Northern Colorado Gazette

By Stu Wright

An elegant 2013 Lexus GX460 was dropped off at my house last week, and I quickly grabbed it for a trip to the coffee shop.  Lexus is the luxury division of Toyota, and has been producing the GX series of SUVs since 2002.  This one was painted Fire Agate Pearl, a dark metallic brown.  Inside, it featured black leather deluxe upholstery with comfy buckets and seating for seven.  The guys at the coffee shop were eager to come outside and inspect the Lexus.

This GX is pretty big, weighing 5,246 lbs. and extending out to 189.2 inches in overall length.  It’s 73.8 inches tall and the same in width.  I mentioned the seven passenger capability, which required a little double leather seat that folds down into the floor in the way back.  When these seats are up, there exists no luggage space, but when collapsed into the floor (power), you can obtain 64.7 cubic feet of space when folding up the middle bench seat, as well.  The back door swings out toward the curb and has a glass window that opens in it.  All packaged up and out on the road, this vehicle rides firmly, and the driver has three adjustments that can be made to the suspension.

Although not at the top of the Lexus SUV lineup (the LX is), my test car had a base M.S.R.P. of $58,240.  A navigation/stereo system added $3,930 to the base, intuitive parking assist added $500, a pre-collision package added $3,170, and the freight added $875, bringing total list price to $66,715.  Stereo equipment was Mark Levinson with 7.1 Dolby surround sound and 17 speakers.  The GX had the radar/cruise control that I’ve grown so fond of, allowing Ruth and I to get on the Interstate at Loveland and cruise to Flatiron Crossing Mall without touching the brake.  You just steer the vehicle.

The 4.6 liter V-8 provided 301 horsepower (329 lb. ft. of torque) and was mated to a six speed automatic transmission with sport shift mode.  I would have liked a little more punch, but zero to sixty is suitable at 7.8 seconds.  Fuel economy ratings are 15/20 city-highway, and I observed a little over 19 for the week spent with the GX.  It has full-time four-wheel drive with crawl control for four wheeling.  This car is a body-on-frame SUV, so can do more than just drive through snow.

Styling of the GX460 has been changed since the second generation model was introduced in 2009, and personally I was pretty happy with the older model.  My GX had the roof rails, nice steps on the side, ample chrome, and 18,” six-spoke Liquid Graphite alloy wheels.  The tires were Bridgestone Dueler H/T 840’s, P265/60R18 in size, with mud and snow capabilities.  Nice and quiet, too.

Sleek, unibody “crossover” SUVs are currently the rage, and the GX460 is somewhat of a throwback.  But if the shopper wants to luxuriate with off-road and towing capabilities, the GX460 Lexus provides an option to consider.

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Tags: Fire Agate Pearl, GX, house, second, size, SUV, week