Video: 2025 Lexus LX 700h Review: Off-Road Capable, But Why?

This is a Lexus LX 700h, the largest number ever affixed to a Lexus, and it means it has a twin turbocharged hybrid V6 powertrain. Is it any good? Is the Overtrail any good? Can it go off road? Let's find out. Spotting a 2025 Lexus LX is really gonna be a little bit difficult unless you get this one, the Overtrail trim, because that's really where the most styling changes have happened. First of all, blacked out trim all over the place. No chrome on the Overtrail, just like on the Lexus GX Overtrail, like this big front spindle grill that they still have. It is blacked out. It's meant to be a little bit more under the radar, not quite as ostentatious as some of the more luxurious versions. For the Overtrail trim, you also get a front skid plate underneath, which you can't see, which is there really for protection. But the other visual change is on the side where you've got 18 inch unique wheels, flat black, unique to the Overtrail trim, riding 33 inch Toyo all terrain tires. It also has a hydraulic height adjustable suspension, not an air suspension. It actually does use coil springs and hydraulics to raise and lower the vehicle. But the biggest change really from '24 to '25 has to be the twin turbocharged hybrid V6 powertrain. And the biggest difference is off road. Believe it or not. More than anything. It's got a bunch of off-road systems to it. But the hybrid system in here is the interesting one because if you put this in rock mode specifically, which is for crawling over obstacles like this, you can basically do an entire course like this in electric mode. This is the only mode in which the LX 700h will be an EV and it will act as an EV unless you've drained the hybrid battery to a certain point where unfortunately we are now, I've already done this course a couple of times and it was in electric mode. Completely quiet and silent because all that torque is basically happening all by itself without the add of the gas engine. So it's wheeling in silence, which we've only really ever done in something like a Jeep Wrangler or Grand Cherokee 4xe. This doesn't have the same level of off road capability really as a Wrangler 4xe, but it is still exceptionally capable. It's got three locking differentials, which is something that they haven't had on the LX since, God, it was the late '90s, early 2000s. So if you want to take this thing off road, it's got a number of goods, but quite frankly, the only people I've ever found, the only LX owners that take theirs off road are the third owners. A brand new LX costs way too much to take this thing and potentially damage it in the dirt. But it does work really well, especially since you've got all these locking diffs. You don't necessarily have the kind of underbody skid plate protection that you need, however, 'cause it's only got one up front. So again, if you're taking this thing off road, the tires will work given that they're all terrain tires. But you really are gonna want additional protection for the rear bits of the vehicle, like the battery, the fuel tank, rear differential, things like that. Doesn't come with that. So it kind of makes me question just how much of an off-road thing this really is. It's got most of the goods that you need to do that. But again, it also doesn't have necessarily the good approach and departure angles as well. 'Cause you've got massive overhangs in this thing. So I mean off-road, yeah, it'll do it. It goes relatively well. It's comfortable, certainly comfortable, and it's quiet and it has most of the equipment necessary to do it. And the twin turbocharged V6 hybrid system also helps in that regard as well. There's one other aspect to the hybrid system that does make this unique from the other hybrid system you can get in the Tundra and the Sequoia and that is it also includes a starter and an alternator, which is unusual for Toyota hybrid vehicles, which normally don't have such things. What they've done is they've included those things in case the hybrid system fails. So if you're out on the trail somewhere and you've put a hole through your battery because there's no skid plate for it or some other electrical system fails with regards to the hybrid, it still has a starter and alternator attached to the engine and it can operate in just gas mode without any hybrid systems to get you home. So basically it's turning your Lexus LX 700h back into a Lexus LX 600 for purposes of just, you know, making sure you aren't stranded anywhere. So that is kind of a neat feature, but I kind of think that they could have just put a better protective system underneath the vehicle so that it wouldn't get damaged and not have to add those components. But most of these really expensive brand new Lexus LX 700hs are probably never gonna see dirt or any kind of off road situation unless you're getting out to the polo fields. Most of them are gonna be driven on road and the big question is how do the changes to make a Lexus LX Overtrail work when you're not on the trail? It's actually really quite nice. I've never had a problem with the new Lexus LX in terms of how it drives on road. It's quiet, it's luxurious, it's cushy. Even in this Overtrail model which has these knobby Toyo all-terrain 33 inch tires, you do feel a little bit of that knobby off-road tire has come through, but really not very much at all. And I'm only really noticing it because I've also driven the other versions, the Luxury trim level of the LX 700h as well where it's even quieter and more compliant. The ride quality is exceptional. Steering feel is actually quite good for a vehicle of this nature. For a big body on frame off-road SUV like this, the steering is tight, the feedback is excellent, the overall driving experience is fantastic and the hybrid twin turbocharged V6 powertrain makes 487 horsepower and 583 pounds feet of torque. And that's boosts over the normal Lexus LX 600 powertrain. And you don't really notice that hybrid powertrain that much on road. You're not really getting much benefit out of it either. It really only gets you one mile per gallon better. So you're not getting this hybrid powertrain for its fuel economy. You're getting it for the extra power it provides, for the off-road prowess it provides, but it comes with compromises and a lot of it happens in the rear cargo area. Just like in the Sequoia, you do have a compromised cargo area when it comes to the hybrid powertrain. The battery's gotta go somewhere and it's a nickel metal hydride battery, so it's not even a smaller lithium ion one. It's a fairly good sized nickel metal hydride hybrid battery and it fits underneath the back seats. Well, I mean the back seats, I mean the third row seats. The third row is quite frankly laughable. For a vehicle this size, it's kind of surprising just how big it isn't inside. I mean, if you're considering this to be roughly the size and shape of a new Nissan Armada or something like a Chevrolet Tahoe, it feels considerably smaller inside than either of those things. The third row in the Armada is bigger and more usable, but it also doesn't have that hybrid powertrain. So you've got additional cargo space. The cargo space in here is also kind of laughable. It has this shelf that you could put down to create a more level load floor. Unlike what you find in the Sequoia, which is one of our biggest complaints about the Sequoia. But that shelf itself can only accommodate about 176 pounds. So you can't sit on it if you're a, you know, an average adult human male. If you're tailgating, you gotta flip the thing up and get it out of the way. And with that rear third row up, your cargo room behind that third row is almost non-existent. So for a vehicle this size and to have the proportions that it does, to have as little interior space as it really does is kind of surprising. Even up front this center console is super wide. The second row sits up fairly high and the leg room in the second row is really kind of dismal. I can't sit behind myself in one of these things. I don't even have the seat all the way back and I still can't sit in the second row behind myself, which is kind of crazy given, you know, the size and expense and use of this thing. A Chevy Tahoe's much bigger inside, a Cadillac Escalade is much bigger inside, a Nissan Armada or the equivalent INFINITI model, QX something or other, who can remember their numbers, is bigger inside as well. So the real reason for picking one of these things up really is more about just, I think looking good. The status of it, the way it drives, I mean it does drive really quite beautifully in terms of steering, acceleration, braking, quietness, ride quality, all of that. It does feel like a premium product. Where it doesn't necessarily feel like a premium product, and where it makes you maybe question its price, is the interior appointments. This is supposed to be the Lexus flagship and there's a little too much Toyota in here to charge Lexus prices. This one costs $118,000 and you can go all the way up to over $140,000, but the interior doesn't quite feel that good. And this is a complaint that I've had about a lot of recent Lexus vehicles. Everything except the LC coupe and convertible 'cause the LC coupe and convertible are gorgeous and have a beautifully finished interior. This one is okay, semi-aniline leather seats, front and back, heated, massaging stuff. You've got a heads up display, that's standard. You've got a lot of technology in here that's now standard, but it's not laid out all that great. This Lexus multimedia system is just a re-skin of a Toyota multimedia system and it comes with all of the same limitations and benefits of that one does. If you just use Apple CarPlay, it won't, you know, make much of a difference. It'll still be just fine. But you've also got this dual screen set up here. The upper screen is multimedia system and things like navigation, vehicle system controls, Bluetooth controls for connected devices. The lower screen is a lot more of the vehicle systems. So things like all of the off-road crawl control stuff, the multi terrain system for various drive modes, the climate control is in the lower screen as well. But do you really need two screens in here? Could you not have just incorporated this into one larger, easier to use thing? Well, apparently not. Some of the ergonomics in using a lot of the stuff in here could be a little challenging as well. The digital dash is nice but it's busy and it's kind of hard to figure out what you're looking at at a glance. Same thing with a lot of these controls over here as well. You've got two different knobs here for high and low range, and then your various drive mode, you switch through this rotary knob here. And again, a lot of this doesn't feel terribly high quality. If I can move this knob around in its seat, that doesn't really scream to me a $100,000 vehicle. What do I mean by a little bit too much Toyota and not quite enough Lexus? It's just some of the material quality in here. I mean you've got wood, which is okay, an open pore, but there's a lot of plastic in here, shiny black plastic in some cases, and just general overall plastic. Some of it feels kind of thin. So overall in terms of a flagship model, they need to up their game a little bit more. And I realize that this is the Overtrail and not the Ultra Luxury version, but still there's a lot of common componentry in here between those two trim levels. And for the money, I kind of think like you should be getting more in terms of how opulent this interior should be. I'm also gonna complain just a little bit about the color palette for the LX 700h. It's almost entirely gray, white, and black. There are a couple of options if you want an Overtrail, you can get that in this lovely green. There's also a sand color, but again, all of it is super muted and super boring. Let's get some nice reds, let's get some other blues and other things in there. Why's everything always gotta be grayish? So you have a few different trim levels to choose from for the 700h hybrid. You've got luxury, you've got F SPORT, which is the racier kind of performance oriented one, I guess, I don't really know who's driving a vehicle this size aggressively enough to warrant a handling package or a racier kind of version. But the F SPORT is an option as well, Overtrail, which is new. And then the Ultra Luxury version, which has only four seats, no third row, but those rear seats are big reclining comfy chairs. If you want an Overtrail that pretty much only comes in the 700h. So in that regard, this is your only option. But is it a good option? Is it worth that kind of money? So the Lexus LX 700h confuses us a little bit. I mean, yeah, it can go off road, but it doesn't have all the stuff to go off road very far. It's smooth, it's comfortable, it's quiet, it's quick, but it's also cramped. And the space efficiency inside isn't necessarily great either in the third or second row. And for the price, this one, this Lexus LX 700h Overtrail costs $118,000 and it can go up to over $140,000 for the Ultra Luxury four seat version of the Lexus LX 700h. Now if you have that kind of scratch and the thing appeals to you, hey, good for you. But if you're looking for something that's got a little bit more space and a little bit nicer interior, it would probably do you good to go out and shop some of the competitors first before you plunk your money down on the bottom line. Now, if you'd like to learn more about the new 2025 Lexus LX 700h, or any of the new Lexus LX lineup, you can find all of that at cars.com/news.