oknish

Stumblefoot

Sounds like a great idea for our next meet in Vegas! We can all avoid the nightly costs of the casinos and spend the night in NJ's favorite park, Red Rock Canyon for free.

Speeking of meets, did any of the California gang get together over the holidays?

oknish

scottybdiving

That's funny you say that. I have said for years that the Lexus is a "gold plated Toyota". I have never owned one but I drove a '72 Land Cruiser a lot when I lived in Alaska in the late 70's. It was another Jeep ****** as far as I was concerned. Although, it has been dolled-up with some creature comforts and serves mostly as an "urban assault vehicle", I assume it is still a very capable off-roads vehicle. Very hard to compare apples to apples with a GL, which is really not a serious off-roads vehicle.

GL Troll

Haven’t done it with the GL yet, but with past vehicles I’ve slept along I-395 by the eastern Sierra on my way to camp up in the mountains. This was something I had in mind when I bought the GL. If I can sleep in the sierra in single digit temps, why not sleep in the comfort of my truck? Besides, sometimes I get a slightly dirty feeling in a hotel bed and I don’t like paying for it either. I’m probably a little strange.

BTW if there’s nothing in the way you can gaze at the stars through the rear sunroof as you drift off – albeit through tinted glass.

StevethePilot

I will say this; a Cadillac is a dolled-up Chevy. A Lincoln is a dolled-up Ford. A Lexus is a bit more than a dolled-up Toyota. But my LX would follow any Land Cruiser off road and had a variable-height suspension on top of that. It also had an aluminum block versus a cast-iron block on the LC. The first reason I went to a Lexus is because there was rear A/C and I had two little babies in the middle row. So yeah, a few more creature comforts. But I beat the crap out of the "running boards," put on a real Jaos brush guard, skid plate and rear bar with plate, and one time even rolled a rock under the resonator because I forgot to raise the suspension. That was expensive!

I never high-centered it, I took it on what felt like 85-degree climbs (okay, they were probably like 20 but I have a very active imagination) and the body was beat up, banged up and Arizona-pinstriped more than once. I think the most impressive thing was when I was trying to show off to the service guys at Lexus by telling them about my off-road adventures and they said to me, "Yeah, but there's this one guy who owns one, he really abuses it! We don't know where he goes but he's never come in without something beaten up on the truck for us to fix and mud and dirt everywhere." It's a damned capable off road truck with good seats and a great stereo.

STP

scottybdiving

I have no doubt that the LX was equal to the LC's off-road capabilities since they are essentially from the same platform, which is an evolution of a world class off-roads / safari vehicle. Why would anybody expect them to run or drive like an expensive sports car. If it did, it would totally lose sight of what the vehicle was originally intended.

Question is, would you treat your GL the same as your LX?

Newbie_2_MB

Sorry, Brian, but that's the equivalent to camping for me...I think we all know my opinion of camping (it's any hotel without room service!) LOL!

blittle

Actually the current GL 450 with the "enhanced 4wd" package is better equipped to deal with mud, deep snow or rough wilderness type roads than either the current Land Cruiser or the LX. Neither of those vehicle allow to lock the rear diff. or have multiple height settings for clearance issues. (both avail. on the 450 GL ) Only the Land Rover is the equal in that regard and that is discounting some other LR issues.

StevethePilot

Nope. The GL is much more of a highway vehicle that happens to be able to go off-road. They tried to make the LX, which is basically an off-highway vehicle (the Cruiser) into an on-highway vehicle. The suspension's all wrong for that. Sure, it would drop down at higher speeds but the ride was still way too soft. Now there's a truck that took well to some aftermarket suspensions, bumpers, spare tire holders, snorkles ... the one thing it was missing was what they have in Oz, which is the diesel V6 (and now the V8). I really was very close to chopping off the front and replacing it with the diesel engine but hacking it up like that worried me that it'd never be quite right.

StevethePilot

I have to wonder about the clearance numbers on the GL versus the LC. As for the LR, that's a pretty deep discount!

paulybagadonuts

Sorry, I might not be helping much but just want to weigh in with my $.02

I've owned a few Toyotas and I've always sweared by them.

A corolla in college and a 4cyl pickup after that for 11 years, which I put over 150K miles on and all I did was change the oil and put a few sets of tires on it. They are extremely reliable and trouble free.

I am a strong beleiver in quality products and almost **** about getting my money's worth when it comes to making a purchase.

That being said, I am a first time MB owner and although I've never owned a Lexus I have driven in some and to me, there is no comparison.

In my opinion, Mercedes is in a class by itself and hopefully always will be.

The distinct feel and soul of an MB is undeniable where as I still get a little bit of that "Toyota" feeling in a Lexus.

That's not a bad thing, but it is what it is.

I have owned cars that I really liked and plenty that I have thoroughly enjoyed but this is the first time I can say...

I feel at times, like I am almost in love.

fmr

The new land cruiser/LX were on our shopping list too but we could not find any locally to take for a test drive which was a requirement given our previous Lexus SUV experience. We previously owned a Lexus GX 470. The ride was tooooo soft for us, with lots of body roll -- to the point of feeling unsafe under cornering and braking -- we sold it after one year. The fact that the design of the third row seat has not changed will also be a detractor for many. The third row in our GX470 was a key selling point initially but then given how much space they take up, after the first few weeks they spent all of their time in our basement. The Lexus was very luxurious and the service was very good. But I have to say I like every aspect of the GL much better and the handling is great. Not to mention its a diesel.

GL Troll

I couldn't agree more. My girlfriend calls my GL 'my girlfriend'.

Yo Pauly, I see you're from back home. Your writting and name took me back for a minute to da days of my yoot.

StevethePilot

I had gone in to my dealer and having been a guy who'd been able to pay cash for four Lexus cars (an LS400, an SC400, an LX450 and an LX470) I told the salesman I was getting rid of my LX470 and was thinking about the GX. He looked me straight in the eye and said, "Don't get it. If you don't want something as big as the LX then get the RX, but do not get the GX. It's crap." I was extremely surprised but trusted his opinion. So I got the GL!

My first LX was the 450. The first year it came out they put super-soft springs and squishy shocks on it, trying to make it a really smooth ride. I nearly went off the road a few times at highway speeds after going over a bump because the thing bounded around like a drunken whale. I took it back in and they replaced the springs with ones that were a bit stiffer. That truck never did quite ride right and when the V8 came out I went for it. Still soft but with a variable ride adjustment which helped a bit. Heavy vehicle, though, so there was only so much you could do with the stock suspension.

X5&G500

Toyota for $85000???>... im not that rich

I paid $58000 (MSRP $69720) for my 2006 LX470 cz my wife really liked to have a Lexus + it wasn't that much money. but after driving it for a year and half even my wife hates this so much and wanted Mercedes back... but $85000 for glorified Toyota Tundra.... damn 2 much.