World's best luxury SUV 2022 Lexus LX600 Ultra Luxury walkaround review
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00:00G'day, I'm Paul. So have you been waiting for a Land Cruiser but kind of don't
00:04want to wait any longer? Well you might have another option now and that is the
00:08Lexus LX. It's based on the 300 series Land Cruiser but has a whole lot of
00:12luxury stuff in it and Lexus has gone super upmarket with this latest version
00:17of the LX. Now today I'm going to give you a quick walk around of this and run
00:21you through some of the features of the car before we drive it a little later on
00:24but I'll give you as much detail as I can, especially on this one here. This is
00:28the top spec, it's called the Ultra Luxury. It's got four seats so it's like
00:32a proper limousine style thing. Now this competes with things like the new
00:36Range Rover, the Mercedes-Benz GLS and ironically the Toyota Land Cruiser as
00:42well. If you do want to skip ahead to other parts of this walk around you can
00:45use the time codes on the screen or if you're on YouTube you can scroll down
00:48and use the chapters below and if you haven't done so already subscribe to our
00:53channel and press the bell icon because that's going to tell you every single
00:56time we're in a very white echoey room. Let's talk about design. So the exciting
01:02news about the LX for Australia is that we won't just be locked into the diesel.
01:06We're going to get the LX 600, we're also going to get the diesel version as well.
01:10So instead of you know the situation we have with the Land Cruiser where you
01:14only have a diesel option available we can actually go down the path of petrol
01:17here which is exciting news for me because I do love the diesel in the Land
01:21Cruiser but I think having a petrol option as well will be pretty cool. Now
01:25typical Lexus design in the sense that you have this enormous grille. In fact
01:30this is probably the biggest grille I've ever seen but I have mentioned in our
01:33previous Lexus reviews that they actually sport a big grille nicely. It's
01:37not like BMW that has the big grille and it just looks a little bit strange. This
01:41really just blends in nicely with the front there. They've done a great job with
01:45the colour scheme as well. It's got that sort of brushed look on the front there,
01:48the big Lexus logo and then a number plate surround just down the bottom
01:52there as well. So I think that Lexus has gone down the stylish path with this and
01:56you've got to consider that if someone does want something that is hardcore and
02:00off-road friendly they will go down the path of a Land Cruiser whereas this it
02:04kind of splits the two differences. You've got off-road capability but it
02:08also looks stylish and classy a bit like a Range Rover does and I think that's
02:12the market they're going for with this. Jump over here to the headlights. So this
02:16uses what Lexus calls blade scan technology so it's effectively a matrix
02:22LED headlight so when you are driving down the road you're able to run these
02:26in high beam without dazzling other drivers. We've actually shot a video
02:30explaining how this stuff works and comparing headlight technologies. You can
02:33watch that by clicking up there. You've got an LED daytime running light in
02:38there and also a LED indicator. Headlight washers here as well so if you do any
02:42off-road driving these are going to be great for blasting mud and all the sort
02:45of debris that you can get over your headlights. Often it will come in over
02:49these top sections under the bonnet and then coat the headlights so it is
02:52important to have a washer there to get rid of all that stuff as you go and then
02:56you have cooling down the side and also across the bottom there. Have a look at
03:00these wheels. These are absolutely enormous so 22 inch alloy wheels and the
03:06interesting thing is they're on a decent profile tire so they don't look gaudy or
03:10out of place and that's I think important because you don't want to be
03:13driving around in your Lexus having these giant chrome wheels. This actually
03:16looks really nice and classy. It's got that sort of brushed finish on it. You've
03:20got the Lexus logo in the center there. Black brake calipers in the Land Cruiser
03:24they're not colored so here at least they look a little bit different with
03:28Lexus branding on them as well. This also has adaptive suspension and height
03:32adjustable suspension so it does mean that you can, while you're driving, move
03:36the height up and down. It's useful for off-road driving and also for access
03:40height as well. You can lower it a little bit to make getting in and out of
03:43the vehicle easier. With the Land Cruiser, certainly for Australia, you can only get
03:47adaptive suspension on one of the grades and you can also only get e-KDSS on
03:52one of the grades but as we've discovered previously it doesn't actually work all
03:56that well in terms of handling so I think it's good that they've got a, I
04:00guess, a better more luxury focus system in place here for the LX. Jump up here
04:05with the wing mirror you've got that chrome element along there with body
04:09coloured top and bottom. You've got a camera built into there as well so this
04:12is for the 360 camera but also for the multi-terrain mode as well. So you would
04:17have seen with some of our previous Land Cruiser reviews that off-road cameras
04:20are important for being able to actually trek off-road and these are able to
04:24stitch an image together so you can actually see what's happening under the
04:27car as you drive over obstacles. So given it is such a big car you want to have as
04:31much vision as you can while you are driving off-road. Indicator built into
04:35there as well and then you have more of that chrome garnish along the windows
04:38and then you've got a chrome finish as well on the roof rails. A little
04:42disappointed with the side steps, they're sort of a plastic finish. I would have
04:46loved to see something like the Maybach GLS that has steps that come out of the
04:50side or at least just something that looks a little bit better than just a
04:52you know bit of a scratchy plastic finish on there. Privacy glass and then
04:57come around to the back. So this is probably what I love about the modern
05:01Lexus right, so LED lights that run along the back here. We saw it in the NX that
05:07we recently tested and I think it's it's subtle but effective in the way
05:10that it works. So you can see just really highlights how wide and pronounced that
05:15rear end is. The Lexus lettering looks fantastic as well, again it's it's subtle
05:19enough but really sort of sits there nicely and and pronounced. Full LED
05:23taillight cluster, so in addition to that center section that runs all the way
05:27along, this is all LED including this bottom section here. So I don't know, LED
05:32just is really nice and premium especially on a vehicle like this and
05:35it just confuses me why some manufacturers still use like a mix of
05:39LED and incandescent globes. This is just the optimum way to go about it. So
05:44badging, LX 600. I mentioned earlier you do get the two variants available, the
05:48diesel and the petrol, so they will have different badges down there depending on
05:51which one that you choose. So this comes standard as well like the Land Cruiser
05:54with a wiring harness for the the tow bar, so that means all of this is ready
05:58to configure and install the tow bar on. I like the way they've concealed this a
06:02little better than on the 300 series, it just looks neater there, you've got a
06:06different color there to the body and in fact you've got the body color there,
06:09this is like a bit of a matte finish and then it comes down to this bottom
06:13section. Your reverse light is built into there as well so it doesn't sort of sit
06:17within that main cluster. The one thing you will notice up here is shark fin
06:21aerial up the top but also this camera here, so the rear vision camera is just a
06:25regular camera but also is digital as well, so as this wipes across it clears
06:31debris off that so you always have good vision at the rear of the car. Now let me
06:36know in the comments section below what do you think about the design of the LX,
06:39do you think it looks better than the Land Cruiser and if you are on the
06:42waitlist for a Land Cruiser are you going to consider maybe upgrading to one
06:46of these because you'll probably get it a little bit quicker. So we're inside the
06:49LX, let's start off with the key, so here it is here you've got lock, unlock, boot,
06:55you've got a panic button, little Lexus logo down the bottom there, this sort of
06:59metallic trim and then on the back a Lexus logo as well. So it's a push-button
07:03start so you leave that in your pocket, once you're inside you have a start
07:06button up here. The start button is interesting though because it has a
07:10little fingerprint reader on it so you can register up to 10 fingerprints on
07:13that and that will basically authenticate you as the owner of the car
07:16and also then set your preferences so whether that's seating, mirrors, that kind
07:20of thing, it's all done just as you push your finger on that. So clever setup and I
07:24think that it is I guess a good way to get around the key issue, it means you
07:28can share a key with your partner and you don't need to then worry about
07:31configuring all your settings once you get inside the car. Now in terms of the
07:35design you'll notice that this looks I guess completely different to the Land
07:38Cruiser and that's what I like about this. I was a bit worried it was going to
07:41be just a clone of the Land Cruiser in terms of the interior layout but typical
07:45Lexus they've gone to town on luxury. So you've got these soft touch finishes
07:49along the dashboard all the way down the centre console, the roof has this, I don't
07:55know what it is, it's like a felt finish to it and it just really looks high-end
07:58and premium. You can't mistake this for anything other than a Lexus, so Toyota
08:03Toyota slash Lexus have done a great job differentiating the two of them. You also
08:07notice a different layout for the screen, so you've got a big infotainment screen
08:10up the top plus a secondary screen beneath it. So I'll run you through all of
08:13that in just a second and I do like as well the open-pore wood trim around the
08:18cabin, it looks really nice and classy and it removes any obvious notion of
08:23piano black which is great news. Now what about your touch points? So that is nice
08:28and soft and it is soft on the door as well. How soft are they? Well we've got
08:32our durometer, we've tested the main surfaces in this cabin. If you want to
08:35see how this car compares to others that we've tested before have a look at the
08:38link in the description. Build quality, everything feels incredibly solid inside
08:44the cabin here so if you are spending this kind of coin it is all going to
08:48feel like it will stand the test of time. And finally our door test, sounds
08:54really nice and solid. It also has a self-closer on the door so it will suck
08:59the door in if you don't close it all the way and I also love as well, very
09:03quickly, the windows. So as you put them up they slow down as they tuck into that
09:09spot up the top there, so pretty cool setup. Let's talk infotainment, so I
09:13mentioned earlier that there is a big departure from Toyota's infotainment
09:17system here and I think that's a good thing because, I don't know, after driving
09:20a few land cruises now I kind of don't really like that infotainment system.
09:24It's good but it is just a little bit clumsy in terms of how it works. So the
09:28Lexus uses the new Lexus infotainment system so it's a 12.3 inch
09:32widescreen display up the top there. It is a color touchscreen, you can migrate
09:36between the menus by using the touch on the display there so it's a really nice
09:39setup, very easy to use and actually quite intuitive. This also has remote
09:45connectivity so you'll be able to connect to the car using a phone
09:48application similar to the rest of Lexus products and that means you also get the
09:51SOS function up the top here so if you do have a car accident you're able to
09:54hit that and it will then dial emergency services on your behalf. In terms of
09:58smartphone mirroring you have both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. I'll show you what
10:02Apple CarPlay looks like, there it is, so massive display there, it's ultra sharp as
10:06well, very quick and easy to use, that's a wired system and this is what Android
10:11Auto looks like, so again nice full screen integration, very snappy too, so
10:18really impressive setup there. I love the way that looks, that is very sharp. Also
10:22has inbuilt satellite navigation just natively within its own ecosystem. You
10:26get AM, FM, DAB, digital radio. Now, are you seated? I hope so. 25 speaker Mark
10:34Levinson sound system, that is incredible. I think everywhere you look there are
10:38speakers so it is a huge speaker count and typically in Lexus products the Mark
10:42Levinson sound system is excellent and I think this will be absolutely no
10:45exception but we will wait until we get a chance to test that. Now beneath that
10:49display you have a 7-inch display, now this is where you control some of the
10:52vehicle's four-wheel drive settings. You can see exactly what the car is doing in
10:55terms of its off-road modes, so you can see here you've got your pitch and
11:00roll angles, brake and accelerator, this is where you can engage turn assist, that
11:04technology that tightens up the turning circle. You can then also move through to
11:08climate control menus while you do still have manual controls down the
11:11bottom. This allows you to flick between those different settings including the
11:14option of just limiting air conditioning to the front row and stopping it in the
11:18second row and change the colors as well. So yeah I like that setup, it's nice and
11:22clean, sharp screen, quick and easy to use and just fuss-free with the backup of
11:27actual buttons which is good to see. Head of the driver is a slightly larger LCD
11:31display so that gives you your tachometer and also your critical
11:34functions for off-roading. It then has analog gauges on either side as well.
11:38Let's talk about safety technology, so you have autonomous emergency braking
11:43that works at low and high speed, detects pedestrians and cyclists, you have reverse
11:47AEB as well, blind spot monitoring in the form of a little indicator there on the
11:52wing mirror, you have a lane departure warning and a quasi lane keeping
11:56assistant, radar cruise control, you also have rear cross-traffic alert. While you
12:01have front and rear parking sensors and a 360 camera, I'll show you that in just a
12:04second, this is where you're able to see your digital rearview mirror. So it uses
12:08a camera on the back of the car to look out the back, so you can just use the
12:11standard mirror if you want or the digital display, whichever one you prefer.
12:14This is what the 360 camera looks like. So you can see the 360 camera there, the
12:19quality is really great and then you have views down the front of the car.
12:21You also then have a button down here that you can hit that then gives you
12:25more capability and then also the ability to look at your multi-terrain
12:29camera as well. Keep in mind we are in a white room here, it's a studio so you
12:33obviously can't see much on that display. Hey, by the way, before we actually get a
12:37chance to drive this, we've shot a number of videos on the new Land Cruiser, so if
12:41you do want to check out those, scroll down to the link in the description below.
12:44We've got all of them there for you to pick from. Let's talk about practicality
12:49and we'll start off with your charging options. So you have one USB C charger
12:52down the front here, one USB A charger and then a 12-volt outlet. Now normally
12:57you would have a wireless phone charger here, but on the ultra luxury spec it is
13:01in the second row, so there is no wireless phone charging here. But in
13:04terms of storing your phone, it can sit there or inside the cup holders if you
13:08want. How big are our cup holders? Well we've got a coffee cup here that fits in
13:13nicely there without the risk of losing your lid. Same story with the bottle, that
13:17goes in nicely. You've got teeth there to hold it in place and then the bottle
13:20fits inside the door, but from memory on the Land Cruiser it doesn't fit larger
13:25bottles inside the door. What about the rest of your storage? Well you've got a
13:28little nook just here for keys and coins and that type of thing. This center
13:33console opens both ways, so you can go that way or that way and then when you
13:36do open it you have a little coin tray just there and then a fridge to keep
13:41your champers nice and cool. I've got a glove box down the bottom here as well,
13:46pretty tiny actually. Once you get rid of the first aid kit there really isn't a
13:51great deal of room in there, especially with the manual, but you do have a
13:55sunglasses holder up the top. Now what about your comfort? Well you have dual
14:00zone automatic climate control up the front, then you also have heated and
14:04cooled seats for your front row, a heated steering wheel as well. Now on the
14:08comfort front with the seats, love this design. So big bulky seat, you have the
14:13quilted finish which is unique to the ultra luxury spec as is this interior
14:18color and this particular wood grain trim. Big Lexus logo in the headrest just
14:23there. In terms of the seat adjustments, you have 10-way power adjustment for the
14:26driver's seats, you can go forwards, backwards, backrest can go forwards,
14:29backwards, you have a stack of lumbar adjustments as well and then also this
14:33bottom section. You have memory for the driver but you can also control the
14:37passenger seat from the driver's seat as well, which is a very handy feature.
14:41Steering wheel adjustment is tilt and reach and electric. I love the steering,
14:45has this open pawl wood grain in it as well which is cool and then on our reach
14:50test, this all feels easy to reach but it's just these outer edges of the
14:54screen that are probably just a little bit of a pull away from the driver. So
14:57the second row, now this is where in the ultra luxury version you're gonna have
15:01all of your fun because this is literally the definition of ultra luxury.
15:05So in terms of legroom, you've got stacks of knee room just as standard, heaps of
15:09toe room and headroom is pretty good as well but then all the fun begins. So I'm
15:14gonna run you through the stuff on the roof. I love this, kind of reminds me of
15:16the A380, you've got these little things here that move around with the lights
15:21inside them, then you have air vents up the top here and also down the bottom as
15:24well. So you are sort of fully catered for when it comes to cooling and also
15:28light if you need to be doing any work and that kind of thing. Ahead of both of
15:32your rear seat passengers are these screens. These are actually quite clever
15:35because they use a DLNA system, you can do mirror casting as well and they're a
15:40touchscreen too. I can control all the audio from back here and then I can also
15:44play whatever I want through HDMI if I want to as well. So pretty good setup,
15:48you've got wireless headphones as well that interact with those and then you
15:52have manual controls just beneath them as well. So I like this, tilts too, so if
15:56you do want a little bit of a different angle on that, that is easy enough to do.
15:59So air vents down here, you've got then further storage just here that includes
16:04two USB C ports and a HDMI outlet. Behind that you've got a little bit more
16:09storage for nooks and crannies. In here you've got two cup holders so your
16:14bottle can go into there, you've got teeth as well. As we work our way back
16:19this is where your wireless phone charger is. Similar story to the front
16:22there, so you can open this from both sides. Once you do open it you've got
16:26another two USB C outlets and then a stack of storage in there as required.
16:30This is where all the fun happens, so I can control the audio through this central
16:35screen or the screen ahead of me just here and that can be for both the front
16:39of the car or the left and the right, so you have full control over everything.
16:44Then if you jump back through climate menu I can have heated and cooled seats
16:48running. I also have ventilation for the two outside seats as well, including
16:53heating. Then if we go to the next menu, the seat. Now watch this, so with one push
16:58of this button here what we're able to do is recline the seat all the way back.
17:03It moves the passenger seat out of the way, so obviously if you have a passenger
17:07there it's not going to work, but that disappears out of the way and then you
17:11can kick back and relax. Like this is literally the definition of ultra
17:17luxury, so if you are the type of person that perhaps doesn't want to drive all
17:20the time but does want to relax and take it easy, this is going to be the ultimate
17:24setup for you. You can then control the passenger seat here as well, so if you do
17:29want to bring that back a touch you can do that. You really have all levels of
17:33control within that central display and then to cap it all off you can do a
17:37massage, you have a bunch of them there to choose from. So pretty awesome setup
17:41back here and I think that when you look at this car compared to something like a
17:45Range Rover, the old Range Rover was feeling really dated, there is a brand
17:48new one coming and I'm hoping they've addressed the size issues because this
17:51actually is plenty of room for me to stretch out. I found with the Range Rover
17:55unless you went with a long wheelbase there just wasn't enough room in there.
17:58So yeah this is a pretty cool setup and I am looking forward to us testing this
18:02car so I can actually sit in the back for once and just chillax instead of
18:05having to do all the driving.
18:09Now let's talk cargo space, so obviously your four-seat configuration does
18:14penalise you a little bit on cargo space but it's actually still not that bad. So
18:18you've got around 800 litres of cargo space to work with here in the
18:22four-seat configuration. If you do go down the path of just the five-seat LX
18:27without this sort of luxury setup, it's around 1,100 litres, so gives you an
18:31idea of the difference but as you can see there's still plenty of room there.
18:34So show you what it looks like with the bags in, so laptop in there and then
18:38we've got our Pelican case just there, so still stacks of room in there. Now if we
18:43get those out of the way, you've got a power socket over here on the left-hand side,
18:48so it's not a huge socket, 100 watts so barely any sort of power coming out of
18:52that but it is a 220 volt outlet. Under the floor here you've got a little
18:58repair kit, you've got a warning triangle, not a great deal of storage though. Your
19:02spare tyre, I'm sure you're wondering where that is, that's located under here,
19:05it's a full-size spare, also next to the world's biggest exhaust. You've got
19:09clips down here to tie things down. Over on the left-hand side you've got a jack
19:14to lift the car and then on the other side it's a set of relays and fuses, so
19:18not a bad space here and obviously you can't get rid of the second row of
19:23seats, so that that's why they've got this little partition here because they
19:27can recline all the way down just next to your cargo blind.
19:35So it's been your first look at the new Lexus LX4 Australia. Now we didn't know
19:40pricing when we started filming this but we will know it by the time it goes live.
19:43I know it's a little bit confusing so you can see the pricing up on the screen
19:46there. So obviously it's more expensive than a Land Cruiser but justifiably so,
19:50especially in this four-seat configuration. We're really excited to
19:53drive this because, well more so the the petrol, just to see how it compares to
19:57the diesel that's currently available in the Land Cruiser. So let me know if you
20:01have any questions in the comments section below. Is there anything in
20:03particular you want us to show you when we do finally get behind the wheel? Let
20:06me know what your thoughts are on the design and the pricing and all that kind
20:09of thing as well for the Australian market. Now if you did enjoy this video
20:12please make sure you hit the like button, share it with your mates and if you
20:15haven't done so already, subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon. But,
20:18until next time, take it easy.