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Sunday Drive: Lexus LX 600 flagship gets a redesign for 2022

By Craig and Deanne Conover - | Nov 23, 2022
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An exterior view of the new 2022 Lexus LX 600 F Sport.
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An exterior view of the new 2022 Lexus LX 600 F Sport.
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Inside the new 2022 Lexus LX 600 F Sport.
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Inside the new 2022 Lexus LX 600 F Sport.
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A peek in the back of the new 2022 Lexus LX 600 F Sport.

2022 marks a banner year for luxury automaker Lexus as it has completely redesigned its flagship full-sized SUV, the LX 600. (It even got a new number: 600.) Lexus has added more luxury, technology and elegance to what has been one of the best performing four-wheel-drive vehicles in the luxury market.

We were fortunate to be able to spend a week in the all-new F Sport trim level of the LX 600. This vehicle tops out at just over $107,500, yet there is still another trim above it! Yes, there is the Ultra Luxury trim, which provides even more amenities to the rear seat passengers than are offered in the F Sport.

In the Ultra Luxury trim, the amenities include wrap-around quilted leather seats that recline, massage and heat the occupants, rear LCD screens that will tip to any angle for optimum viewing, and retractable foot rests that come out of the front seats.

This is not to say the F Sport was lacking in any way. This trim was phenomenal and contained everything we would have expected from the design of this SUV. After all, it is a very large vehicle, not something one would be putting on the track each weekend. However, it would make an excellent adventure vehicle, transporting the family most anywhere they would want to go and do it in complete style!

Lexus has chosen to change the engine configuration in its flagship SUV, patterning it after the all-new Tundra setup from the Toyota line — its parent company. This year, there’s no V-8 under the hood; it’s replaced with a 3.5-liter V-6 twin-turbocharged engine. Even though it’s smaller than the V-8 power plant, it has better numbers at 409 horsepower and 479 foot-pounds of torque.

This is all hooked up to the all-wheel drive system via a 10-speed direct shift automatic transmission. With this many gears, starting, climbing and cruising are all well within the LX wheelhouse, and we found it performs exceptionally well in all those conditions. It will also pull a trailer up to 8,000 pounds, again making it the perfect family hauler.

We had the opportunity to take an extended drive in the Lexus on a Saturday, climbing not only up and over Soldier Summit in Spanish Fork Canyon but also tackling the summit in Indian Canyon as we headed toward Duchesne. We then went over Wolf Creek Pass as we made our way to Heber.

The all-new LX 600 performed very well and kept us extremely comfortable during the entire afternoon. As we climbed high into the mountains, there were patches of snow remaining from the first storm of the winter and temperatures dipped into the low 30s.

One of the things we loved about the huge Lexus is how the center console is also a cold storage device that will act like a small cooler. This allowed us to take a couple of dips and drinks along on the ride without having to pack a cooler with ice and stow it in the back. Sometimes it’s the little extras that make a big difference.

Inside, the Lexus is also all new with more than 19 inches of LED screens on the front console as well as one up top for infotainment (12.3 inches) and one below with a variety of views for instrumentation and control adjustments (7 inches).

There is also a 10-inch full-color heads-up display that would put speed, navigation and other safety features front and center for the driver.

On top of all the luxury filling the LX, the SUV comes standard with the Lexus 2.5 safety system that included pre-collision warning and emergency braking as well as pedestrian and bicyclist detection. If conditions are right, the system can also detect bicycles ahead of the SUV along with oncoming side traffic when turning left and pedestrians when turning left or right.

Other features include adaptive cruise control that can stop and go in heavy traffic, lane departure warning, lane keep assist that would keep the SUV centered in the lane, and automatic high beam control. We have come to love all the features that Lexus includes in every one of its vehicles without an up-charge to obtain them.

The LX 600 would prove to be a very competent four-wheel-drive vehicle if that is what one chooses to do with it. We would have a very hard time plowing this vehicle into the extreme off-road world considering its accompanying price tag; however, it is fully equipped to do it.

There is a low range of gearing that would get the LX 600 over most anything along with the ability to ford up to 27 inches of water. With the shocks able to raise and lower depending on driving and/or selected conditions, it makes for quite an adaptive SUV.

At low speed, all the cameras can be shown on the large infotainment screen, allowing the driver to see everything surrounding the SUV when in tight situations. We loved this feature on the Tacoma as it came in very handy when crawling over rocks.

Speaking of rock crawling, the LX comes equipped with the awesome Toyota CRAWL control that will literally crawl automatically over obstacles at very low speeds with very little driver input. It helps with the engagement and disengagement of the engine output and hydraulic braking pressure to reduce tire slippage.

Luxury everyday driver? Check. Off-road capable? Check. Limo-like features? Check. Good for the entire family? Check! The new LX 600 has it all, as we found out during our weeklong test drive. We highly recommend it for everything from family road trips to a fancy night out on the town!

Base price: $101,000

Destination charge: $1,345

Price as driven: $107,585

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