2024 Lexus GX 550: Butch Meets Beauty Here
If you need big and butch and beautiful, the 2024 Lexus GX 550 just may be what you need for your off-road and on-road Bear adventures.
As you can see by the photos, there is nothing petite about the fully redesigned GX, which looks like it can double as a delivery van. (All trims for 2024 are 550s.)
This is a powerhouse. 3.4-liter V-6 twin turbo. 349 horses. This is improved power from the V8 of yesteryear despite being a V6.
And yet, the GX is still considered midsized, which goes to show you that everyone’s idea of ‘size’ is variable.
Getting five Bears inside should be a piece of birthday cake, though promotional materials say you can easily get seven average-sized people inside. Leave the 3rd row of seats down and you have 40 cubic feet of cargo room. Put down the 2ndrow of seats and now you get 77 cubic feet of space for that very off-road party that all your teachers warned you about.
I had the privilege of testing the top-tier Luxury-Plus trim. Wow, did I feel like a Bear who hit the ultimate basket of goodies. 4-Wheel Drive, front massaging seats, back row captain’s chairs, cooling box (for your beer when you park), Mark Levinson premium audio…. The good news was that the vehicle really was too big to take through the Del Taco drive thru, meaning that the mess I was about to make would take place outside the car.
Make no mistake, this is a vehicle you buy when you are serious about going off-road – and not if you live in the city. If your big weekly highlights include going to laundromat and visiting your parents’ condo in the city centre, this is not the kind of beast you should consider.
Pricing starts at just over $64K US. Mileage is an average 17 mpg combined. And parking? Your neighbors will not like it when you need to take up two spaces.
And yet, this is considered a midsized vehicle. Hey, I don’t print the labels.
As with any vehicle you are considering, I am still a big fan of test-driving a car before you purchase. So many companies promise to deliver a car sight-unseen – but unlike a pizza, should you not like what you purchase, you could get stuck with it for a long, long time.
And of course, as Bears, we all like ‘em big. And the Lexus GX is big. And butch. And beautiful.
Just make sure you can afford it. It can take you where you wanna go – but it will need to be pampered.
