossing and yumps its approach down a lumpy run again to the gravel that leads again to paved roads. All of the whereas, its a number of programs relieve the necessity to concentrate to absolutely anything save its steering. Lexus even suits a front-end digital camera so I can keep engrossed with the motion enjoying out forward of me, like an iPad child tucked in for a nap.
There’s simply little right here to problem the LX 700h, even with out its entrance and rear differentials locked. With a cautious limo-driver foot on the gasoline, I nudge and needle it with out dropping traction usually in any respect. I ask if Lexus will promote any metal plates or winches for it. The reply isn’t any, however it may be dressed for extra rugged obligation by scouring the net for items bought in markets the place they might not have to be crash-tested.
2025 Lexus LX 700 F Sport
2025 Lexus LX 700 F Sport
2025 Lexus LX 700 F Sport
2025 Lexus LX 700 F Sport
Lexus LX 700h Extremely Luxurious lives as much as the semi-aniline hype
At a base camp I modify outfits, first into an LX 700h Extremely Luxurious, then into an F Sport for a slip via afternoon site visitors again to someplace with espresso. The Extremely Luxurious swaddles me in its lurid listing of normal gear: not simply any leather-based, however semi-aniline leather-based, in addition to a 12.3-inch touchscreen, wi-fi Apple CarPlay, an enormous sunroof, a cooled field for drinks, a power-folding third-row seat, and a hands-free energy tailgate.
It’s as plush as any $141,350 automobile needs to be—and must be, because the site visitors within the Napa area has grown thicker since my final journey right here, pre-Covid.
The LX doesn’t concern itself with others, and as a hybrid it has a bit of extra spring in its step: it cuts a 0-60 mph time of 6.4 seconds, down a half-second from the non-hybrid LX 600. It doesn’t at all times land on the right gear on the primary attempt when it downshifts, resulting in some judder. And with its huge 22-inch wheels and slimmer treads, it doesn’t settle in as simply over rippled pavement because the small-tire Overtrail. For a automobile within the Tahoe measurement class it steers with poise, although, and doesn’t have as a lot head toss when it traverses railroad tracks as, say, a Mercedes GLS.
I don’t get the possibility to journey alongside within the again seat, however as a four-seater the Extremely Luxurious dukes it out with different chauffeur-minded SUVs with curvy headrests, outboard heated rear seats, and a middle console with its personal digital management panel and its personal wi-fi gadget charger.
2025 Lexus LX 700 F Sport
I do spend a while crawling across the seven-seat Overtrail to gauge whether or not I’d need to journey alongside in it as one of many different six individuals not on the wheel. In row one or two? Certain. Row three? Move. Not solely does the hybrid battery shave about 4 inches from the width of the third-row seat, however the cushion’s additionally mounted low, and it’s a great distance in to achieve it within the first place. Preserve that area reserved for individuals below 5 ft tall and 21 years outdated, is what I like to recommend.
Or use it because it’s meant, and power-fold the third row out of the best way. Within the hybrid, doing so will increase the meager 7.2 cubic ft of area behind the rearmost seats to a most of 62.4 cubic ft of area—not an enormous quantity, contemplating the automobile’s footprint, however nonetheless fairly helpful. What’s extra, the packaging of the battery yields a tall field that raises the cargo ground; Lexus has constructed a fold-up platform to stage off the highest of the battery pack, but it surely’s an ungainly answer although it will probably help as much as 176 kilos of cargo. To offset the oddity, a 2,400-watt energy outlet lives close to the hybrid battery.
It’s superior to its gas-only cousin off-road due to its hybrid system, and the LX 700h betters the LX 600 within the EPA derby, too, with estimates of 1 mpg higher mixed and a couple of mpg higher metropolis; that lifts the LX 700h to 19/22/20 mpg, from 17/22/19 mpg on the LX 600.
The variations are removed from exceptional, however they’re measurable. Few who’re keen to pay a minimum of $115,350 for the LX 700h Overtrail will quibble over the finer information. They’ll tune the 25-speaker Mark Levinson sound system to a favourite streaming channel, dial up the cooling on the entrance seats to a chill plateau, and received’t fear in regards to the mud they’ve tracked in on its rubber mats—or the ruts they’ve left up on the winery hillside. When the Lexus LX is your overland cruiser, these ruts—these grapes—are yours anyway.
Lexus paid for journey preparations in order that we might cruise via another person’s vineyards to carry you this primary test-drive overview.
