2017 Lexus LX450d First Drive Review

2017 Lexus LX450d Review

Car Tested: 2017 Lexus LX450d; Test Location: Ooty

Price OTR Mumbai: Rs. 2.86 crores

The Lexus LX450d boasts of incredible road presence and off-road capabilities

The flagship offering from Lexus is the LX450d which is based on the Toyota Land Cruiser. It is a big, burly SUV that comes bundled with a lot of features, gadgetry, space, comfort and a beast of a diesel engine. We had a go in the LX in Ooty and absolutely loved it.

On the styling front, the Lexus LX450d looks imposing and gigantic. You just cannot deny the fact that the LX has got incredible road presence and with the LED DRLs on, it looks absolutely smashing. The front grille has an overdose of chrome and so some people might not like it much. Compared to the Land Cruiser, there are some changes that differentiate the more premium sibling. The rear also looks huge and gets chrome elements.

Climb in to the car the first thing that you see is the wide and large dashboard with a really big centre console that houses tons of buttons for the AC, driving modes, off-road modes, parking mode, etc. However, controls are easy to find. The dashboard is wrapped in excellent quality leather and the seats are equally good, with great visibility as well as comfort. The driving position is set high and you get an imposing view. The Mark Levinson audio system comes with 19 speakers and it sounds so splendid that Lexus actually decided to play music from the car instead of the hotel’s audio system and speakers at our dinner party.

The cabin of the LX450d is extremely spacious, loaded to the gills with tech

The cabin is very, very spacious and even at the rear, there is a LOT of room. The rear seats can also be reclined for added comfort. The front windshield comes with a special coating due to which water droplets don’t stay on the glass and they flow down. There is also a lot of attention-to-detail on the insides and everything feels well put together. You get a Climate Concierge which is basically a 4-zone climate control system along with a panoramic sunroof. Boot space is very good and the inside of the LX feels like a great place to be in.

Powering the LX450d is a 4.4-litre V8 diesel engine unleashing 261 HP at 3400 RPM and 650 Nm from 1600-2600 RPM. The engine is mated to a 6-speed Artificial Intelligence Shift automatic gearbox and you also get 4WD. The engine has some clatter on the outside but the cabin is well-insulated and hence hardly any of the noise filters inside the cabin. There is a slight amount of turbo lag from the engine but after that it feels very punchy and power-packed with 100 km/hr coming up in 8.6 seconds. The engine is excellent for highway usage and has been tuned well. The claimed fuel efficiency is 9.6 km/l but real world figures will hover around 6-7 km/l.

The Lexus LX450d is an absolute performer, on and off the road

You get the usual Eco, Normal and Sport driving modes. In Sport mode, the engine holds onto RPMs and makes sure that the SUV is always in its peak power band. The gearbox is decent enough and you also get a manual mode along with paddle shifters and a Sport mode for the transmission too. Off the road, the LX is very capable and I wish we could explore its off-road capabilities in detail. Since the car is so large, there is a nifty feature for taking u-turns where you can lock the rear wheels at the press of a button and only the front wheels turn, thus helping reduce the turning radius in tight situations.

Since this is a ladder frame SUV, handling isn’t the best out there and there is also some noticeable body roll. The steering is a bit hard and requires some effort to turn. The ride is soft and plush and the LX can tackle just any sort of terrain. In Sport mode, the suspension becomes stiffer and thus the SUV tackles corners surprisingly well. It comes shod with massive 18-inch 285/60 tyres with lovely grip and for stopping power you get huge 18-inch and 17-inch discs at the front and rear respectively.

The Lexus LX450d gets safety features like 10 airbags, ABS, VSC, Multi-Terrain System with Active Traction Control System and TPMS. The LX450d is priced very optimistically at Rs. 2.86 crores (on-road, Mumbai) and at that price point one would definitely give a thought to other biggies like the Range Rover Vogue. However, knowing Lexus’ famed reliability and ease of ownership, don’t be surprised if people pick this car for an easy ownership experience since this flagship SUV exceeds in a lot of vital things like space, comfort, power, on-road performance and off-road performance.