2021 Lexus LX570 S review

Behold the Lexus LX570 S, its maker’s flagship luxury SUV and a brand devotee’s embodiment of indulgent success through excess. Or, through a different lens of another beholder, a bourgeois Lexified Toyota LandCrusier 200 Series, 13 years young in its generation and with one low-profile hoof in retirement’s pasture, brimmed with ordinarily optional kit as standard and sprinkled with its own inimitable S-for-sporting facade.

It is, at once, a mature homage to the past, a last call for a charismatic 5.7-litre petrol V8, a masculine plus-sized family hauler with eight seats, lashed with trinkets and stuffed with multi-terrain engineering, a missing link between the earth-salted appeal of its technical donor and the fancier ends of upper-large, upper-crust premium nameplates such as Mercedes-Benz GLS and Range Rover.

The big Lexus covers a lot of bases. So surely the measure of its mettle lies in the quality of individual cover and, indeed, whether or not they amalgamate cohesively and convincingly for the effect it strives headlong into.

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The S version is, at $168,767 before on-roads, essentially the regular LX570 ($146,636 list) with an optional Enhancement Pack ($18,800) bundled in as standard. The S exclusivity, though, arrives in the form of unique forged 21-inch wheels, grille, bumper skirts, badging, puddle lights, alloy pedals and ‘performance’ dampers for what’s a modest $3331 step up.

No matter how hard you squint, the LX570 S looks an on-road prospect. The likelihood you’ll spot one in the wild mulga threading rock and gum trees is slim despite how often Lexus uses ‘outback’ in its marketing.

That’s not to say it couldn’t tackle off-road driving. Ladder frame construction, height-adjustable air suspension, dual-range constant all-wheel drive, five-stage Crawl Control for the tricky stuff, selectable Multi-terrain Select smarts (Mud And Sand, Loose Rock, Mogul, Rock And Dirt and just plain Rock programs), 360-degree Multi-terrain Monitor camera system: its technical trick bag is primed for adventure.

It’s just that with those slim 50-profile tyres, polished rims, low-hanging bodykit and expensive gold-speckled Starlight Black paintwork, the LX570 S isn't exactly dressed for bush-bashing...

No matter how hard you squint, the LX570 S looks an on-road prospect.

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Credentials apart, its 2.74 tonnes of steamrolling ostentation fits the boulevard bruiser mould more comfortably, a plus-sized muscle car afforded by the naturally aspired 5.7-litre 3UR-FE V8 heartbeat. Doing service in LX570 (and Land Cruiser 200 in some markets) since 2007 globally, the largest Lexus engine on offer is as iconic and crucial a drawcard to the package as it is, frankly, lazy, thirsty and fast approaching its use-by date.

It generates 270kW fairly shy of 6000rpm and needs 3200rpm on board to muster up its 530Nm peak, paltry specific outputs by contemporary measure, with a sobering 14.4L/100km combined consumption figure spiralling north to 20.2L/100km urban. Claimed.

Sensibility wriggles into the equation by way of a 138-litre fuel capacity – 93L main and 45L secondary tanks – for practicable touring range though, really, you’re buying into the smooth-spinning, low-register thunder the mighty bent eight brings in celebration of every trip to the shops for bread and milk.

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Good vibes, perhaps, but the Lexus LX570 S’s ambitious smorgasbord approach to appeasing sporty, muscular, body-lugging, off-road-savvy, luxury indulgence leaves it short of setting benchmarks for any of it, though it remains an interesting if hardly flawless cocktail under a critical lens.

Case in point is the powertrain, conspicuously old-school in DNA if polished to within a micron of its life to yield a decent facsimile of new-world premium-badged refinement, if with a faintly agricultural edge. That not necessarily a bad thing in context: strangely enough, there’s a sense of toughness that brings a reassuring feeling of bulletproof purpose to the beast. It’s no pillar of slickness though, equally, not uncouth or unnecessarily raucous.

There are six on-road drive modes – Eco, Comfort, Normal, Sport S, Sport S+ and Customize – and perhaps suspiciously so, as if laying on options offers something glove-fit to personal tastes.

Options in the milder half of the mode range are generally uncommitted enough in engine verve and transmission calibration to not elicit much favour, though all are realistically shades apart in differentiation.

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That said, opting for the Sport powertrain setting in the configurable options brings tempered response, massages the V8’s mojo nicely and rids the eight-speed auto of general recalcitrance and low-speed slap.

Sink the right foot and the V8’s reaction is crisp, though without forced induction it doesn’t follow through with much of an undertow of heady torque. Its disinterest in high-rpm delivery and mass-blunted enthusiasm leaves it feeling a bit like a decent turbo-six dubbed with a mildly seductive low-register soundtrack. But dial the heat down and, flexibility wise, it feels like a genuinely large engine at a dull and muted growl.

Similarly, the ride and handling package roams around a nondescript middle ground that’s not particularly sporty, comfort laden or certifiably off-road-like, regardless of chosen drive mode, its air suspension primarily focused on not dropping balls rather than returning measured excellence.

The V8’s reaction is crisp, though without forced induction it doesn’t follow through with much of an undertow of heady torque.

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But while the Lexus LX570 S does loll about on its chassis to a degree, the double A-arm front and solid-axle four-link rear foundations offer reasonable discipline and body control, neatly sidestepping annoying floatiness of wobble and settling swiftly beyond bumps. It’s clearly at its most confident smothering big hits with a wheel control that irons out lumpy landscapes.

Problem is, the primary ride is excessively jiggly and fidgety, the dampers – fancy sport jobs or not – struggling to control the hefty 21-inch wheel mass. Tyre slap from the 275mm footprint is pronounced and the suspension is prone to thuds and knocks in the sportier setting. Lexus has done a fine job of buffing out most noise and vibration and its flagship SUV is in most respects a class act of serenity, it’s just that the ride foibles do blot the comfort copybook around town or as a fluster-free grand tourer, surely a primary role for a machine such as this.

Despite cooperative variable-rate steering and reasonable inherent body control, that sporty pretension doesn’t seep much below this SUV’s polarising skin. The sheer inertia of thing is downright confronting and not something to be trifled with. And thus, that innate sense of towering command sat behind the wheel, less on stilts and more a sort of cruising altitude, suddenly and alarmingly diminishes with pursuits of foolhardy corner carving.

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It's tough to judge the extremities of its high-riding form – that grille, those kerb-wary rims, those tacked-on bumper skirts – and its 11.8-metre turning circle is yacht-like. It’s not that the LX570 S is too much Lexus for inner-city big smoke, it demands a circumspect approach, particularly parking, where the grainy fish-eyed reversing camera and quaint overhead viewing offer only moderate assistance.

The conspicuously mature LX copped a big update in 2015 – lots of sheet metal changes, a significant cabin revamp – but climbing (literally) inside is a step back in time, a combination of old Lexus design applied to even older foundations that, like aged wine and cheese, finds favour with some tastes. Remember the button-frenzied Noughties? It’s right here. Forgot about that woeful blight on infotainment interfacing that was the Lexus console joystick controller? It lives…

Despite the elaborate kitsch, the SUV cabin is a mixed and not necessarily congruent bag. The reddish Garnet semi-aniline leather-accented trim and Shimamoku Grey inlays are flagship exclusives, the former impossibly supple to touch, the latter glossy ‘woodgrain look’ fakery that strangely migrates from the dash to the steering wheel rim. The Takumi-sewn stitching framing the acres of soft-touch surfacing is inspired, though less so the satin metallic-look detailing outing itself as plastic to the touch.

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It lays features on thick, though the user experience brings equal doses of satisfaction and frustration.

There’s a chilled console bin large enough of a half-dozen small bottles but nowhere to store keys or oddment; there’s an ad-hoc inductive phone charging pad that makes a weird whirring noise; there’s an analogue clock and a DVD player but no Apple or Android smartphone mirroring, perhaps technically hamstrung by the old non-touchscreen infotainment format with its dreaded Remote Touch joystick, an interface so clunky and distracting that it’s amazing it managed to crawl out of Lexus R&D.

Resplendent centre stage is a large 12.3 display screen and while it ticks the functionality boxes it, like much of the LX window dressing, is patently old hat. Kudos, though, to the four-zone climate control system, with roof-mounted ventilation extending through all three rows.

Despite the elaborate kitsch, the SUV cabin is a mixed and not necessarily congruent bag.

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It’s an eight-seater, if perhaps a realistic seven-seater with any concession to third-row occupancy and designed more as a six-seater given the strong plus-two leanings of the second-row seating and the fact the rear climate controls are located in the centre armrest.

Row two’s 40:60-split seat format power adjusts to balance legroom throughout the cabin but all rear positions are short on legroom with all seats filled, though the high bases and low windows afford great outward viewing for kids.

The rear proprietary entertainment system, though, is achingly passé: grainy passive screens, wired headgear, a sold HDMI source port and a single 12-volt outlet for power. Largely redundant addenda, then, given most rear passengers will surely dive for slicker portable tablets and Bluetooth headphones faster than they can ask “where are the rear USB ports?” of which this SUV provides none to those beyond row one.

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Third-row access is decent as row two flips forwards rather than stowing flat, the rear bench fitting three slim kids at a tight pinch. This seat assembly folds manually and flips sideways electrically, into either side of the boot space, using a control pad in the rear wall. On theme, the split rear door offers a mix of powered hatch and manual tailgate.

The load space is generously tall – floor to ceiling – but compromised in load width and depth depending on whether you’re in a five- (1085L) or two-seater (1962L) configuration, while it’s a handy 349L with all seats in play.

As an extra-large luxury SUV it functions effectively indeed, though its ageing LandCruiser 200 roots prescribe and somewhat impinge upon packaging practicality and flexibility. It’s not nearly as smart or comfortably roomy as, say, the smaller if more contemporary Audi Q7, which I happened to have climbed out of prior to my stint in the LX570 S.

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The big Lexus never barged its way through the ANCAP auspices, though the related LandCruiser 200 did strike up five stars in an assessment old enough to nudge puberty (tested 2011).

Regardless, the LX570 S casts a wide safety blanket to cover most contingencies, including 10 airbags with curtain protection extending through all three rows. The AEB system is camera- and radar-based with pedestrian detection, cruise control is adaptive, and the lane-departure, blind-spot and rear cross-traffic systems provide alerts of impending misfortune if without any avoidance intervention. One highlight, though, is the superb illumination of the LED headlight system that brings adaptive high-beam and wide-angle cornering smarts.

You get four years of warranty capped at 100,000km while basic servicing wants for $495 a pop, though the intervals are six-month/15,000km terms so double that outlay and off-the-road inconvenience per annum. Capped pricing extends through the first three years only.

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It’s easy to find threads to pull in the LX570 S details but close inspection focus fails to recognise the bleeding obvious viewed from 50 paces. It’s a celebration of more-is-more excess. Whether you consider it a beauty or a behemoth, the biggest Lexus on any block commands attention – or, at least, a strong reaction.

The LX570 S is more about combined effect than individual merits or flaws in individual disciplines. And while it isn’t the smartest, most focused or most contemporary response to many of the aims it sets out to fulfil, it’s a distinctive amalgamation quite unlike anything else out there right now and indeed for not that much longer. That it forges its own inimitable path is key to the effusive charm of the thing.

Lexus LX570 S Specifications