First drive: 2016 Lexus LX 570 in the UAE
The Lexus LX has somehow created a huge niche for itself around here, as the luxury truck of choice to stand out among a sea of Land Cruisers. Around since 2008 in its current form, this is the third facelift it’s received, and the first one that goes beyond just reshaped bumpers. We briefly drove the 2016 model at its UAE launch in Dubai.
The exterior changes are radical enough to make the new LX look like a completely new generation, with mostly-new body panels, pointy new headlights and taillights with sequential indicators, and a bladed grille sharp enough to shave with.
Inside, the dashboard and door panels are completely new, with such niceties as a stitched-leather dashboard, padded-leather surfaces on the doors and centre-console, a newly-padded glovebox cover, real wood and metal trim, and a huge 12.3-inch extra-wide screen on the dash, controlled by a mouse-joystick device. Our top-spec tester, worth Dhs 450,000, also got the ‘Climate Concierge’ system that adjusts the temperature to suit each individual passenger, a 19-speaker Mark Levinson sound system, a cooler box, a heads-up display, and large 11.6-inch individual screens for rear passengers.
At first glance, it’s all pretty impressive, especially to the layman who’s never owned a high-end vehicle before, but then we started noticing several hard-plastic panels that have no business being in a car that’s now priced the same as a Range Rover, such as the lower door panels and the dash area behind the steering. Even the “stitched-leather” dash is not real, just simulated to look like one. Out back, the third row that folds up to the sides remains, clearly showing its Land Cruiser roots. The new heads-up display is hard to read and is offset to the side. And the huge LCD on the dash is still using 2D navigation map graphics from older-gen Toyotas when others have moved on to showing 3D buildings.
The powertrain hasn’t changed at all either, with the same 362 hp 5.7-litre V8 that’s been around unchanged for the better part of a decade. Mated to a well-programmed 8-speed automatic, it does the job fine, but it’s never going to become notorious for being a speed demon.
The 7-seater LX 570 still handles like an old-school truck as well, with very noticeable body roll, although you can feel the adaptive suspension doing its best to counter that. The body-on-frame structure may also be responsible for some of the random judders we felt on some sections of the highway. And the steering is oddly firm at parking speeds and lighter at higher speeds.
But we’ll have to give credit where it’s due on certain improvements, such as the ultra-quiet cabin, the generally Rolls Royce-like ride even on the optional 21-inch alloys, a tiny bit more steering feel than before, and much better brakes with more linear pedal feel. There’s also a host of driving-safety aids that are on par with rivals, such as adaptive cruise with auto-braking, blind-spot monitoring and all that.
Now don’t get us wrong, we’ve driven several LX 570 versions since this generation debuted in 2008, and we’ve always given them generally favourable reviews, keeping in mind their offroad ability that’d shame a Cadillac Escalade and their long-term durability that’d shame a Range Rover. The only thing we have an issue with is the newly bumped-up price, now starting at Dhs 385,000, for a vehicle that’s not quite ready to rock with the Europeans just yet in terms of all-out luxury.
For UAE prices and GCC specs, visit the Lexus buyer guide.
Comments
Waleed Javaid
Great review as always, DriveArabia! I feel they’ve kept the price tag that high simply because they can. Lexus knows this car will sell and most of the buyers won’t care about the dated drive-train. But, Lexus really should improve their engines as it’s always been their strongest selling point.
Hussein
I agree with Waleed. The price is probably so high is because Lexus knows people who want to buy this car are considering a G63 (starting at 700,00 AED), and to them a base model Lexus is nothing! Perhaps, or perhaps not.
host
they know those who buy lexus don’t know much about vehicles/machines anyway.
marc
Ugly front, beautiful tail..
But the price tag??!! Wtf…
Good review btw
Bu Saeed
They know that people with money dont know shit about cars and will still buy it even if the price is outrageous
Ibrahim Alshamsi
The seats of this car are amazingly comfortable!
AbuDhabiCars
I found the price to be excessive as well, but that feeling went away when i saw the first batch of the 2016 570 being sold for 700K AED in the UAE.In Qatar and KSA its going at 800K apparently.
Amir
I prefer Cadillac escalade… It is much faster and more beautiful than lx 570
prado
Yen is down by 25% compared to last 2 years… dont understand the reason for the hike
prado
On the Plus side Lexus, followed by Toyota and Audi are rated the most reliable vehicles brands according to Consumer Reports.
Mosa
Put a Range Rover and Lexus LX side by side, Range Rovers beats Lexus ANY DAY in terms of looks, appeal and intimidation.
prado
true… but some people like to have their vehicles to last more than 3 years
Mohamed
Both currencies Yen and Euro have fallen about 30%. Why no reflection on car prices.
prado
Spot on, it makes no sense … also the out look for the next few years for the Gulf economies is effectively a recession.
abdulla
the car maybe expensive but some one tell me that it will live with you without any big problems
Reliable
Mohammad
In my honest opinion comparing just the price or the engine with other cars for that matter is simply wrong
Yes in this price range you have many options, but you will not get the lexus tag with it… the L itself is so much powerful that no other manufacturer will be able to beat it.
The reliability of lexus cars is unmatched, even a middle class man with penny by penny savings buys this car, he will not end up homeless while maintaining the car.. Lexus is quite literally maintenance free car … which most of the people forget about it
Yes you can buy Audi, BMW, Mercs but you know there is a saying that you can buy expensive stuff very easily but maintenance will drain and will keep on draining you till the time you sell the car.
Halabi
If middle class man buy 400k LX, he will pay loan for rest of his life lol!!!!!! Maintenance only cost 10k max per year on used 50k German car. New ones have free service and warranty.
Mohammad Suhaib
Having owned the 2014 Lx570s , i feel the reliability and the build quality is second to none. I owned a Toyota Land Cruiser VXR before the LX, and the lexus beats the cruiser both in terms of build quality and off roading.
even after driving 160000km my car still feels like new, with no panel noise or any weird vibration all around.
For a car of this size the drive is very comfortable and refined, i would agree if you compare the LX to a Range Rover it does look over priced or less equipped or even ugly. But it depends on preference, if you have a big family, like offroading, prefer having a good resale value, like reliable cars then this is the car to buy.
Abraham J Simama
Urgent prices of this car
Carmelo NGUEMA NTUTUMU NSEFUMU
Hola, necesito comprar un lexus 570 del año 2018