Lexus LX 500d Luxury 2025 Review

At $158,700 pre-ORCs, the Lexus LX 500d Luxury is almost $12,000 more expensive than the 300 series Toyota LandCruiser that can be bought: the $146,910 Sahara ZX Hybrid.

At the other end of the scale, the dearest Lexus LX – until the hybrid LX 700h twin of the LandCruiser Hybrid arrives next year – is the $220,950 LX 600 pre-ORCs Ultra Luxury which features the 3.5-litre six-cylinder twin-turbo petrol engine producing 305kW/650Nm. The LX 500d 3.3-litres six-cylinder diesel engine with an output of 227kW/700Nm offers strong low-end pulling power, ideal for off-road driving.

The diesel LX 500d and petrol LX 600 six-cylinder engines give a buyer choice of Luxury, Sports Luxury and the new Overtrail model: the flagship LX 600 Ultra Luxury is exclusively petrol-powered.

It’s no surprise that both Lexus and Toyota SUVs share componentry – engine, driveline and suspension – and have similar sheet metal, body dimensions and on-road footprints. The Lexus LX, with its trademark “spindle” grille and revisions to the C-pillar glassware, aims for a chicer look.

Seating configurations vary across the range: Luxury versions with seven-seaters, Sports Luxury offers the choice of either five or seven-seats, Overtrail and F Sport are five-seaters only and the top-dog Ultra Luxury offers four captain’s chairs.

The Lexus LX received an update in early 2025, highlighted by the new five-seat Overtrail variant, which boosts off-road capability with locking differentials and all-terrain tyres.

Leather-look trim heated and cooled front seats (with memory adjustment settings on the driver’s side), four-zone climate control, a subtly immersive 25-speaker Mark Levinson sound system, powered steering wheel adjustment and a full-size (steel) spare to match the standard 20-inch alloy wheels – all one-time indicators of automotive wealth.

The LX 500d Luxury comes with soft-close doors, a front HDMI port and a centre console cool box, while there’s an optional Enhancement Pack that brings larger 22-inch wheels, a sunroof and a hands-free kick-sensor tailgate for an extra $5,500.

The warranty inclusions are more hit than miss, including five-year/unlimited-kilometre coverage and three-year premium-standard roadside assist (something that comes as extra-cost in the Toyota LandCruiser). If there’s a disappointment it’s that servicing intervals are closely-spaced at six-months or 10,000km.

Capped-price servicing for LX models is fixed at $595 per workshop visit for five years and up to 100,000km.

The Lexus LX’s five-star ANCAP safety rating is achieved through a familiar technology rollout that includes high and low-speed Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) – low-speed only in reverse – pedestrian avoidance, rear-only cross-traffic alert, active-shadowing anti-glare LED headlights, blind-spot monitoring, road-sign recognition and post-collision steering and braking. There are 10 airbags – including a front centre bag and headbags for third-row passengers – which are standard across the LX range.

The Lexus Safety Sense+ system is expanded in the latest LX so it now detects motorcycles during the day and bicyclists in both day and night, provides AEB when crossing intersections and low-speed acceleration-suppression that “may help prevent accidents from unintended throttle inputs.”

Other safety newcomers that are now standard across the LX range include safe-exit assist, emergency driving stop (which gently halts the vehicle if the driver becomes unresponsive while adaptive cruise control is active) and a driver-monitor camera that uses facial recognition to facilitate customised user settings.

All LX models now feature a larger 12.3-inch centre screen to replace the previous 8-inch. They also gained wireless connections for both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, along with an additional USB-C port – bringing the total number of USB ports to six.

Like the 300 series Toyota LandCruiser, the Lexus LX offers the choice of two six-cylinders: A 3.5-litre turbo-petrol, and the 3.3-litre turbo-diesel. Respectively, developing 305kW/650Nm and 227kW/700Nm and driving all four wheels permanently through a 10-speed dual-range transmission and a locking Torsen centre differential, both show different driving characteristics: Revvy, smooth and urbane in petrol form and wielding 700Nm of low-down torquey grunt as a diesel.

As a pure twin-turbo diesel without any electrical assistance, the 3.3-litre six-cylinder is rewardingly frugal with a claimed combined consumption figure of 8.9-litre/100km which actually betters the (very) mild-hybrid petrol 3.0-litre xDrive40i M Sport BMW X7 which, although it weighs 200kg or so less than the LX 500d, claims 9.7-litre/100km.

Our experience, in a mix of lightly loaded urban and freeway driving, saw the review LX 500d Luxury averaging around 11-litre/100km, suggesting that a range approaching 700km from the 80-litre fuel tank would be a reasonable expectation.

Lexus makes a good fist of refining the dynamic character of what is essentially a basic, large off-road wagon.

The LX 500d Luxury’s 20-inch wheels are two inches smaller than those of the Sports Luxury version, but the 265/55 tyres promise a cosier, less-impactful ride. Maybe the steering responses (it goes from lock to lock in 3.2 turns) are not so brisk but, for a 2690kg vehicle with a live-axle rear end, it’s agile enough and the ride quality is nicely absorbent. The LX 500d Luxury’s height-controlled adaptive air/coil-spring suspension helps in this respect, despite the relatively short wheelbase. LX 500d Luxury owners aiming to tackle bush-track adventures will be disappointed by the 200mm ground clearance that measures 45mm less than Toyota’s 300 Series LandCruiser.

The diesel six-cylinder dismisses the LX’s 2.7 tonnes of kerb weight with ease, and is acceptably muted and smooth, and appropriately refined on the move. And muscly enough to capably tow a (braked) caravan or trailer weighing up to 3.5 tonnes.

Lexus sees the LX 500d Luxury’s newly added soft-close doors and the cooled front-centre oddments bin (and other things) as significant steps upgrading the already well-endowed Luxury-spec LX 500d but it’s worth remembering that it’s not priced like a basic family SUV. Pay the money and you can rightfully expect some rewards.

The cabin furnishings might not reach the same heights as the next step-up, $17,600 more expensive Sports Luxury LX 500d with its massaging driver’s seat, glass sunroof, active headlights, rear-seat entertainment, woodgrain highlights and touches of proper leather trim, but Luxury-spec LX buyers are unlikely to feel short-changed.

The Luxury LX 500d’s seven seat arrangement uses a 60-40 split-fold centre row giving access to the third-row seating which is typically limited for space. Passenger accommodation elsewhere in the cabin is very generous, with room enough for a family of mixed ages (including infants), and an expansive load area that maxes out at a claimed 1871-litres.

The Lexus LX 500h Luxury, a true off-roader that might not regularly be asked to behave like one, makes its toughness a raison d'être separating it from the bulk of its essentially soft-road luxury competitors, some of which are barely able to negotiate a flat bush track. What might deter some buyers could just as easily appeal to others.

However, compromising the dilemma may be, the Lexus has done a solid job with the LX 500d Luxury. It’s a refined yet rugged solution for buyers with conflicting demands — offering grace on the road and grit when needed.

Lexus LX 500d Luxury at a glance:
Price: $158,700 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 3.3-litre six-cylinder turbo-diesel
Output: 227kW/700Nm
Transmission: Ten-speed automatic
Fuel: 8.9-litre/100km
CO2: 233g/km
Safety rating: Five-stars (2022)

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