Car Reviews
2025 Lexus LX700h Overtrail – YACHT. ROCK.
2025 Lexus LX700h Overtrail
YACHT. ROCK.
It sits there, in the Parking Spot adjacent to LAX, built by Lexus and inspired – I’ll guess – by Mt. Fuji. Frankly, it doesn’t belong in a basement garage; nor does it belong in a prototypical SoCal shopping center. It belongs on or near a trail, and while the LX700h footprint demands a wide trail, dirt is visible in its DNA. At your carwash buy that facility’s monthly subscription…
But before walking around, let’s take a look at the LX 700h window sticker. It’s six figures, and while on some level that doesn’t come as a surprise, I’m still suffering from sticker shock some 40+ years after landing on a Ferrari showroom. There, Ferrari’s 328 was $60K and the recently launched Testarossa was $80K. And I know a lot has happened to the dollar in those 40 years (I think our 3,000 square feet in Duncanville, a SW Dallas suburb, was less than $200K), six figures for Escalades and Expeditions all seems a bit rich…even for the rich. The LX 700h, a hybrid evolution of the LX 600, starts at about $114,000 and can be massaged to about $140K. Enough, already…
You certainly get six figures worth of presence in the LX 700h presentation. On a wheelbase of 112 inches and an overall length of 200 inches, the LX’s 6300 pounds of (unladen) curb weight is evident from the git-go. And while the proportions are decidedly upright, the sheetmetal is softly organic; you’ll not see the edginess of its smaller GX 550 sibling or the Land Cruiser, on which the GX is based. This has the footprint of the earlier Land Cruiser, but the phone booth proportion has been melted into something slightly less imposing. Thankfully, the generous greenhouse has been retained – you and your passengers can see out, and – of course – the proletariat can see you.
Inside, a moderate step up – helped by handholds on the A-pillar – puts you behind the wheel somewhat easily; this isn’t a Sienna minivan, but then, neither is it Toyota’s offroad-spec Tacoma. Once positioned the driver enjoys a commanding view of the road, along with a predictably confounding infotainment screen. It could, of course, be worse – but is there anything more distracting that a touchscreen that takes two or three ‘hits’ to change the ventilation or radio station? On the plus side, your $118K (as tested) gets you a Climate Concierge – and when did that happen in your old Suburban?
Space is generous for five, albeit marginal for seven. The rear accessibility is best for the small and limber, and the hybrid battery raises the height of the 3rd-row as well as the cargo hold. With the somewhat high liftover already, loading big or heavy objects – bicycle or oversized luggage – is made that much more difficult. There’s gotta’ be a better way of housing a hybrid battery pack, and perhaps on the next-gen LX they’ll have found it.
The sweet spot of the LX is its platform, the heart of which is its 3.4 liters of turbocharged V6, enhanced by an AC motor. Total output is 457 horses and 583 lb-ft of torque, which will get this three tons to 60 in around 5.5 seconds. And even better than the stats is the feel: You’re behind the wheel of three tons, and it feels more like two tons. The LX 700h is genuinely tossable, while anything but disposable.
The Overtrail trim includes 4WD with low range, an electronic center differential, low-range crawl control, hill descent control and active height control. There’s also a camera providing you with an underbody review if, you know, your partner won’t crawl under there herself…
At the end of the day, however, I don’t understand investing six figures in an off-road toy that is anything but a toy. Sure, if you have that place in the Hill Country requiring you to traverse two miles of gravel before getting to your casa, the LX 700h in Overtrail trim will do that with comfort and composure. But if you want to go boulder-hopping you’d be better served with the smaller GX 550. And for that $120K you’ll spend on the LX, you could almost buy two.
