by "HammerheadFistpunch" (hammerheadfistpunch)
Published 06/02/2017 at 15:32
by "HammerheadFistpunch" (hammerheadfistpunch)
Published 06/02/2017 at 15:32
Tags: Musings on Lexus
STARS: 4
Okay so we’ve had the GX for a few weeks now, have a little variety of roads under our belts and put plenty of fuel through it and I’ve come up with a few impressions.
Details - its a 2008 without KDSS. 114,900 miles California car with no rust and clean as a whistle inside and out. Paid more than I wanted especially given the brake work it needed as well as new tires, but it was just so clean.
Pros:
1. The V8! Oh the V8. It sounds great (my wife doesn’t like that it “sounds like a boat”) and it hustles from any rev at any time at any elevation. You ask, it delivers. I hooked up my 3000 lbs tent trailer and it accelerated as fast or faster than the cruiser does with just me in it. I like this motor.
2. The center diff is magic. Its a Torsen T3 with a rear bias and it never lets go. You can throw it into a corner where you know you will be lifting the inside wheel and the TCS doesn’t light up, there is no wheelspin...just power. its a little alarming how much steady state grip it can generate especially with the mass and these crappy dry rotted tires. Compared to the open with viscous coupler in the cruiser this is a major leap forward.
3. The suspension - its mostly a pro. I like that it has a 70's cadillac mode for rough roads and I like that in full sport its actually pretty composed. I haven’t figured out many reasons the air suspension in the back is a benefit. The few I have are.
Towing a trailer - its automatically load leveling so it will always be the right spring rate and height, which is nice.
Adjusting a trailers departure angle, I can raise or lower the rear suspension about 2 inches in either direction which is great because that means I can raise the departure angle of the trailer if I need.
More truck departure angle. there isn’t much in it stock so being able to raise the rear up brings the departure angle to a point where its almost as good as the cruiser...which isn’t that great.
The low mode cuts out at 10 mph, the high mode at 22 mph and I can’t turn off the automatic leveling past 22 mph. So its not really all that useful. Neat I guess. The ride is lovely generally speaking.
4. The mark Levenson Stereo is great. Crisp highs, strong mids and hard lows. It also has a tape deck for maximum hipster awesome. Yeah boiy
5. The build quality - I know Im a Toyota fan boy but I have been geeking out about the way this truck was built lately. Everytime I dig into the mechanicals or electrical systems I see evidence of thoughtful engineering, extremely well laid out components and a tidiness and attention to detail that is just amazing. I know its probably not the shining highlight in a car review but the wiring loom, the way its tied in, the electrical protections, the cleanliness of the layout has me geeking out big time. Truthfully speaking it makes my very well laid out cruiser look haphazard in comparison. Plus the fact that its still just as repairable with the same 12 piece metric socket set and screw drivers as all other Toyota trucks is amazing. Working on this truck is going to be a real pleasure.
Cons:
1. The mileage - I mean really its not unexpected and it could be considered a pro given that its much better than my truck. We did a couple hundred mile trip recently and it averaged 18, mostly highway with an average speed of 70 (up to 80). That also included a little trail work and about a billion trips to the ACE hardware in town. On its best day it will never do half as good as the car its replacing on its worst day. Thats a bummer.
2. The throttle calibration is not to my liking - tiny dead spot, then a sharp ramp, then it becomes linear. It makes it difficult to step off smoothly and even trickier in low range.
3. Off-road. I know these can be amazing off road, but when I took it on some mild trails and drove it like I would my cruiser it got rocked. Its not the same animal. I guess I just got used to the wizard level off road ability of the 80. Not even ability, just composure. Bumps in the 80 are always linearly proportional. Hit a small bump, feel a small bump, hit a large bump, feel a large bump. In the GX its like the throttle - Hit a small bump, feel nothing, hit a large bump and smash your head on the b pilar. You definitely reap the benefits of IFS on the road, and off road you definitely feel the difference of ifs front solid axle out back. Its just not quite the same experience. It will be more than adequate for our needs.
4. The suspension - The adjustable suspension is okay but its not quite there. In the softest 2 settings it feels oversprung and it bobs along way more than it should. In the firmer 2 settings its much better but you loose a little of that fine frequency damping. I find myself changing the dial a lot.
5. Misc stuff - I don’t like the looks, I don’t like the rear door (though it certainly has its perks). The seats have some oddities like one one of the 8 seats has dual ISOFIX latches, the rest have one...why?
Overall, I think I am going to really like this car.
"Pistol Whipped Cream" (heynickhere)
06/02/2017 at 15:48, STARS: 0
I’m glad you are liking it. I have been trying to talk my mom into getting one for a year now. Her MDX is so meh...
"HammerheadFistpunch" (hammerheadfistpunch)
06/02/2017 at 15:48, STARS: 0
Its funny, the MDX was the runner up. I came THAT close to getting one.
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
06/02/2017 at 15:54, STARS: 0
The throttle behavior may be partly due to it having learned someone else’s gas pedal habits. You can clear the learning data out by resetting the ECU. Either disconnect the battery for a while or there may be some combination of fuses you can pull so it only disconnects the ECU but you don’t have to reset all your other crap like radio presets.
"HammerheadFistpunch" (hammerheadfistpunch)
06/02/2017 at 15:57, STARS: 0
I guess I could try they. I think I will just let it re-learn to me. We’ll see how it plays out.
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
06/02/2017 at 16:03, STARS: 0
Also you should polish up the cloudy headlights!
"HammerheadFistpunch" (hammerheadfistpunch)
06/02/2017 at 16:03, STARS: 0
Thats on the list.
"benjrblant" (benjblant)
06/02/2017 at 16:05, STARS: 0
Holy cow, that fuse panel!
"HammerheadFistpunch" (hammerheadfistpunch)
06/02/2017 at 16:06, STARS: 1
Fuses and Relays, all at home together nice and tidy. Also note - no more fusable links, its slow burn fuses instead. me gusta.
"Nothing" (nothingatalluseful)
06/02/2017 at 16:08, STARS: 0
This is relevant to my interests. It might be tighter on cargo than I would like, but still a nice vehicle. The rear door may be the killer though, if I want to haul anything long, kind of out of luck there.
"HammerheadFistpunch" (hammerheadfistpunch)
06/02/2017 at 16:10, STARS: 0
Thats the the one major drawback to that door and there is no way around it.
"TorqueToYield" (torquetoyield)
06/02/2017 at 17:12, STARS: 2
“ the wiring loom, the way its tied in, the electrical protections, the cleanliness of the layout has me geeking out big time”
This is how you know Toyota has some engineers in charge. Bean counters / finance people don’t give a shit about stuff like that and will just ask for the cheapest parts and assembly possible. Engineers care, and know it makes a difference. The details matter. Especially electrical connections. Cars are a nightmare for electrical, a little bit of water or grime gets in one electrical connection and it can be a nightmare to diagnose and find. Which is why it’s important to spend some money up front to protect those connections.
Sloppy wiring looms are a pet peeve of mine ever since leaving aerospace to go into consumer electronics. If you want to see perfectly done wiring harnesses check out something like:
"Pistol Whipped Cream" (heynickhere)
06/02/2017 at 17:22, STARS: 0
That is funny. The only thing it has going for it is its “sporty-ness”. It likes to go. It has been an alright car, I just haven’t been impressed with its quality. It’s had a lot of little annoying things that requires a trip to the dealer that I would expect with something German, but come on, it’s a Honda.
"Mr. MiniBig, where's my coffee?" (theaveragecarnut)
08/11/2017 at 10:23, STARS: 0
Nice car, congrats. I just stumbled upon this post and am in the market for a GX460 myself. Any major problems with the air suspension? I can possibly get a 2011 premium with 125k mi however it has the air suspension which I am leery about in terms of reliability and longevity. Have you had any thoughts about possibly replacing it with coils? The one I’m looking at is a northeast car so there’s probably some rust however the owner is willing to part with it for 19k. Whats the market like for the older 470's? Were you able to find any similar to yours in the low teens? These things hold their value well and most 460s are still over the 20k range even with high miles. Anyway congrats on the new car.
"HammerheadFistpunch" (hammerheadfistpunch)
08/11/2017 at 10:45, STARS: 0
air suspension is solid and its not going to coils until it does fail, I talked to a Lexus master tech about it and he said they never really saw them fail at the time. Replacing it with coils isn’t too bad if you need to, at least with the 470. We looked at 460 but they were still out of my price range. we got a rust free SUPER clean 470 with the major service done for mid teens and 115k. it was a hunt though.