2022 Lexus GX 460: A very traditional trip to the beach

2022 Lexus GX 460 Luxury vs. Audi Q7 55 TFSI Quattro: Three rows, two drastically different approaches.

This week: Lexus GX 460

Price: $70,870 as tested. Multi-terrain monitor, $800; tow hitch, $655. More mentioned below.

Conventional wisdom: Car and Driver likes that it’s “able to tackle off-road trails, plenty of standard driver-assistance features, surprisingly hushed cabin,” but not the “uncomfortable rear seats, lacks cargo space with third row in use, dated design.“

Marketer’s pitch: The website doesn’t have any.

Reality: A trip back to another era.

What’s new: The growling-grilled GX large SUV has been around for a number of years without much change. A new version is on the horizon for 2023 or 2024.

Competition: In addition to the Q7 jousting next week, the GX 460 competes in a class that includes the Acura MDX, Land Rover Discovery, Lincoln Aviator, and sibling Lexus RX 350.

Up to speed: The GX 460 gets its power from a 4.6-liter V8 engine, and that power totals a strong 301 horses. The tall SUV reveals its heft when the accelerator is stomped, though, as 60 mph comes in a middling 7.2 seconds, according to C&D.

Shifty: A six-speed automatic transmission also emphasizes the traditional nature of this beast. Shiftability is not available.

On the road: As expected, highway travel in the GX 460 was a delight, mostly smooth and without any surprises. But some wavy spots on Route 202 in Tredyffrin and on Delaware 1 come through louder and clearer than I’ve felt in a long while.

Country road driving is not a real problem, as the GX 460 has good visibility, so narrower roads are as easy as they can be in a vehicle this size. There’s no real sense of sportiness, though, but you’re not buying this vehicle for fun. At least I hope not.

I did keep the GX 460 in Sport mode the whole time, which is how it arrived at my house. Though a Comfort mode is also available, nothing seemed uncomfortable about Sport mode.

Driver’s Seat: While most Lexii take the traditional route, the GX 460 goes full-on retro, with an array of controls and displays straight out of the first models tested here in 2011 or so.

And same can be good, when you feel the GX 460 seats, for instance, which were super comfy for a nice, long ride to Rehoboth Beach and back.

Friends and stuff: The comfort is not limited to the people up front. Though Sturgis Kid 1.0 and Sturgis Son-in-Law 1.0 ultimately opted to take their own car to the beach, I wanted to offer them the chance to ride along, so I tried out the middle and third rows and found them all to be equally comfortable and reasonably spacious.

Getting to and from the third row is the worst part of the experience, and still it’s not too bad. Some vehicles feel downright dangerous as you exit; this one simply reminds you of your hip and abdominal muscles as you move about the cabin.

The second-row captain’s chairs (part of the $2,020 Sport Design Package, which also added bigger wheels and other design touches) are roomy and comfortable, and Sturgis Kid 4.0 found them a nice ride, as well.

Space behind the rear row is really tight; Lexus calls it 4.6 cubic feet, which I think is maybe an underestimate. They also call cargo volume 64.7 cubic feet, which still may be slightly smaller than actual size.

Play some tunes: The Mark Levinson 17-speaker surround sound system ($1,145) provided clear playback, about an A-.

Lexus is throwing in the console-mounted touchpad still, and I’m ignoring it still, in favor of the touchscreen controls. Volume and tuning dials help, although they’re confusingly located underneath all-wheel-drive and downhill-control knobs, both modes I almost turned on while trying to operate the stereo. Oops. But at least Lexus gives owners a Land Rover-ish approach, with some heavy duty off-road capabilities.

Further evidence of the GX 460 traditional approach — there’s a CD player. The kiddies chuckle as they “watch TalkTicks,” or whatever they said.

Keeping warm and cool: The heater controls really win the throwback award. A pair of temperature toggles and a horizontal array of black buttons perform all heating and cooling maneuvers you need, but for this money I expect some level of dazzlement.

Retro fits: And here we learn that sometimes the old way of doing things wasn’t the most user friendly.

After we loaded up for our trip, we’d driven about five miles as Sturgis Kid 4.0 and I tried to cover up some continuous whining sound, until it drove us more and more batty. Finally the youngster found the issue — a third-row seat was not closed all the way, and this was Lexus’ idea of a “warning.” A warning for what? There is zero danger involved in a closed-up seatback left at a 1-degree angle rather than a 0.

Also, the swing-open rear door featured glass that can be opened like a liftgate with the remote. Helpful, I suppose, but either the glass wasn’t shutting all the way or something would slip into the doorway, and the only alert came when the GX 460 wouldn’t lock. Be careful walking away from this vehicle — I almost left it unlocked numerous times, which may have made for a sad vacation.

Fuel economy: The GX 460 tested has been averaging 16.1 mpg over hundreds of miles, according to the trip odometer, but that was with an average speed of 27 mph, on the low side.

Mr. Driver’s Seat averaged about 17 mpg during his high-speed trips. So this vehicle may actually have a real-world average of about 18 or so.

Feed it only the best, so every drop counts.

Where it’s built: Aichi, Japan

How it’s built: Consumer Reports predicts the GX 460 reliability to be a 5 out of 5.

Next week: Audi Q7