2025 Lexus GX550 Luxury review

03/23/2025 06:00 PM

2025 Lexus GX550 Luxury

The Lexus GX550 is a luxurious take on the hard-wearing Toyota Prado. It's worth explaining because, until now, the model hasn't been offered in Australia before.

But the latest generation – which shares its TNGA-F underpinnings with the Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series – is now on sale in Australia as of late 2024. It's been a popular choice for the American market for more than two decades, but its local introduction seems like a no-brainer.

Considering the Toyota Prado's success locally, it's little wonder that Lexus finally decided to bring the GX over to Australia.

It's very similar to the Toyota LandCruiser Prado (which also uses the TNGA-F platform) in more ways than one, but the key difference is what's under the bonnet. In place of Toyota's old 2.8-litre diesel four-cylinder, the GX gets a 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6.

We've sampled the entry-level version – geared more towards on-road use than off – to see whether it goes above and beyond what's already offered by the Toyota Prado.

How much is a Lexus GX550?

Lexus's new GX line-up is very simple – there's a base spec, an off-road one, and the luxurious range-topper.

Pricing begins at $116,000 for the entry-level GX550 Luxury (which is the car in question here), the off-road-leaning GX550 Overtrail costs $122,250, and the flagship GX550 Sports Luxury tops out at $128,200. All three prices are before on-road costs.

That said, all three are very well specified. Even the entry-level GX550 Luxury I had was kitted with an electric boot release, a 14-inch infotainment display, head-up display, power-adjustable seats with memory, a sunroof, electric-folding third-row seats, a locking centre differential, and tri-zone climate control.

Alternatives are out there – the Land Rover Defender 110 P400 X-Dynamic SE costs $114,165 before on-road costs, and Toyota's own LandCruiser Prado costs $99,990 in its most expensive form (Kakadu specification).

But all three versions of the car in question run a twin-turbo 3.4-litre V6 petrol engine that produces 260kW/650Nm, although Lexus markets this engine as a 3.5-litre. It's paired with a 10-speed automatic transmission and full-time four-wheel drive, plus goodies such as a drive mode selector, locking centre differential, and a set of 20-inch alloy wheels on the GX550 Luxury.

It misses out on the electronically controlled Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System, effectively a selectable anti-roll bar for the front and rear axles, and the smaller wheels with all-terrain tyres found on the Overtrail variant.

Seven seats are standard in the Luxury specification, as are a 360-degree camera system, LED lighting front and rear, three-zone climate control, heated and ventilated front seats, eight-way electric adjustment for driver and front passenger, driver’s position memory, a 14-inch infotainment display, head-up display and 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster.

MORE: Lexus GX550 price and specifications

Lexus GX550 best deals

You can start your Lexus GX550 purchase journey by visiting Drive Marketplace to view examples of this car for sale on dealership forecourts throughout the country.

Find your nearest Lexus dealer here to discover more about the Lexus GX550, or you can even spec your own car using the online configurator.

If you’re looking for more pricing, specifications, and latest offers on the Lexus GX range, click here.

How big is a Lexus GX550?

It's a solid step up into the cabin of the Lexus GX550 – this is a behemoth in terms of exterior dimensions. But it's not quite matched inside the cabin – especially in the second row. More on this later.

However, the front row is an easy place to get cosy. The big part-leather seats have a plush base and are incredibly comfortable – Lexus has always done a comfy seat – while the adjustability of everything is all electric.

In that vein, it feels like a luxurious car. But there are certain points around the front row that belie this GX's prestige positioning. Most surfaces are covered in soft-touch panels, but there is no design flair or contrasting inlays – it feels like a Toyota Prado that's been turned up to 11.

That's no bad thing – it's a functional and simple cabin to come to terms with, but it lacks the styling highlights found in other cars in the Lexus range, such as the NX medium SUV or the RX large SUV.

Some woodgrain-effect trim is found just in front of the gear shifter, though this treatment should be more prolific throughout.

One thing the front row is not short of is storage. There's a decent-sized centre console compartment, wireless smartphone charger, twin cupholders, a slot in the dash for small items, and good-sized slots in the door panels for bottles and snacks.

The second row isn't as comfortable as the front row. Although you get a nice high perch in which to look all around the cabin – and even out of the windscreen and windows – the leg room is limited and you can barely sneak a pair of shoes beneath the seat in front.

Head room is commendable, but the lack of leg room in the back seats is seemingly at odds with this car's exterior size.

Behind the centre console sit air-conditioning controls, USB-C ports, and heated outboard seat controls, while the rest of the area stocks map pockets, padded door panels, a fold-down centre armrest with cupholders, and light controls in the roof lining.

Although the Lexus GX lacks outright leg room, there is good space side to side, which means you should be able to go five-up without a worry.

Ingress to the third row is made simple with a latch that folds and flips the second row forward – this can be done on either side of the car.

The third row deploys electrically, which is a nifty trick, and space once you're in the third row is decent. I'm quite tall, but I could have spent a fair amount of time and not become too uncomfortable.

There are two USB-C ports to charge devices, air vents in the roof, and cupholders. The back seat passengers can also recline their own seats with a rocker switch.

The boot opens electrically when the full door is opened, but it's handy that you can simply pop open the glass portion with gas struts too.

You've got a relatively high load floor to contend with to load items in, but that's par for the course with such a large SUV. There's 171 litres of stowage capacity behind the third row, 949L behind the second, and a full 1875L with all seats flattened.

No real storage space is found beneath the boot floor, which is a shame, but the GX does have to fit those third-row seats somewhere when not in use. Nice touches include the 100-watt AC power outlet and switches that remotely fold the third row.

Does the Lexus GX550 have Apple CarPlay and Android Auto?

The 14-inch display running Lexus's infotainment suite is clear, bright and fast. I really like the way the brand has incorporated physical dials for tweaking the air conditioning, without impacting on overall screen size.

There's a dedicated band at the bottom of the display that's dedicated to air-conditioning functions, while the rest of the screen runs the main infotainment. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone mirroring take up this section when in use.

But Lexus's own software is simple and effective in its own right. The map displays from the satellite navigation system offer ample geographic information, the Bluetooth connectivity was simple, and the integrated digital radio worked a treat.

Switching between functions is made easy through shortcuts along the right-hand side of the screen, although I did wish for a standard home screen that had an overview of several systems simultaneously.

The driver's digital cluster is eminently customisable with a variety of graphics and dials. You can cycle between turbo gauges, g-meters, fuel economy data, vehicle angle readouts, and song track information too.

These varying gauges are found on either side of the central tachometer, which can change to a basic ADAS graphic itself.

It's not just the digital screen that's customisable, either. The driver can cycle through different information displayed on the head-up display so that you'll barely have to take your eyes off the road.

The Lexus GX can be connected via the Lexus Connected smartphone app so that owners can locate their vehicles in a busy parking lot, reserve service appointments, pre-determine the cabin's climate, or even monitor the car's fuel level.

Is the Lexus GX550 a safe car?

The Lexus GX is yet to have any crash-testing information or results posted by ANCAP or Euro NCAP.

That said, the platform-sharing Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series and Toyota Prado get a five-star rating each.

What safety technology does the Lexus GX550 have?

Every variant of the Lexus GX is kitted with a comprehensive level of safety equipment. In addition to nine airbags throughout the cabin, the GX stocks must-haves such as autonomous emergency braking (with pedestrian and cyclist detection in day or night) plus adaptive cruise control with lane-centring abilities.

In my time with the car, I was happy to have these systems on board. No one system interrupted my driving, and the helpful hand of the adaptive cruise control made freeway stints a breeze.

How much does the Lexus GX550 cost to service?

Much like other brands in Australia, all Lexus cars come with a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty in Australia.

That said, servicing costs are quite high. Particularly because Lexus will have you visit its dealership twice annually (six months or 10,000km) to keep its service records in check.

This renders it far more expensive to service than the Land Rover Defender over the same time period.

Insurance for a GX550 Luxury is set to cost $3239 per year as a comparative quote for a 35-year-old male living in Chatswood, NSW. Insurance estimates may vary based on your location, driving history, and personal circumstances.

This compares with a $2674 quote for the Land Rover Defender 110 X-Dynamic SE.

Is the Lexus GX550 fuel-efficient?

This is a large SUV with a large, twin-turbocharged engine – it's little wonder that the claimed fuel consumption is a relatively high 12.3 litres per 100 kilometres.

Unfortunately, I got nowhere close to the claim – at least at the beginning. I saw 24L/100km after a few days of running the GX550 around town. The last time I remember seeing something that high was out of an HSV GTS – yikes.

After a week spent driving this big rig around town, on freeways, and on country roads, I ended up with a 14.3L/100km fuel economy. This is far closer to Lexus’s claim.

The Lexus GX comes with an 80-litre fuel tank that accepts 95-octane premium unleaded as a minimum. This is an expensive car to refuel.

What is the Lexus GX550 like to drive?

The Lexus GX is unlike most other SUVs you'll find on our roads today, in that it leans more on its abilities as an off-roader and touring vehicle than being easy to live with every day.

It's a lumbering, big body to steer around town – you have to be careful traversing tight suburban streets, and the body pitches and rolls as you brake before an intersection.

The GX550 is a comfortable car – the suspension is pliant over speed humps and small imperfections do little to upset its stride around town. It's a loose-feeling car when you twirl it around a bend at a clip, but for everything else, the GX is a very easy car to tour in.

Lean on the throttle and the 3.4-litre twin-turbo feels very strong from low revs right up until redline. The 260kW/650Nm outputs feel eminently useable, and it's not like the power on tap is wasted at all.

There are a full 10 speeds to the automatic gearbox, which can be too much for some other cars to deal with (Ford's 10-speed can be indecisive), but the unit in the GX550 is quick to exact a gearshift, and it gets the ratio right every time.

Separate driving modes are called up using a dial on the centre console, plus a separate button provides a way to take off in second gear for slippery conditions.

With a vehicle so large, cameras become a very important partner in this day and age. The Lexus GX comes with a super clear 360-degree camera picture that provides great vision of what's going on around the car. I wouldn't say reversing the body into a perpendicular parking space is easy, but the cameras make it as easy as possible.

How much weight can a Lexus GX550 tow?

The Lexus GX550 comes with a 3500kg braked towing capability, the same you'll find on most other large SUVs with big motors under the bonnet.

While we didn't tow with the vehicle this time around, it does feel wholly capable of performing up to that limit. However, I'd be remiss not to imagine how much fuel it'd consume with something dragged behind.

The Lexus GX550 comes with a payload of 625kg – just enough to cater to seven adults weighing 87kg each.

Should I buy a Lexus GX550?

As an off-road-leaning alternative to the Lexus LX flagship, the GX fills a neat spot in Lexus Australia's line-up.

But, in taking the Prado’s ladder-frame chassis platform and applying a luxury spin, it feels like some areas weren't addressed in fine detail. And, fine detail is what you typically expect from Lexus.

The level of space in the second row is quite tight – especially given its imposing exterior – and some trims and panels feel too similar to a Toyota Prado.

The infotainment system and included off-road goodies are very helpful to have on hand and make up for other shortcomings inside the cabin.

The driving experience is one of comfort and capability, as long as you have off-roading in mind.

For around-town use, you could be better off saving some money and opting for a Lexus RX instead.

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