The Japanese SUV With Land Cruiser Reliability And Range Rover Comfort
Love them or loathe them, SUVs are here to stay. While they’re one of the most recent kinds of cars to emerge into the market, they’ve easily become one of the most popular. One of the best of them is geared more towards the luxury end of the SUV market. It comes from outside of the typical regions associated with SUVs, and in many ways it’s actually better than the more ‘usual’ SUVs it competes with.
Luxury SUVs Are Now Highly Desirable
Luxury SUVs didn’t really exist 30-40 years ago. But now, they’re one of the most desirable types of cars on the market! It’s easy to understand why, too. Their combination of luxury, practicality and the ability to do anything from mild to serious off-roading has won a lot of people over. As a result, any luxury brand worth its salt needs to have an SUV option. That’s created some beloved cars (the Cadillac Escalade and the Lamborghini Urus) and some that aren’t so beloved (the Ferrari Luce and the Rolls-Royce Cullinan).
The Range Rover Is Still The Yardstick For Luxury SUVs… But It Has Its Problems
Out of all the luxury SUVs you can buy now, one of the ones that still reigns supreme is the car that started it all. That’s the Range Rover. While it’s always set the standard for comfort, luxury, and off-road ability, it’s always fallen short when it comes to reliability. The unreliability of Range Rovers is the subject of constant jokes and forum posts. It’s also heavily damaged Land Rover’s reputation at times.
With that unreliability, it’s understandable that people would look for alternatives to the Range Rover that’ll cause them less trouble with breakdowns. Thankfully, there are quite a few alternatives that exist. One of the best is a Japanese SUV that combines the superb comfort of the Range Rover with the legendary reliability of Japan’s most rugged off-roaders.
The J250 Lexus GX Is A Top-Of-The-Line Japanese SUV That Can Compete With Europe And America’s Best
The Lexus GX has been a staple of the luxury SUV market for a long time now. Essentially an upmarket version of the Toyota Land Cruiser, the Lexus GX takes everything that’s great about its Toyota sibling and makes it nice enough to properly compete in the luxury SUV space. The J250 model was introduced in 2024, and it’s one of the best Lexus SUVs to date.
Purists might be annoyed to know that the J250 GX doesn’t get a V8 like its predecessor did. The initial GX550 version has a 3.4-liter twin-turbocharged V6 instead, linked to a 10-speed automatic transmission. But, it’s no slouch. It produces 349 hp and 479 lb-ft of torque, significantly more than the 301 hp and 329 lb-ft of torque of the J150’s V8. That’s more than enough to get a big, luxury SUV seriously moving. That huge increase in torque is especially great for anyone who might want to take the J250 a bit further into the rough stuff, too.
It’s Full Of The Latest Tech
As you’d expect from a current-era luxury SUV, the J250 Lexus GX is packed with lots of the latest technology you could ask for. It’s got the same infotainment system that you can find on pretty much any Toyota or Lexus that’s in dealerships right now. It’s also got Lexus’s Safety System+ 3.0 installed as standard. This gives it a huge variety of advanced safety systems, including a pre-collision system, Risk Avoidance Emergency Steer Alert (which will help steer the car in an emergency to avoid pedestrians), and Protective Driving Assist (which will assist your driving to help you maintain distance from any vehicles, cyclists, or pedestrians in front of you).
It’s Available As A Hybrid
Part of the Lexus GX having all the latest tech you could ask for in a luxury SUV includes a hybrid option. This is known as the GX550h, and it’s powered by a 2.4-liter turbocharged inline-4 mated to an electric motor. That’s linked up to an 8-speed automatic transmission, instead of the 10-speed unit from the pure ICE version. This model is currently not available in North America. But Lexus did file a trademark for the GX550h in North America just this year. So, it’s very likely that it’ll be coming stateside soon!
It’s Not Just A Comfy Family Car
Considering that it’s a Lexus, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the J250 GX is just a big, comfy, luxurious family hauler. That’s something it is very good at. But, it’s able to do a lot more. Thanks to those Toyota Land Cruiser underpinnings, the Lexus GX really can put in the work when it’s needed for more utilitarian uses. It’s got all the off-road capability of its Land Cruiser sibling, especially in the off-road focused Overtrail and Overtrail+ trims. The non-hybrid GX550 also has a towing capacity of up to 8,000 lbs. Put both of those things together, and it’s definitely a car you should consider if you are going to end up spending a decent amount of time in the rough stuff. Or if you tow a boat or a trailer regularly.
It’s Almost Faultlessly Reliable
Perhaps the biggest draw to the Lexus GX compared to other luxury SUVs (and especially the Range Rover) is its reliability. Thanks to those Toyota Land Cruiser underpinnings, the GX has historically been a very reliable model. It regularly reaches the upper echelons of reliability surveys, and customers are usually incredibly satisfied with the level of service they get from Lexus when things do go wrong.
The J250 Lexus GX, however, hasn’t had an entirely rosy time with its reliability. It’s had a few early teething problems. One of those has been with that new powertrain. Like other Toyota and Lexus cars that use the new engine, it’s had problems with machining debris from the manufacturing process being left inside the engine. This issue, combined with the more complex nature of a twin-turbocharged V6 versus a naturally aspirated V8, has dealt the typically stellar reputation of Toyota and Lexus a rare hit.
Thankfully, several of these early teething problems seem to have been fixed by recalls. 2024 GX550s have been subject to four recalls so far, while 2025 GX550s have had two. Out of those recalls, the only ones that are incredibly serious (this includes the one involving the machining debris problem) have involved 2024 cars. So, if you do want to buy a J250 Lexus GX that’s a couple of years old, you should be OK. Just check to make sure the one you’re looking at has had all the appropriate recall work done.
Sources: Lexus, NHTSA
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