Now that we’re a few weeks into the new year and people have returned and recovered from their vacations, automakers are starting their onslaught of events and trips for new product reveals and drives. I’m headed off on my first trip of the year today, and it’s for one of 2024’s most anticipated new products: the genuinely all-new Lexus GX.
As with previous generations, the new GX is twinned with the smaller Toyota Land Cruiser Prado, which will be sold in the U.S. for the first time as just the Land Cruiser. While the U.S.-spec Land Cruiser is a hybrid with a turbocharged four-cylinder engine, the Lexus GX gets a twin-turbo V6 making 349 horsepower without any electric assistance. (A hybrid GX will come down the line.)
In addition to the wonderfully boxy exterior styling and the much-improved interior, which finally has competitive technology and luxury features like massaging seats, the new GX is offered in a new Overtrail trim that ups the ante when it comes to off-road capability. The Overtrail gets Lexus’ E-KDSS suspension system, an electronic locking rear diff, crawl control, all-terrain tires, off-road drive modes and more.
Lexus is hosting the first-drive event in Dove Mountain, Arizona just outside of Tucson, and we’ll be getting to drive versions of the GX both on the road and off of it. I think I’ll have a slightly unique perspective, as I’ve never really been a Land Cruiser or GX Guy, at least not when it comes to any of the SUVs that have come since the late ‘90s. The outgoing GX especially didn’t do it for me, but I’m really into how the new one looks, so I’m optimistic.
What do you want to know about the new Lexus GX? Let me know in the comments section below. Before I start driving the thing tomorrow I’ll try to answer as many in the comments as I can, and I’ll keep your questions in mind when I’m actually behind the wheel. The embargo for the first drive is in place until February 1, so you’ll have to wait until then for my full impressions.