Lexus LX 700h F Sport 2026 Review

The 2026 Lexus LX 700h is only available in Sports Luxury and F Sport guises (so no ‘entry’ Luxury or off-road Overtrail variants), the former offered as a five ($196,000 +ORCs) or seven-seater ($199,800 +ORCs) and the latter topping the range as a five-seater only at $202,000 (+ORCs).

This is approximately $20,000 and $17,000 more than the equivalent LX 500d and LX 600 respectively.

Flash four-wheel drives aren’t thin on the ground, with the Lexus LX 700h’s most obvious rival being its cheaper Toyota sibling, the LandCruiser Sahara ZX, which costs $156,810 (+ORCs) in new hybrid guise.

Elsewhere, if you want the combination of a premium badge, luxury interior and off-road capability there’s the Mercedes-Benz G 450d ($217,300 +ORCs) and Range Rover Sport P460e Autobiography ($204,596 +ORCs), but this is also territory the Denza B8 is attempting to muscle in on, priced from just $91,000 (+ORCs).

As you might expect of a vehicle at this price point, the 2026 Lexus LX 700h comes with everything bar the kitchen sink. Externally, there are 22-inch wheels, auto-leveling LED headlamps, roof rails, illuminated side steps, a moon roof, soft-close doors and a power tailgate with hands-free kick-to-open function.

Step inside and you’ll find heated, ventilated and powered (10-way driver, eight-way passenger) front seats with massage, heated and ventilated outboard rear seats, a centre-console fridge and quad-zone climate control with a separate 7.0-inch touchscreen, which can also adjust vehicle functions.

The F Sport scores unique seats, steering wheel, shift knob, aluminium pedals, grille, front and rear bumpers and wheels, while mechanically it adds a torque-sensing rear limited-slip differential, rear anti-roll bar and performance-tuned dampers.

Lexus offers a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty, but service intervals are six months/10,000km. And at $795 a service, you’re looking at $7950 over the first five years/100,000km.

LX buyers do score a complimentary three-year membership to the Encore Platinum service, which provides access to discounts and events, valet parking, access to other Lexus vehicles, 24/7 roadside assistance and more.

There is no ANCAP rating for the 2026 Lexus LX 700h (or indeed any variant), but the related Toyota 300-Series LandCruiser was awarded five stars in 2022, so it isn’t a huge stretch to imagine the Lexus would wear a similar rating had it been tested.

Certainly, there isn’t a safety acronym invented that the Lexus LX lacks, with autonomous emergency braking (including day and night pedestrian and cyclist detection and daytime motorcycle detection), adaptive cruise control, lane keeping, road sign detection, driver monitoring, blind-spot detection with rear cross-traffic alert and adaptive high beam.

This is in addition to 10 airbags, front and rear parking sensors and a reversing camera, while the LX 700h is unique in having park assist to take the wheel in tricky parking situations.

One of the bigger changes to the latest LX is the adoption of a 12.3-inch digital instrument display for the driver and it helps make the 2026 Lexus LX 700h feel fresher. Another 12.3-inch widescreen display handles the infotainment and includes wireless smartphone mirroring, while audio is played through a 25-speaker Mark Levinson stereo.

Something the LX 700h isn’t short of is device inputs, for data and charging. In addition to a wireless charging pad, there are four USB-C ports, a front HDMI input, two 12v ports (one front, one rear) and a 220v outlet in the boot.

One Sports Luxury feature missing in the F Sport is the dual rear-seat entertainment screens with a rear HDMI input – presumably they’re not compatible with the sportier seats.

Under the bonnet of the 2026 Lexus LX 700h is the same 3445cc twin-turbo V6 petrol engine you’ll find in the LX600.

It produces the same 305kW/650Nm, though in this instance it’s bolstered by a 36kW/250Nm electric motor that boosts total outputs to 341kW/790Nm.

It feeds all four-wheels through a 10-speed automatic gearbox and a two-speed transfer case offers high- and low-range.

According to the official combined claim, the 2026 Lexus LX 700h drinks 10.0L/100km, which is a worthwhile improvement over the 11.9L/100km claim in the LX 600. In our experience, the savings are negligible, with the hybrid slurping around 16.0L/100km during its time with us.

Admittedly, this included some off-roading and some exploration of those 341kW/790Nm, but don’t think that electrical assistance has turned the LX into some sort of fuel miser.

Main fuel tank capacity has also dropped from 80 to 68 litres, though the 30-litre sub-tank remains. As such, a highway touring range of 1000km-plus should be eminently achievable, unladen at least.

There’s a lot to like about the way the 2026 Lexus LX 700h goes about its business. It’s refined, relaxing, rides about as well as you could ever expect a separate chassis vehicle to (there’s the occasional shimmy over poor surfaces) and the powertrain is very impressive.

It’s not fast per se but has that feeling of relentless motivation that comes with a lot of power moving a lot of weight. Few will find the LX 700h lacking when it comes to urge, which is also important when it comes to its towing credentials. However, as we just established, this comes with an associated thirst.

Despite its size and weight, the LX 700h doesn’t feel unwieldy or cumbersome thanks to solid body control and well-connected steering, though despite the name and the performance dampers this is not a particularly dynamic vehicle.

It doesn’t enjoy being hustled, but that’s not really a criticism in a car like this.

On gravel it remains composed even at high speeds and that rear limited-slip diff comes into play with some on-throttle oversteer exiting tighter corners. Though again, it’s not something the LX really enjoys.

What’s more important is that the LX is a supremely calm way to drive long distances.

At first, I didn’t plan to take the 2026 Lexus LX 700h off-road. It’s a $200,000-plus SUV, the F Sport is the road-focused model – so, how many owners ever will? But that felt like giving Lexus a free pass so into the bush we went, where it acquitted itself extremely well.

This should be no surprise, as everything that makes a 300 Series LandCruiser so capable is present and correct here, including various drive modes, well-calibrated traction control, low-range gearing and a locking rear differential.

Air suspension also provides plenty of ground clearance (up to 250mm) when required, so while the highway-spec tyres are always going to be the limiting factor, even so-equipped it’s difficult to imagine many (any?) owners finding the limits of the LX 700h F Sport off-road.

In deference to the car’s value, nothing too challenging was attempted, but equally, slippery, rutted ascents and descents with rock steps and the like didn’t fluster it in the slightest.

While the hybrid system in the 2026 Lexus LX 700h adds power, it also adds weight. At 2800kg it’s 170kg heavier than the LX 600 and while the 3380kg Gross Vehicle Mass (GVM) has increased by 100kg, it doesn’t have the same payload flexibility.

Maximum braked towing capacity is still 3500kg, which is impressive, but while Lexus doesn’t publish a Gross Combined Mass (GCM), that GVM is going to be a limiting factor.

If you assume your 3000kg trailer has a 10 per cent downball load (it may be less, of course), then that leaves just 280kg of payload headroom for passengers and luggage. Still, if it’s just a couple with a 2500kg caravan, you’ll probably be OK.

In layman’s terms the 2026 Lexus LX 700h is a fancy LandCruiser, but thanks to copious amounts of leather covering virtually every surface of the interior it looks and feels like an expensive car.

It’s an absolute button-fest with features scatter-gunned everywhere, though the benefit of this is owners will quickly learn where everything is and it’s preferable to functions being buried in digital sub-menus.

One unwelcome inclusion is the e-shifter which is an absolute faff to use and almost guaranteed to have you in neutral when doing a three-point turn or, sometimes, even while driving.

Space is ample, especially when you’re only accommodating five in F Sport guise, and an 889-litre boot is fairly massive, though that’s a sizeable reduction from the 1109 litres of the non-hybrids thanks to the high-voltage battery raising the boot floor.

There is nothing inherently wrong with the 2026 Lexus LX 700h; it’s just that the hybridisation offers negligible benefits, especially when you consider the increased entry price.

Put simply, choose the corresponding 500d variant and you’ll have better fuel economy, more luggage space and an extra $20,000 in your pocket.

The hybrid powertrain is addictively grunty and Lexus does position it as a ‘performance hybrid’, but adding electrification to a 2800kg, twin-turbo petrol V6 SUV and expecting efficiency gains is like ordering a Diet Coke with your family McDonald’s meal and expecting weight loss.

A plug-in hybrid Range Rover Sport, for instance, makes much better use of its electrification.

If you really need a hybrid for some reason, then the LX 700h isn’t notably worse than its ICE siblings – in fact it’s a very nice automobile – but it struggles to justify its price premium. We’ll take an LX 500d Sports Luxury, thanks.

2026 Lexus LX 700h F Sport at a glance:
Price: $202,000 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 petrol-electric
Combined output: 341kW/790Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Fuel: 10.0L/100km (ADR claimed)
CO2: 227g/km (ADR claimed)
Safety rating: Unrated

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