I’m here in Vail, Colorado driving a quartet of off-road vehicles as part of eBay Motors’ goal to drum up publicity for its online car parts business, and while I’ll tell you a bit more about that later, today I have to make an admission: I’m getting old. I know this because I just fell in love with the Lexus GX, the ultimate dad-overlander. Here’s why I’m now such a fan.
A few months before I left Jalopnik, I went on an off-road excursion to Michigan’s mud-island, also called Drummond Island. I was joined by my then-boss and still-friend Rory Carroll, who is a bit older than I am and also father of two girls. He drove his Lexus GX, and I drove my Jeep Cherokee XJ.
At the time, I didn’t really get the Lexus GX. It’s humongous, its independent front suspension doesn’t flex much, it’s got a giant ass that requires a big lift to achieve an even acceptable departure angle, plus its otherwise extremely-reliable engine has a timing belt that requires work every 7-8 years. Not to mention, the vehicle looks a bit soft, and it costs a lot to repair when it does break.
I much preferred my boxy Jeep Cherokee XJ. It’s smaller, nimbler, has a solid front axle that offers way more articulation, it’s got much better approach and departure angles, and its four-liter engine is just as solid as the Lexus’. Why would anyone want the less capable GX? I didn’t get it at all.
But then two things happened: I got a little older, and also last week I off-roaded a GX for an appreciable amount of time. Now I totally get it. And that worries me.
The GX was one of four machines that eBay Motors had for journalists to drive [Full Disclosure: eBay flew me out there, fed me and housed me and gave me the keys to those four machines. -DT], and one of two vehicles that they’d actually bought from eBay and then outfitted with eBay-sourced aftermarket parts (this one had a small lift kit from Icon and some slightly larger tires on new wheels, plus a snorkel, rooftop tent and aftermarket front bumper). As you can see, my beloved XJ is among the four, and yet it was the GX that won my heart and the hearts of so many other journos.
The trail started off with a washboard dirt-road that beat the everliving crap out of me in the Jeep Cherokee XJ, and while the Lexus did have some bump-steer that you could feel in the wheel, its ride was shockingly good.
When the trail got worse, and big rocks started showing up on our Rocky Mountain trail, the GX shrugged them off in a way that seemed almost impossible. See this dirt road below? The Lexus made it feel like pavement!:
When it comes to off-roading, I’ve historically only given a damn about outright capability. Can this vehicle take on this hard obstacle? If yes, it’s a great off-roader, if no, it’s wack.
But my view on this has changed in recent years. If a vehicle can handle a trail difficult enough for 99% of off-road drivers, and it can do it in a way that’s much, much more comfortable than a more capable off-road vehicle, then why bother with the backbreaking CJ or XJ or Defender?
I still love solid-axle Jeeps, and in certain conditions – hardcore rock crawling, which I love doing — they actually offer a better, smoother ride than the GX. But unless you’re actively maneuvering through a huge boulder field, the Lexus GX seems like a better choice. And this is proof that I’m not a young whippersnapper anymore.
The GX’s suspension is a solid axle out back and an independent suspension up front. It’s nothing special, really, and yet it also is. The rough roads that it can shrug off still have me in awe.
But it’s not just ride quality, it’s quietness. The Lexus GX’s interior is like a sensory deprivation chamber, with dual-pane windows and more sound insulation than a recording studio. A key of the recipe, here, is the 4.7-liter V8 under the hood, which is the same motor as the one I had in my similarly-silent Lexus LX470. It’s a remarkable piece of machinery (despite its timing belt).
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The interior is a bit dated, but overall quality is so good, it makes a Jeep XJ look like a Lada Samara. Things are screwed together well, materials feel high quality, and overall the SUV just feels solid and safe and quiet and spacious and, well, all these other attributes that I’ve only started caring about in the last couple of years.
For the last 15 years, I’ve been more than thrilled with my $1400 Jeep Cherokee XJ rattletrap, but something is changing within me. I’m not entirely sure I like it.
I need to fix my 1954 Willys to shake off whatever this [see previous 800 words] is. I haven’t gone soft. I haven’t gone soft. I haven’t gone soft.
So…….. The Lexus is totally worse, but it rides smoother, and so you like it?
Solution, without blowing $25k on an old dad SUV: Twin I beam Ford.
Trust me, nothing rides smoother off-road than a Twin I beam Ford.
Either my age or 10 years of marriage to my lovely wife (not a car person), or likely a combo, have me increasingly concerned with comfort (mostly in the form of noise) than I ever thought I could be as young car dude.
Welcome to not being 25 any more, brother 🙂 After years of dailying my ‘93 Sentra SE-R I bought a ‘96 Infiniti G20t when I was 30 or so because I wanted something foo-foo with a key fob and power windows and fancy stuff like that. Currently it’s my JSW, but while I love all of my old cars, it’s nice to have one car that’s luxe.
Likely bonus for David is that his girlfriend is more likely to go off-roading with him in a GX than in a XJ.
I’ve never off-roadbed in an XJ but I’ve done some mild to moderate off-roading in the previous model of this (90-series Prado, diesel) and I know how you feel. I’d even rock one as a daily.