2011 Lexus GX460: Smooth, capable and capacious

Written by Sally Sanders
Thursday, 28 July 2011 10:16

Eight years ago, we were treated to a sleek Jaguar XJ8 for our son’s wedding weekend. This year, another son took the plunge, and our wedding “wheels” came attached to a 2011 Lexus GX460. It proved to be a good choice.

The GX460 is a big, rugged sport-utility vehicle with a very large price tag: $60,454, with more than $6,000 in options that included a navigation system and other goodies. It wasn’t exactly a fuel miser, averaging 18 to 19 mpg for us and requiring premium gasoline. But it was up to the biggest job of the weekend: transporting, in style, comfort and safety, the bridegroom, four groomsmen and a flower girl from Bethel to the rehearsal in Middletown. Deprived of the big, seven-seat Lexus, we’d have had to dispatch the group in two conventional cars that would have gulped even more fuel, combined, than the Lexus did.

The similarly off-road-capable Range Rover we drove a few weeks ago has more style and personality, but the Lexus came up big in functionality. It’s a smooth-riding, quiet, luxurious SUV that handles competently, and its 301-horsepower V-8 engine is potent enough to motivate the 5,340-pound truck. With the power-folding rear seat upright, luggage capacity is negligible, but the GX460 provides up to 64.7 cubic feet of cargo room with the second and third rows laid flat.

The tailgate is hinged on the right side, with a glass panel that flips up.

The third seat accommodated adult passengers fairly well for short jaunts, putting it a cut above other SUVs’ third-row seats that are only good for children and pets. But it started to provoke complaints from passengers confined there for more than 45 minutes.

The GX is the second-largest of three SUVs produced by Lexus, Toyota’s upscale brand. Also offered are the LX, a very large SUV that seats eight and starts at $79,455; and the RX, a compact unit that seats five and is available with gasoline-saving hybrid power. It starts at $39,075. All have Toyota counterparts. The luxury full-sized SUV category is quite crowded, with Cadillac, Infiniti, Land Rover, Lincoln and Mercedes-Benz among the leaders.

With its body-on-frame construction, the GX is built to be driven in the dirt, yet it feels plush, secure and confident on pavement. It’s also one of the most reliable large SUVs, based on Consumer Reports magazine reader surveys. Crash tests haven’t been completed on this new model, redesigned for the 2010 model year. Consumer Reports issued a “Don’t Buy: Safety Risk” advisory in April 2010 because that year’s model had a tendency to fishtail during hard cornering, but Lexus made changes and the advisory was lifted in May 2010.

The GX460 is rather conventional, bordering on bland, but for the driver who demands both ruggedness and luxury, or may need to transport groomsmen hither and yon, it begins to make a lot of sense.

Steven Macoy ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) is a longtime car enthusiast and full-time editor who lives in Bethel.

Price: $60,454

Engine: 4.6-liter V-8, 301 horsepower, 329 lb.-ft. torque

Transmission: 6-speed shiftable automatic

Drive: All-wheel

Weight: 5,340 lb.

Ground clearance: 8.1 in.

Suspension: Independent double-wishbone front, four-link lateral rod rear

Wheels: 18x7.5-inch alloy

Tires: 265/60R18 all-terrain

Seating capacity: 7

Maximum cargo capacity: 64.7 cu. ft.

Towing capacity: 6,500 lb.

Fuel capacity: 23 gallons

Fuel economy: 15 mpg city, 20 mpg highway

Fuel type: premium