Lexus Australia upgrades LX flagship SUV line-up

SYDNEY: Lexus Australia’s flagship LX luxury off-road SUV now offers enhanced driver assist features, technology, specifications, and an additional grade choice for 2025.

There is a new adventure-ready five-seat Overtrail grade, which is focused on allowing LX customers to travel further off-road than ever before.

Standard front and rear locking differentials and 18-inch alloy wheels shod in chunky 265/70R18 Toyo Open Country all-terrain tyres underscore its credentials.

The Overtrail is further differentiated from its LX siblings by multiple black exterior touches and unique front and rear bumpers, along with its exclusive Moon Desert paint colour.

Inside, ‘Monolith’ olive-coloured stitching and Sumi Black ornamentation are unique to the Overtrail.

Also, all other LX grades gain improvements to enhance their respective levels of luxury.

The F Sport’s unique features include black mesh grille, front and rear bumper and black 22-inch alloy wheels.

The F Sport is the only member of the LX line-up to offer a rear Torsen torque-sensing limited-slip differential and performance dampers for better road holding.

Like the Sports Luxury, the F Sport now gains massaging function and four-way manually adjustable headrests for the unique F Sport front seats, with special sporty touches applied through the cabin to the steering wheel, shift knob, aluminium pedals and Takumi-inspired aluminium ornamentation.

The flagship of the LX range continues to be the VIP-grade, four-seat LX 600 Ultra Luxury, offered exclusively in petrol guise.

Now adding four-way adjustable front headrests (power adjustable for the passenger) and a second wireless smartphone charger in the front row to match the existing charger in the rear, the LX 600 Ultra Luxury provides more rear-seat comfort with two individual chairs separated by a rear centre console with a multimedia touch panel.

The Ultra Luxury seats feature heating, ventilation and massage function, exclusive quilting, larger headrests, 48-degree recline, two memory positions and a folding ottoman for the passenger-side rear seat, facilitated by sliding the front passenger seat forward.

The LX range continues to be offered with two twin-turbocharged and intercooled V6 engines in both petrol and diesel guise.

LX 600 grades employ a 3.5-litre twin-turbocharged petrol V6 developing a muscular 305kW at 5,200rpm and 650Nm from 2,000 - 3,600rpm, while the LX 500d’s 3.3-litre twin-turbo diesel engine develops 227kW at 4,000rpm and 700Nm from 1,600 - 2,600rpm.

Both engines are mated to a 10-speed automatic transmission, sending power to all four wheels via a full-time four-wheel drive system with a locking centre differential and low-range transfer case.

Every LX provides superb off-road capability with standard Active Height Control hydraulically adjustable suspension, Multi-Terrain Select, Multi-Terrain Monitor, Downhill Assist Control and Crawl Control.

Lexus Australia chief executive John Pappas said that the updated LX range is the perfect choice for customers seeking a blend of opulence, performance, comfort and go-anywhere capability.

“The Overtrail grade expands customer choice while the suite of enhancements across the board heightens the sense of luxury."

The addition of the Overtrail model grade brings the number of LX variants to 11.

The LX lineup opens with the generously specified seven-seat Luxury grade, which expands its extensive standard equipment with new active safety technology and upgrades to multimedia and comfort features.

The LX Pre-Collision System autonomous emergency braking technology is improved to now detect bicyclists at night, motorcycles during the day, and vehicles when crossing at an intersection

Acceleration suppression at low speeds may help prevent accidents from unintended throttle inputs, while the lane keeping feature now includes emergency driving stop system (EDSS) which is designed to bring the vehicle to a slow stop in the event of an emergency when the adaptive cruise control system is activated.

EDSS is facilitated through the use of a newly available driver monitor camera, offering facial recognition capability to set the vehicle up with customised user settings.

Safe exit assist is also offered, linking with the blind spot monitor to warn occupants of approaching vehicles and cyclists when exiting the vehicle.

Along with enhanced safety equipment, additional technology features include a new fully digital 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, replacing the existing 8.0-inch unit.

The inclusion of wireless Android Auto to the existing wireless Apple CarPlay provides easy connectivity.

Also, a USB-C port replaces the existing USB-A port, bringing the total number of USB-C ports throughout each LX to six.

Other enhancements to the LX Luxury include soft-close doors, a front HDMI port and a centre console cool box to help keep beverages cool on longer journeys.