2024 Lexus GX550

When Toyota brought back the Land Cruiser this year, it no longer came standard with a V8. It now comes only with a turbo-hybridized four.

If you’d like something more than that – as well as less –  Lexus has it.

The new GX550 – which is premium-badged (and slightly larger) iteration of the new Land Cruiser comes standard with a turbocharged V6.

Without the hybrid assist.

Plus a third row – which the new Land Cruiser no longer offers.

And it’s only slightly more expensive, relatively speaking.

What It Is

The GX550 is a mid-sized, luxury-badged real SUV – in italics to emphasize the importance of the distinction between crossovers that are often referred to as “SUVs.”

A crossover may look like an SUV but it’s typically built on a light-duty, car-based chassis and is typically front-wheel-drive with an all-wheel-drive system available. AWD does power all four wheels, but it is not the same thing as four-wheel-drive, which is what a real SUV always has.

Four wheel drive doesn’t route most of the power to the front wheels – as is typical of most AWD systems. In most cases, when it’s not engaged, 4WD sends no power to the front wheels. All of it goes to the rear wheels. Until the 4WD is engaged, at which point the power is (typically) sent equally to all four wheels, though some systems can modulate the ratio. And if that doesn’t provide enough grip to keep you going, there’s 4WD Low range – and a two-speed transfer case –  which AWD systems do not have (though some mimic the gear-reduction function of Low range gearing via the transmission, but it’s not the same thing).

The GX550 – like its Land Cruiser brother – comes standard with a full-time 4WD system and Low range gearing.

It also comes standard with rugged body-on-frame construction. And a V6, which is rapidly becoming what a V8 used to be as recently as just five or so years ago; i.e., a luxury item.

Prices start at $62,900 for the Premium trim, which comes standard with 20 inch wheels, synthetic leather seat covers (heated and ventilated for the driver and front seat passenger) plus a 10 speaker audio system, sunroof, 14 inch LCD touchscreen and navigation.

The $67,900 Premium + adds a power tilt-telescoping/heated steering wheel, power folding third row, a surround-view exterior camera system and heaters for the second row. It stickers for $67,900.

The $75,900 Luxury trim adds massaging front seats, second row sunshades and 22 inch wheels.

A top-of-the-line Luxury + gets an adjustable suspension system, power deploying running boards, a refrigerated center console cubby and a 21 speaker Mark Levinson audio system.

There’s also an Overtrail iteration that comes with off-road upgrades such as 18 inch wheels with 33 inch all-terrain tires, adjustable dampers, locking rear differential, electrically disconnecting front and rear sway bars to allow for greater wheel articulation off-road, plus roof rails and a Kinetic Dynamic Suspension designed to reduce body roll during cornering.

It lists for $67,900.

There’s also a + version that adds the massaging seats, second row heaters and power tilt/telescoping steering wheel. That one lists for  $75,900.

Both versions of the Overtrail delete the otherwise standard third row.

What’s New

The GX550 is the new replacement for the discontinued GX460.

What’s Good

A V6 is standard.

Tows more (as much as 9,000 lbs. and no less than 8,000 lbs.) than the V8-powered GX460 (6,500 lbs.) and uses a little less gas.

Available third row (no longer available in the new Land Cruiser).

What’s Not So Good

Little V6 needs a turbo to pull all this weight.

Overtrail’s additional off-road capability costs passenger-carrying capacity.

Only uses a little less gas than the old V8-powered GX460.

Under The Hood

One of the ways Lexus – which is Toyota – justifies the GX550’s higher MSRP is by giving it a bigger standard engine than the Land Cruiser, which stickers for $55,950 to start (a difference in price of just shy of $7k).

The Lexus-ized iteration of the Land Cruiser comes with a 3.4 liter turbocharged V6 rather than the 2.4 liter four cylinder engine that’s standard in the LC. Which is turbocharged because it’s too little engine to otherwise be powerful enough to move the 5,038 lb. Land Cruiser decently.

It’s also hybridized – which is another point of difference. It’s one of those “mild hybrid” systems, which just means the engine is automatically cycled off as often as conditions allow, in order to reduce fuel consumption and to reduce the “emissions” of the dread gas CO2 that isn’t a pollutant but which the car companies are under immense pressure to minimize.

A four is also too small for the GX550 – even if were turbocharged and hybridized. Because the GX550 weighs several hundred pounds more than its Toyota-badged, slightly smaller brother from the same mother: 5,467 lbs. vs. 5,038.

That’s a lot of weight to pull.

Which – along with the need to differentiate a Lexus from a Toyota – is why the GX550 comes standard with a 3.4 liter turbo (no hybrid) V6. It produces 349 horsepower – significantly more than the 301 horsepower produced by the discontinued GX460’s standard 4.6 liter V8 – and much more torque: 479 ft.-lbs at just 2,000 RPM vs. just 328 ft.-bs. at a much higher-up 3,500 RPM.

No doubt this is why the new GX550 comes standard with a much higher 8,000 lb. standard tow rating than the 6,500 lb. max tow rating you got with the old GC460, despite it having a V8 engine.

Overtrail versions can pull even more – up to 9,000 lbs.

But the new GX550 is just as thirsty – almost – probably because it’s so much heavier. It rates 15 city, 21 highway vs. 15 city, 19 highway for the discontinued GX460. It’s a difference without much distinction.

The turbo-hybridized four cylinder-powered Land Cruiser doesn’t do much better, either: 22 city, 25 highway.

Both could use larger gas tanks. The Lexus carries 21 gallons; the Toyota 18. Both would go a lot farther in between fill-ups if they had 25 gallon tanks.

All GX550s (like all Land Cruisers) come standard with a full-time, real-deal 4WD system with 4H and Low ranges and locking differentials.

Overtrail versions get a Crawl mode as well as skid plates and the previously mentioned off-roading upgrades, plus different front/rear fascias that allow for greater angles of approach and departure when off-roading.

On The Road

All that’s missing is the sound – the chief emotional problem, so to speak, with these small, turbocharged replacements for the V8s that used to come standard in vehicles like this.

When you push the GX5450’s start button, you don’t hear what you used to hear. The discontinued GX460 may not have been as powerful but it sounded more powerful when you started its V8. It also had the pleasing/calming V8 bass tone at highway speeds.

That’s gone now.

What you get instead is more power – and better performance – that’s not small compensation. The GX550 gets to 60 in about 6.5 seconds – which is one second sooner than the discontinued V8-powered GX460.

Also – as mentioned up above – significantly more torque and significantly sooner, too. The GX550 may “only” have a small V6 now but (courtesy of the boost) it can pull as much as some half-ton trucks and it feels stronger than its V8-powered antecedent because the power (torque) is accessible with less pedal effort.

Subjectively, it goes better than its Land Cruiser slightly-littler brother from the same mother. Because its V6 is usually on whereas the LC’s turbo-hybridized four is often off.

Toyota has eliminated pretty much all of the obvious indications of the engine being off – and coming back on – that used to come standard with what you might call “first generation” mild-hybrid tech. But you can’t eliminate the sound of nothing – which is what you notice when the LC’s engine’s off. In this respect, the GX550’s V6 sounds better – literally.

Because you can hear it – even if it doesn’t sound like a V8.

Like it’s LC brother, the GX550 is remarkable for its on-road manners. There is no longer any downside to owning a real-deal 4×4 SUV that can go seriously off-road . . . other than the gas mileage. If anything, the GX550 is more comfortable to drive (and to be a passenger in) on the road than a luxury car – because in addition to being plush and quiet and utterly indifferent to crappy roads, you’re perched up high and feel like you’re driving a tank – which you kind of are.

A GX550 with three average-weight occupants on board will weigh close to three tons – and that’s a good feeling. Like having a gold bar – except this one takes you places.

And you can see where you’re going – and what’s going on around you – because there’s lots of glass around you. Like its LC relation, the windshield gives you a view – and so does the rear glass, which is vertical and not small. There are cameras that feed images to the big LCD display in the center stack, but they’re unnecessary because you can see.

The main driving downside – as mentioned earlier – is how quickly the relatively small-capacity tank runs dry. In real-world “city” driving, this can be after driving as little as about 250 or so miles. Having an extra five gallons of capacity would help make this SUV seem less thirsty than it is.

On the upside – and unlike any EV – you can get back on the road again after a five minute stop.

At The Curb

The GX550 is about three inches longer (197.1 inches) than the rebooted Land Cruiser (193.8 inches) and that allows for the third row that’s no longer available in the LC. It’s not much of a third row – but having the extra seats for in-a-pinch can mean the difference between needing one vehicle and needing another – for the two who couldn’t otherwise come along.

The GX550 is also significantly larger than the discontinued GX460 (which was based on the old iteration of the Toyota 4Runner). It was only 192.1 inches long. Amazingly, it offered a third row  – but it was even less useful due to the higher floorboard which required sitting scrunched up as well as the limited legroom and limited access.

With its third row out (or absent, if you decide to skip it) the GX550 has 76.9 cubic feet of cargo space, an increase of about 12 cubic feet vs. the old GX460 and almost twice the space available in the LC with its second row up (37.5 cubic feet).

Since it’s a Lexus, the GX550 comes standard with equipment such as 20 inch wheels (the LC comes standard with 18 inch wheels) as well as a flat screen main gauge panel and a larger 14 inch secondary LCD touchscreen that looks more integrated with the rest of the cabin than the smaller 12.3 screen that’s available in the LC. You also get a standard 10 speaker audio system that’s optional in the LC. And you can order equipment such as the optional seat massagers for the driver and front seat passenger and a top-shelf 21 speaker Mark Levinson ultra-premium audio system – as well as a beverage chiller built into the center console – that isn’t available with the LC.

If you look closely, it’s clear the GX550 is related to the LC but the Lexus looks more high-end, as it ought to – being a Lexus – while the LC looks more rugged.

But the GX550 is just as rugged as its more rugged-looking slightly littler brother.

The Rest

Every GX550 – like just about every other new vehicle – comes standard with an array of what are styled “driver assistance technologies,” including a drowsy/distracted driver system that watches your eye movements – via an array of you-can’t-see-them cameras built into a pod on top of the steering column. If you glance to the left or the right for longer than the system thinks is “safe,” you’ll get badgered by the system to look straight ahead.

Whether that’s safe is another question – and there’s no way to turn the system off.

If you’re wanting a hybrid, wait. Word is one’s coming next year. It will offer more power and – presumably – better gas mileage.

The Bottom Line

There’s not that much cost difference – to start, at least – between the GX550 and the LC. It’s true $7k – the price difference – isn’t small when considered all by itself. But when factored over the course of six years, it doesn’t amount to much of a difference in terms of your monthly payment.

And if you’re wanting a V6 (and that extra row) rather than a turbo-hybridized four and seats for no more than five – it might be well-worth the extra $100 per month it’ll add to the tab.

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