Want a new 2022 Toyota Land Cruiser SUV? Well, you can’t have one. Toyota decided to not bring the new one stateside because its annual sales numbers didn’t justify the cost of federalizing it. So, you’ll have to settle for a 2022 Lexus LX 600, which is a Land Cruiser with elitist airs. It employs the same TNGA-F platform also used the redesigned Land Cruiser, Toyota Tundra and forthcoming Toyota Sequoia.
Last year, Toyota sold 3,711 Land Cruisers vs. 8,070 Sequoia SUVs. What accounts for the discrepancy in sales? It could be price. The 2021 Land Cruiser’s MSRP easily breaches Lexus territory at $87,030, a price the Lexus LX undercuts at $86,930, as does the Sequoia at $52,465.
"Just by virtue of the vehicle being fundamentally based on the new Land Cruiser, I think we have a very credible argument to Toyota Land Cruiser customers who are looking for the next generation to consider Lexus,” said Vinay Shahani, Vice-President of Lexus Marketing during a recent interview.
Offered in ascending Standard, Premium, Luxury, F Sport, and Ultra Luxury models — the latter two being new for 2022 — the LX 600 wears a familiar look, albeit updated with thin, crisply designed lighting offset by a truly gargantuan spindle grille that lacks a frame, making it appear even larger. In contrast, the back of the vehicle is tastefully tame, spelling out the brand name and featuring visually connected tail lamps. Its handsome, dignified appearance quietly offsets the more outrageous front.
Inside, it feels somewhat less claustrophobic than before, with the requisite, if cliched, quilted leather seats, along with wood and aluminum trim. It’s appropriately upscale for a Lexus, but others offer more opulent cabins at this price. Still, the LX 600 has its share of special features, especially on the Ultra Luxury model.
It’s here where you’ll find seating for four, with center consoles front and rear, along with a reclining rear seat with ottoman that folds down from the back of the front seat. There’s also a rear seat monitor, good for watching movies and TV. It almost works. Adults can use it if they’re under 6 feet tall, and the monitors are great, but they aren’t equipped for wireless headphones.
The biggest change is the infotainment system, which has been totally redesigned. Drivers face an 8-inch digital instrument cluster, while a 12.3-inch infotainment screen and a 7-inch screen mounted below it for controlling climate and vehicle functions anchor the center stack. They prove far easier and more intuitive to use than the cumbersome system Lexus saddled its customers with for too many years.
“The infotainment has been a big issue for us in the past, and I think we've corrected it,” Shahani said.
Indeed, it was dreadful — and that’s being kind.
But the real performance most buyers want will come off-road, and that’s where the LX 600 shines, and why wouldn’t it? It’s basically a Land Cruiser that’s moved to a fancier zip code.
It’s body-on-frame platform feels like areal truck, something that electronics can’t fully mask, nor crossovers ever hope to meet. Take it off-road and you’ll notice just how large and wide this vehicle truly is, although it makes easy work of the most remote trails. The various cameras lend the driver a view of what can’t be seen from the driver’s seat, a feature common in this class.
Once you reach civilization, you’ll find it to be moderately good off the line on-road. It’s no neck-snapper though; Lexus says 0-60 mph takes 6.9 seconds. For most, that’ll be fast enough. Steering is nicely weighted if numb. Ride quality is good for a truck, but you’d never call it posh. As you’d expect in a body-on-frame vehicle, pock-marked pavement can send shudders through the vehicle, but that’s typical of the breed.
Overall, the LX 600 provides all of the capability of a Land Cruiser but is dressed for a night on the town. It’s as if your trail guide showed up for work in a tuxedo. If that doesn’t put you off, you’ll find the Lexus LX 600 to be a fine ride indeed.
Still, the disappearance of the Land Cruiser in the U.S. is a loss of brand equity of mammoth proportions. This is the vehicle that kept Toyota alive in the U.S. after the failure of the Toyopet in 1959 until the launch of the Corona sedan in 1965. It’s the brand’s longest-lived nameplate. Given that the 2023 Sequoia is using the same platform as the Land Cruiser, Lexus LX and the Tundra pickup, the Land Cruiser’s disappearance is a mistake.
Just ask Ford. They once sold a whole lot of Ford Tauruses.
2022 Lexus LX 600
Base price: $88,245
Engine: 3.5-liter twin-turbocharged DOHC V6
Horsepower/Torque: 409/479 pound-feet of torque
EPA fuel economy (city/highway): 17/22 mpg
Fuel required: Premium
Length/Width/Height: 200.6/W: 78.4/H: 74.6 inches
Ground clearance: 7.87 - 8.27 inches
Cargo capacity: 11-71 cubic feet
Towing capacity: 8,000 pounds
